Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco
I am a UKRI Future Leader Fellow, Round 6, and Senior Lecturer in Heritage and Digital Humanities. At Essex, I had the invaluable opportunity to establish undergraduate and post-graduate heritage programmes, and to serve as former director of the MA in Heritage and Museum Studies.
My research explores the intersection of material culture, heritage, and cognitive science, with a focus on the impact of new technologies on heritage-making and interpretation of past processes.
My UKRI FLF project, titled "REbuilding a sense of PLACE (REPLACE): The socio-cultural role of 3D technologies in increasing community resilience after 'natural disasters'," aims to enhance community resilience following natural catastrophes by investigating the socio-cultural potential of 3D technologies in rebuilding a sense of place. This research enables communities to prepare for, respond to, recover from, mitigate the effects of, and adapt to natural catastrophes.
In addition to my UKRI FLF, I have previously held a Marie Skłodowska Curie fellowship at the University of Cambridge and an Eastern ARC fellowship. These prestigious grants have facilitated the development of two additional research strands.
The first strand examines the role of 3D digital and printed replicas of artefacts, as well as digital soundscapes, in enriching the processes of meaning-making and interaction with historical material culture within museum settings. Specifically, I explore how 3D virtual and material replicas, along with object-based soundscapes, can redefine authenticity and enhance more immersive and emotionally impactful museum displays. Notable projects within this strand include "DIGIFACTS" and "Neurocuration".
The second strand focuses on collaborative initiatives with small and medium enterprises as well as educators, with the goal of leveraging novel pedagogies and 3D technologies to enhance young people's critical engagement with the complexity of their heritage in conflict-affected countries. For instance, I co-developed the "Ksar Said: A Virtual Experience" project in Tunis, supported by the British Council Cultural Protection Fund. This collaboration involved the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Education (Co-I), the Virtual Experience company (PI), and the Rambourg Foundation (Partner). Presently, I am trying to co-develop similar research programmes in Syria and Lebanon.
My research outputs encompass practice-based work, as well as publications in reputable journals and books. I am honoured to have recently received the BAFTSS Practice Research Innovation award for co-directing the film "Italia Terremotata." This film showcases the resilience of communities in post-earthquake Italy, highlighting their stories and experiences.
By blending my expertise in heritage, digital humanities, and cognitive science, I aim to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in understanding the dynamic relationship between technology, culture, and the preservation of our shared heritage.
My research explores the intersection of material culture, heritage, and cognitive science, with a focus on the impact of new technologies on heritage-making and interpretation of past processes.
My UKRI FLF project, titled "REbuilding a sense of PLACE (REPLACE): The socio-cultural role of 3D technologies in increasing community resilience after 'natural disasters'," aims to enhance community resilience following natural catastrophes by investigating the socio-cultural potential of 3D technologies in rebuilding a sense of place. This research enables communities to prepare for, respond to, recover from, mitigate the effects of, and adapt to natural catastrophes.
In addition to my UKRI FLF, I have previously held a Marie Skłodowska Curie fellowship at the University of Cambridge and an Eastern ARC fellowship. These prestigious grants have facilitated the development of two additional research strands.
The first strand examines the role of 3D digital and printed replicas of artefacts, as well as digital soundscapes, in enriching the processes of meaning-making and interaction with historical material culture within museum settings. Specifically, I explore how 3D virtual and material replicas, along with object-based soundscapes, can redefine authenticity and enhance more immersive and emotionally impactful museum displays. Notable projects within this strand include "DIGIFACTS" and "Neurocuration".
The second strand focuses on collaborative initiatives with small and medium enterprises as well as educators, with the goal of leveraging novel pedagogies and 3D technologies to enhance young people's critical engagement with the complexity of their heritage in conflict-affected countries. For instance, I co-developed the "Ksar Said: A Virtual Experience" project in Tunis, supported by the British Council Cultural Protection Fund. This collaboration involved the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Education (Co-I), the Virtual Experience company (PI), and the Rambourg Foundation (Partner). Presently, I am trying to co-develop similar research programmes in Syria and Lebanon.
My research outputs encompass practice-based work, as well as publications in reputable journals and books. I am honoured to have recently received the BAFTSS Practice Research Innovation award for co-directing the film "Italia Terremotata." This film showcases the resilience of communities in post-earthquake Italy, highlighting their stories and experiences.
By blending my expertise in heritage, digital humanities, and cognitive science, I aim to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in understanding the dynamic relationship between technology, culture, and the preservation of our shared heritage.
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Conferences and Sessions organized by Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco
The workshop will develop structured discussions on issues arising from the following central concerns:
1. How to enable young people from conflict affected countries to reflect upon and learn about the complexity of their cultural heritage and history and how it affects society and economy;
2. How to enable school teachers to develop their knowledge and teaching skills, and enhance students’ inquiry skills;
3. How to engage large numbers of Tunisian and Lebanese children with their heritage through the use of new technologies and inquiry-based learning.
These questions will be discussed during the workshops and tested through the design and implementation of a Virtual Reality Project.
The purpose of this workshop is to bring together a number of people and organisations, who may have a common interest in developing a funded project, focused around building young people’s engagement with their heritage, through inquiry learning through digital technologies. Given the workshop is hosted in Beirut, the focus is on Lebanese young people. However, given that participants are also attending from Syrian institutions, Syria is also of strong interest.
Books by Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco
The results of this research can be applied to a number of fields, including archaeology, museum display, and modern heritage management. This project will also help to clarify the growing area of human-object interaction studies.
Papers by Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco
There is a need in archaeology and cultural heritage for a detailed analysis of the different infrastructural options that are available and a precise evaluation of the differing impact that they can have in reshaping the discipline. To achieve this, it is important to develop new methodologies that consider the evaluation process as a fundamental and central part for assessing digital infrastructures. These new methods should include flexible evaluation approaches that can be adapted to the infrastructure that needs to be assessed.
This article aims to provide some examples of 3D applications in archaeology and cultural heritage and describe how the selection of the infrastructure is related to specific needs of the project. This work will describe the different applications and propose guidelines and protocols for evaluating their impact within academia and the general public.
The workshop will develop structured discussions on issues arising from the following central concerns:
1. How to enable young people from conflict affected countries to reflect upon and learn about the complexity of their cultural heritage and history and how it affects society and economy;
2. How to enable school teachers to develop their knowledge and teaching skills, and enhance students’ inquiry skills;
3. How to engage large numbers of Tunisian and Lebanese children with their heritage through the use of new technologies and inquiry-based learning.
These questions will be discussed during the workshops and tested through the design and implementation of a Virtual Reality Project.
The purpose of this workshop is to bring together a number of people and organisations, who may have a common interest in developing a funded project, focused around building young people’s engagement with their heritage, through inquiry learning through digital technologies. Given the workshop is hosted in Beirut, the focus is on Lebanese young people. However, given that participants are also attending from Syrian institutions, Syria is also of strong interest.
The results of this research can be applied to a number of fields, including archaeology, museum display, and modern heritage management. This project will also help to clarify the growing area of human-object interaction studies.
There is a need in archaeology and cultural heritage for a detailed analysis of the different infrastructural options that are available and a precise evaluation of the differing impact that they can have in reshaping the discipline. To achieve this, it is important to develop new methodologies that consider the evaluation process as a fundamental and central part for assessing digital infrastructures. These new methods should include flexible evaluation approaches that can be adapted to the infrastructure that needs to be assessed.
This article aims to provide some examples of 3D applications in archaeology and cultural heritage and describe how the selection of the infrastructure is related to specific needs of the project. This work will describe the different applications and propose guidelines and protocols for evaluating their impact within academia and the general public.
One of the most important archaeological examples in Xi’an is represented by the mural paintings of the monumental tombs of the Western Han Dynasty. Despite their cultural and historical importance they are at risk of being lost because of the critical conditions of plasters and colors. The murals show a very rich repertory of subjects such as scenes of daily life, rituals and ascension to heaven. These examples of mural paintings contain a very complex interpretation code explaining the relations between life and death during the Western Han dynasty. A simple description of the subjects and also the 3D virtual reconstruction of the tombs are insufficient for approaching a correct cultural interpretation. In this paper we present a preliminary case study on the semantics of the tomb M 27’s iconography (excavated in Xi’an in 2004 and documented by laser scanning) obtained through 3D virtual cybermaps. The use of virtual-cyber mind maps emphasizes the interpretation of the spatial, religious and symbolic connections (affordances) of the different subjects and images decorating the vault and the walls of the tomb. Through this simulation process the potential semantic recomposition of the tomb creates new metaphors of learning and communication.
conceived by the Xian Jaotong University of Technology and the
University of California Merced. In two years it has been possible to
collect a huge amount of 3D data using different laser scanner
techniques. We are going to show the data archive made for the
preservation of tangible heritage at risk and communication models
made for revealing the intangible heritage.