20 November 2018, 3-5pm
5.02 Charteris Land, Moray House, University of Edinburgh
Attendance is free and all are welcome, but numbers are limited – please sign up here.
For this DCHRN seminar, we’re delighted to welcome two exciting speakers – Maria Economou and Pooja Katara – who will help us explore aspects of cultural heritage narrative and storytelling with digital applications. Come and hear about some cutting-edge research and development projects in this area. There will also be time for discussion and networking.
Dr Maria Economou: Designing and evaluating digital heritage applications: storytelling, immersion, affect
Dr Maria Economou is Senior Lecturer in Museum Studies / Curator, a joint post at the University of Glasgow shared between Information Studies and the Hunterian Museum, where she is responsible for the Digital Strategy. She is an expert in Digital Heritage and is interested in the use of all forms of digital technology and new media in cultural heritage and museums. She co-ordinated the Scottish Network on Digital Cultural Resources Evaluation, funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2015-16), is Primary Investigator (PI) in the EU H2020 EMOTIVE project (2016-19 ) on emotive virtual cultural experiences through personalized storytelling, the EU MCSA POEM Innovative Training Network on Participatory Memory Practices (2018-22 ) and Co-I in AHRC/ESRC-funded Scottish National Heritage Partnership (2018). She was previously Associate Professor, Museology and New Technologies at the University of the Aegean (2003-13), where she directed the Museology Research Laboratory and worked at the University of Manchester (2000-2003) and the Pitt Rivers Museum as Assistant Curator- Information Technology (1995-1997). She studied Archaeology and History of Art at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, carried out an MA in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester and a DPhil at the University of Oxford (with a scholarship from the Lambrakis Research Foundation, Athens).
Pooja Katara: SENSEcity: A narrative tool to read the Urban Environment
An architect from India and a Master’s Graduate from Mackintosh School of Architecture, Pooja Katara has been striving to explore notes of human connection in design throughout her academic and professional career. SENSEcity is the manifestation of this research. Chosen for the Chairman’s Medal in 2017, SENSEcity is a dynamic and high-tech take on the traditional travel guidebooks. With an elaborately illustrated booklet and its complimentary mobile application, SENSEcity brings alive stories tucked in the corners of the city, with the use of Augmented Reality. Pooja is the founder of the Start-Up SENSEcity, www.sensecity.co. Before SENSEcity came into being, Pooja worked as an architect for 2 years and simultaneously ran a bike sharing social venture in Mumbai. SENSEcity has been a finalist for this year’s SIE Fresh Idea’s competition and Converge Kickstart Challenge and is aiming to launch the Guidebooks along with the mobile application during Christmas 2018.