The Digitalisation of Memory: Technology – Possibilities – Boundaries

The first day is devoted to exploration within the field of the new technologies used by cultural institutions.

• 9:00 – 09:05 Welcome to "The Digitalisation of Memory"
  Christian Wee
• 9:05 – 09:35 "Museums Shaping Futures: Making Sense of Technologies in 2021"
  Ewa Drygalska
• 9:35 – 09:55 Hidden
  Øyvind Steensen
• 9:55 – 10:10 Break 
• 10:10 – 10:40 "Falstad Digital Reconstruction and V/AR guide"
  Ingvild Hagen Kjørholt
• 10:40 – 11:10 "The Legacy gallery, a new permanent exhibition at POLIN Museum"
  Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and Tamara Sztyma
• 11:10 – 11:25 Break
• 11:25 – 12:00 Memory, historical space, educational principles and technology - Summary discussion
  Paul Verschure and Ewa Drygalska 
• End of day 1

The final day of the seminar is devoted to the ethical boundaries of the digitalisation of memory. Is there an ethical line? Why or why not? The main panel discussion will address the ethical boundaries of technology when educating about the Holocaust.

• 9:00 – 09:05 Welcome
  Łucja Koch
• 9:05 – 09:45 "Too far away or too close to the past? Some reflections on digital games as memory media"
  Tabea Widemann
• 9:45 – 10:00 Break
• 10:00 – 10:20 Courtroom 600: A Virtual Reality Encounter with Evidence of the Holocaust
  Clarissa Ceglio and Ken Thompson
• 10:20 – 10:40 Anne Frank Video Diary
  Femke de Koning
• 10:40 – 11:00 Break
• 11:00 – 11:55 Main panel discussion
  "Holocaust remembrance in a digital future: To-wards deep truth or deep fake?" – main panel discussion
• 11:55 – 12:00 Thank you
  Christian Wee
• 12:00 End of day 2

• Museums Shaping Futures: Making Sense of Technologies in 2021
  
  Museums and institutions are facing unprecedented challenges due to pandemic which disrupted our everyday lives and the traditional ways of operating in the cultural sector. As simply return to the pre-pandemic modes are not possible we are in the critical moment to reflect on the future and purpose of museums. Therefore, it is worth rethinking how new technologies might help museums to prepare for the post-pandemic future. During the talk, I will address the sector’s main challenges in the areas of operation, exhibition, and audiences, as well as share suggestions on what innovative solutions could be adapted to overcome them. We will also discuss the examples of how various institutions worldwide have been able to use their resources, expand to digital, and stay relevant during a time of crisis.
   
• Hidden
  
  HIDDEN is an extended reality platform for digit-ization of historical, cultural and science based content tied to geolocation. This Norwegian com-pany offer a framework to set up and deliver on unique projects that attract visitors to the area and stimulate local growth and development.
   
• Falstad Digital Reconstruction and V/AR guide
  
  The Falstad Centre‘s digital experience takes you back in time and shows you the camp landscape as it looked at the Liberation in May 1945. Using specially developed XR technology and our iPad, you can wander around in a virtual reconstruction of SS Strafgefangenenlager Falstad. At different places in the digital landscape you will find witness testimonies and stories from 1941-1945.
   
• The Legacy Gallery, a new permanent exhibition at POLIN Museum, dedicated to the achievements of Polish Jews
  
  The exhibition, located at a ceremonial room on the lobby level, in a relatively small space, is dedicated to the lives and achievements of a number of people, who, moreover, are representative of a number of others. The use of multimedia as the core medium in the construction of this space was the solution that eventually prevailed, despite of the doubts the curators shared. In our presentation we will explain in more details why such solution was chosen, what the cons and pros were, and how we developed the multimedia that eventually managed to carry the narration intended for this space. What may be of special interest is also how we managed to combine the multimedia core of the gallery with some other elements – art, graphic design and music, in this way creating a coherent, embracing visitor experience.
  
  "Too far away from or too close to the past? Re-flections on digital games as memory me-dia" focuses on the ambivalent structures of the digital memory cultures surrounding the Holo-caust. Using the concept of im-proper distance it seeks to trace the moral implications of memory media through which the remembrance of the past becomes more and more virtually accessible, seemingly close, while the historical events are moving further away from us. The talk focuses on digital games as new memory media that can help to illustrate such shimmering movements of cur-rent memory cultures
   
• Courtroom 600: A Virtual Reality Encounter with Evidence of the Holocaust
  
  The Courtroom 600 research team is developing a headset-based virtual reality (VR) experience that engages self-directed learners, ages 18 to 35, in a quest to investigate Holocaust-era history using primary source documents from the Trial of the Major War Criminals, which was held before the IMT in Courtroom 600 of Nuremberg’s Justizpalast (1945-46). With the aid of a virtual guide and short tutorials, learners will collect, analyze, and contextualize digitized primary sources held by the University of Connecticut’s Archives and Special Collections, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and other repositories. A core focus of our research is the examination and reporting of such issues as the ethics of virtual embodiment and representation, impacts of the mixed temporal frames of VR “time travel” on historical understanding, how to deliver sufficient context in an action-oriented experience, and emotional effects of encountering traumatic histories within an immersive medium.
  
  "Ann Frank Video Diary" In this presentation we will present the digital ed-ucational project “The video diary of Anne Frank”, a series of 15 episodes plus 7 educational episodes on the life story of Anne Frank. In the video diary you see Luna Cruz Perez, in the role of Anne Frank, filming the events of Nazi occupa-tion in Amsterdam and the events in the back-house instead of writing it in her diary. This pro-ject was launched last year on YouTube and has been successfully watched by many young adults worldwide. Besides, telling something about the background, development and challenges about this project, you will see the first episode together with one educational extra on the topic of discrim-ination. She will present the educational material that was developed with the video's and discusses critical reflection questions that you can deal with in your practice.