The First International Conference on Culture and Computing
(Culture and Computing 2010): Special Event Feb.22

Special Event: Panel "A new trend in the Humanities research: Digital Humanities at Ritsumeikan University" (simultaneous interpretation)

Organized by

DH-JAC Organizing Committee, Ritsumeikan University GCOE

Content

Since the beginning of the 21st Century, the area of the Humanities research has experienced some major changes, one of which is a movement called "Digital Humanities". The use of computers in the Humanities research and collaborative works between the Humanities and computing are not necessarily new, and there have been many achievements during the last couple of decades. Then, what is the objective of this new trend? How is it significant and how does it differ from the previous methodologies and concepts? In this panel we will look back the trend toward Digital Humanities overseas and introduce our attempts, carried out at the Global COE Program "Digital Humanities Center for Japanese Arts and Cultures", Ritsumeikan University.

Panelists

Ryo Akama, Professor, Graduate School of Letters, Center Director

"Digital Humanities Center for Japanese Arts and Cultures" at Ritsumeikan University Recently, the rapid development of information technologies such as the Internet has led scholars in various fields to reconsider their conventional frameworks and methodologies. The Humanities is no exception in this trend, finding itself standing at a major crossroads today. In our former COE program, we demonstrated that digital archiving of tangible and intangible cultural properties could be quite a powerful and fundamental tool for international collaborative researches in the field of Japanese cultures. As the next step of the same trend, the current Global COE Program aims to promote large-scale global collaboration and to create unique research outcomes by handling a vast amount of digital information about materials and cases which the previous Humanities research could not deal with. The program also aims to foster young Humanities researchers capable to conduct collaborative research worldwide with digital technologies. This presentation elucidates our program: its systems for research, education, and global collaboration.

Kozaburo Hachimura, Professor, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Center Vice-Director

From CH to DH Between academic fields of the Humanities and Information Technology in Japan, research collaboration has continued for more than 20 years since the establishment of the Special Interest Group for Computers and the Humanities (SIG-CH) in the Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) in 1989. Over the last decade, however, a research field called "Digital Humanities" has emerged in Western countries. The objective is to push forward global-scale Humanities researches for the coming generation, basing on the previous activities in Humanities Computing and the Computers in the Humanities research and emphasizing their further research collaboration and sharing a vast amount of digital information resources which the Web, digital archives and repositories have made available. This trend has been expected to change the style of Humanities research in the future. This presentation will discuss the background and aims of the shift from CH to DH.

Mitsuyuki Inaba, Professor, Graduate School of Political Science, Leader of Web Technology Research Group

Web technology as a mediational means across cultures We are conducting research on the construction of infrastructure and the establishment of the methodology to archive, accumulate, and share culture information through collaboration among users on the web. First, I will introduce a web-based platform for constructing "the memory of a place" based on personal histories of the community members in the region. Second, I will explain an interdisciplinary project aiming at the construction of learning contents on the metaverse that assist the learner to enhance their understanding of Japanese culture. Finally, I will discuss the possibility of a new approach to developing "collective culture" by using personal narratives, and to bringing "a new way of thinking" to the traditional humanities using computing technology.

Tomoki Nakaya, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Letters

Virtual Kyoto Project GIS has becomes an innovative tool to explore historical spaces. The research group of historical geographic information at Ritsumeikan University has modelled the past, present and future of the historical urban-spaces of Kyoto as Virtual Kyoto, a virtual geographic environment, with innovative GIS technologies. Virtual Kyoto is composed of various 2D and 3D GIS-based datasets of the urban spaces at different times. We employ Virtual Kyoto for new understanding of the historical urban spaces as well as constructing a new digital museum interface with geographic data-linkages to numerous historical/cultural digital contents. We also explore possibilities to use Virtual Kyoto as an information environment which enables to argue futures of the historical city of Kyoto affected by city planning activities such as landscape policies.

Shinya Maesaki, Postdoctoral Fellow at Global Innovation Research Organization

Digital Humanities for the Study of Japanese Ceramic Collections The Art Research Center of the Ritsumeikan University operates the Japanese Ceramic Database, in which the number of available works has been increasing. This project aims at creating a digital archive of Japanese ceramic works in collections in Western countries and providing easier accesses to works across these collections. This database will give scholars research opportunities to compare characteristics of collections and to analyse how Western understanding on Japanese ceramics has evolved. Introducing some research examples in detail, this paper will discuss both possibilities and current issues in the Digital Humanities.