Is it truly all sunny skies ahead for the development of green energy in rural Taiwan? How can Hsinchu’s Beipu Village coexist with its ecosystem? Distinct from the “Yunu” and “Shengnu” varieties, what is the mysterious origin of the “Shuaige” cherry tomato grown from the salty soil of Tainan’s Yanshui District? Behold the matrimonial secrets unveiled by the traditional wedding customs of Pingtung’s Liangshan Village! … How is the voluminous data from fieldwork surveys focused into research topics? And how can that research be translated and transformed for communication to a larger audience? Online museums and digital curation, a growing trend in recent years, can provide a compelling answer to these questions from different perspectives.
The Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures (ASCDC) will hold the academic seminar “Research x Translation x Representation: Methods and Practices for Curation of the Rural Museum” on December 1, 2021 in Room 704, Research Building, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. Centered on the pioneering Rural Museum website, the first of its kind in Taiwan, it will explore how digital methods can materialize field data and how digital translation can represent different faces of academic research. The seminar features two keynotes, five digital curation showcases, and invites scholars, experts, and government officials to participate in a comprehensive discussion, with over 80 attendees expected. Registration is open until November 28.
To grasp the cultural transitions in rural society and observe the influence of Taiwan’s agricultural policies, Academia Sinica and the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan collaborated for the first time in 2018 to launch A Social and Cultural Survey of Rural Taiwan, a five-year systematic survey of the historical changes and human ecology of Taiwan’s countryside, integrating historical developmental perspectives and adopting an interdisciplinary approach with humanities and social sciences, ultimately establishing a foundation for the next generation of Taiwan’s agricultural and rural development. Subproject Three, “Digitization, Integration, and Presentation of Rural Survey Data,” was carried out by ASCDC. In addition to developing various digital tools, preserving large-scale fieldwork survey data, and carrying out augmented application of that data, ASCDC has also planned out the construction of a “Taiwan Rural Museum” website to visualize and publicize the results of the survey research.
For this fourth year of the project, the seminar will feature a keynote speech summing up the results at this current stage and highlighting its digital curation methods and practices, as well as discussing its technological methodology. Chen Shu-jiun, Principal Investigator of Subproject Three and Executive Secretary of ASCDC, will speak on the topic of “Knowledge and Digital Translation of Digital Museums,” exploring how the Taiwan Rural Museum’s exhibits capture survey data on the environment, livelihoods, society, culture, and living. By guiding the students of National Taiwan University and National Chengchi University in carrying out experimental curation, the curators and fieldwork observers were able to reach a working collaboration, and, via selection of source materials and usage of digital techniques, they were able to reflect on the challenges of knowledge translation and evaluate the convenience of practical application of curation tools and platforms. Dr. Chen will also provide a summary of the methods and procedures behind digital curation, serving as a model for future curation by the general public.
Wang Hsiang-an, Co-principal Investigator of Subproject Three and Assistant Research Specialist at the Institute of History and Philology, will deliver a keynote speech on “The Development and Application of Systems for a Social and Cultural Survey of Rural Taiwan.” ASCDC developed six digital platforms for this project. In addition to storing survey results, they also integrate external documents and open government data, allowing data content to become more comprehensive. By integrating technology such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), word frequency statistics, data visualization tools, and Linked Open Data (LOD), users can more quickly and conveniently understand the systems’ content and carry out even broader value-adding applications.
In addition to the keynote speeches, the seminar will also invite 10 field investigators and museum curators to speak on the themes of “From Field Surveys to Curation” and “From Research to Representation,” sharing their experiences of translating rich and multi-faceted survey work into captivating digital exhibits. They will analyze their own various roles in the curation of the Taiwan Rural Museum, discussing how they translated survey data into exhibits of different styles according to the target audience and topics at hand.
A comprehensive discussion session has also been specially arranged to address the theme of the conference, bringing together officials from the Council of Agriculture; Wu Chyi-in, research fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica; Chen Hung-tu, professor at the Department of History, National Dong Hwa University; Wang Ruo-pu, of a local culture and history expert; Hsu Cheng-hsin, the ASCDC digital museum project manager; and Chen Nai-hua, postdoctoral researcher with the Social and Cultural Survey of Rural Taiwan. They will explore how digital exhibitions can be used to represent research and illustrate rural issues.
Aside from the on-site discussions, the seminar will also demonstrate the “Digital Analysis System for Humanities” (DASH) and “Open Museum” websites developed by ASCDC in recent years, as well as digital platforms such as the “Integrated Search and Application System” and “Taiwan Rural Museum” developed for the Rural Taiwan project, with attendees encouraged to browse and experience the tools for themselves.
“Research x Translation x Representation: Methods and Practices for Curation of the Rural Museum” Academic Seminar
Date: Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Location: Room 704, Research Building, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
Organized by: Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures
A Social and Cultural Survey of Rural Taiwan, Subproject Three: Digitization, Integration, and Presentation of Rural Survey Data
Sponsored by: Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan
Conference Homepage: https://reurl.cc/zWXVW7
Conference Program: https://reurl.cc/GbD1ry
Registration: https://reurl.cc/mv72WG
