Cultural Heritage Imaging & Innovation Conference 2025

Join us for the Cultural Heritage Imaging & Innovation Conference 2025!

Experience this inaugural event in-person in Dubrovnik, the Pearl of the Adriatic, from March 25-27, 2025. Organized by RIT and RIT Croatia, the conference promises to be an unmissable opportunity for imaging and cultural heritage enthusiasts.

About the Conference

As new technologies are brought into Cultural Heritage Studies and adopted by the Museum, Archive, and Library communities, significant new information can be derived from historical artifacts and new knowledge can be shared. Collecting, managing, visualizing, disseminating, and exhibiting that information is an ongoing challenge.

The inaugural Cultural Heritage Imaging + Innovation (CHII) Conference brings historians, scholars, practitioners, scientists, and technologists together to further innovation in this dynamic field. CHII will bring together interdisciplinary leaders and practitioners in these fields to bridge the gaps between historical artifacts, emerging technologies, existing spaces, and public engagement opportunities. Join us in Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, also known as “the Pearl of the Adriatic” which is a unique destination that magnificently combines the natural beauty of the pristine Adriatic Sea and mountainous Croatian landscape with outstanding architecture and old-world city planning. Dubrovnik is more than a fascinating Old Town; it is a gateway to the past, a vibrant present, and an exciting future—making it the ideal setting for this conference. The city’s allure lies in its captivating history, stunning landscapes, warm hospitality, and rich cultural heritage.

Expected attendees will include academics working in cultural heritage imaging and other related fields, practitioners in industry, NGOs, and historical institutions, undergraduate students, and hospitality and tourism professionals interested in the presentation of local cultural heritage.

The conference will consist of presentations, poster sessions, and demonstration spaces while providing significant time for communication and networking among attendees.

The in-person-only conference will take place at the RIT's global campus RIT Croatia in Dubrovnik, Don Frana Bulića 6, founded in 1997, and at the State Archive Dubrovnik (Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku), Sponza Palace, Sv. Dominika 1.

Application Process

We seek innovative presentations, posters, and demonstrations focused on these and other related areas:

Cultural heritage imaging for discovery, conservation, and preservation
Novel 2D, 2.5D, and 3D visualization techniques for analysis of objects at all scales, from planar objects to small sculptures, to buildings of archeological or historical interest
Case studies from practitioners
Innovative approaches to metadata collection, storage, and search across various digital technologies
Innovations in visual and digital media for historical presentation to the hospitality, and tourism industries

All interested participants can apply HERE

Important Dates

Submission Deadline: September 3, 2024
Notification of acceptance: September 16, 2024
Commitment from presenters to participate: October 15, 2024
Conference dates: onsite in Dubrovnik from March 25-March 27, 2025, with optional site visits on March 28, 2025

Keynote Speakers

Nigel Wilson, Professor, Fellow and Tutor in Classics, Lincoln College, Oxford (retired)

Day 1, March 26, 2025 - “Archimedes and Others: The Remarkable History of a Manuscript”

This talk is largely autobiographical, starting from a casual conversation with a colleague some fifty years ago. This led to a brief examination of a fragment from a palimpsest in the Cambridge University Library, which revealed something interesting. But how was the discovery to be exploited? Chance intervened, and after some unforeseeable events, including the recovery of the manuscript from which the Cambridge fragment had been detached, a team of experts was assembled to study it. This led to a notable publication. Yet there is still room for further refinement of the results achieved a few years ago.

Professor Nigel Wilson, Fellow and Tutor in Classics, Lincoln College, Oxford (retired), nigel.wilson@lincoln.ox.ac.uk

Dr. Roger L. Easton, Jr., Professor, Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology

Day 1, March 26, 2025 - "Multispectral Imaging of the Archimedes Palimpsest"

Abstract:

The technology of multispectral imaging for studies of manuscripts grew from rather crude imaging systems and processing in the 1990s to a much higher level of sophistication in the 2020s. The Archimedes Palimpsest project, which ran from 2000-2011, straddled these two eras rather precisely. This talk presents the history of the imaging methods used on the palimpsest, including some discussion of the value that could be anticipated from additional imaging using the most recently developed illumination systems, camera lenses and sensors, and processing methods.

Roger Easton led the Imaging Team in the Archimedes Palimpsest project. In this role, he was responsible for assembling the imaging system, transporting it to the imaging site, ensuring prompt processing of the imaging data, and distributing the results to the scholars in Europe and the USA.

Dr. Roger L. Easton, Jr., Professor, Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, rlepci@rit.edu

Dr. Giulia Rossetto, Assistant Professor, University of Vienna, Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies

Day 2, March 27, 2025 - "Lost and Rediscovered: The Contribution of the Sinai Palimpsests to the Study of the Past"

The last twenty years have witnessed a huge change in the study of the ancient and medieval world(s), marked by the implementation of digital technologies, which are becoming more and more present every day. What was once unthinkable is now possible. A very good example is the non-destructive recovery of illegible texts from palimpsest manuscripts, which allows us to expand our knowledge of the written sources from the past.

This lecture will be devoted to a pioneering project in this field: the Sinai Palimpsest Projects of the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL) and the Monastery of Saint Catherine, the first project to deal with the imaging and study of the entire collection of palimpsests preserved in one location, taking into account manuscripts written in several different languages. By means of case studies I will illustrate the results of the project and their significance for the scholarly community, and I will emphasise the importance of collaboration between scholars and scientists as the real recipe for success in this endeavour.

Ass. Prof. Dr. Giulia Rossetto, University of Vienna, Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, giulia.rossetto@univie.ac.at