Methods in Digital Heritage

This intensive course examines the 'Digital Turn' in cultural heritage studies. We will focus on its historical importance and modern relevance for managing cultural sites and museums. Through case studies and in-class discussions, you will delve into the challenges and opportunities of digitizing museum collections while considering ethical implications. Most importantly, you will learn essential methods for digitizing and disseminating museum collections and become familiar with key aspects of digital preservation in cultural heritage. Following this, you will have the opportunity to visit one of the partner museums in Munich, such as the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst (SMÄK) or the Museum für Abgüsse Klassischer Bildwerke (MfA). During the visit, you will participate in practical activities to learn digital photogrammetry, laser scanning, and online 3D data publication using web repositories. These skills are essential for documenting and preserving cultural heritage data. Throughout the second part of the course, you will collaborate in our state-of-the-art computer lab to create small projects focusing on a selected topic or a group of museum artifacts. By the conclusion of the course, you will have gained a fundamental understanding of museum collection digitization and dissemination techniques. You will have the chance to showcase the results of your group project to the other teams and IDCHS staff members to receive feedback and gain insights on your results.

Target group

The Winter School is designed for advanced Bachelor's students (i.e., in their final year) in a heritage-related discipline who have a deep interest in heritage and digital techniques. Participants may come from various disciplines such as archaeology, architecture, art history, ethnology, or any field in the humanities or related to the study of culture, as well as from computer science, data science, geosciences, or similar fields. You may also apply if you already have a bachelor’s degree but are considering advancing your knowledge in digital heritage at the master’s level.

Course aim

Learnig to digitizing and protecting cultural heritage in the Digital Age Having the opportunity to learn about new ways to study and document cultural heritage and gaining proficiency in cutting-edge museum collection digitization techniques Acquiring new skills in Digital Heritage and improving job prospects in academic, governmental, and private sectors