Session 1: Digital SilkRoads and the Angkor Road (30 August 2007 11:00-12:30)
Chair: Yoshinori Sato, Professor, Tohoku-Gakuin University, Japan

1. Sub Session -Digital Silk Roads-

1.Title: Digital SilkRoads Project: Current Status and Future Perspectives
Speaker: Kinjo Ono Professor Emeritus, Professor(Special Appointment for Digital Silk Roads) of NII(National Institute of Informatics) Visiting Professor of Waseda University

Abstract: The Digital Silk Roads Project is an international joint research project conducted at NII from 2001. The project aims to create a digital archive of cultural heritage in the Silk Road region, and establish a new style of Silk Road study in the 21st centuries. Major Achievements of the DSR Project are

1) Digital archiving of rare books of Toyo Bunko Digital archiving of various historical documents including rare books in the possession of the Toyo Bunko, a leading library in the field of Asian studies in the world, was carried out. The main content is called Image and Manuscript Database of Silk Road documents.

2) 3D-VR restoration of the Citadel of Bam In order to keep the Memories of monument of Bam destroyed by the earthquake in December 26th 2004 , NII in cooperation with ICHTO(Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tuarism Organization) started the 3D reconstruction of Citadel of Bam. 3D models of the important 11 sites of Citadel of Bam were created in cooperation with Waseda University , University of Tehran and EVCAU in France.

3) ASPCO Portal The Advanced Scientific Portal for International Cooperation for Digital Silk Roads (ASPICO-DSR) was developed. This portal allows participants to store and create metadata through their personal workspaces. In addition, it provides a cooperation environment to discuss resources before releasing them onto public arenas and to build multilingual textual contents. Thus, researchers can access high quality information without physical or social constraints.

5) DSR Imaginary Museum This Web portal provides digital Library, Museum, Cinema and Panorama of Silk Roads and is incorporated in Cultural Online System of Culture Agency of MEXT which is a prototype information system that provides an easy and effective access to the digital repository on cultural heritage in Japan.

6) The prototype Bamiyan Virtual Museum Afghanistan Bamiyan Buddhist ruins have been virtually restored to what they used to be before the destruction. The prototype was created by digitally archiving the photos taken some 30 years ago in and around the Bamiyan ruins. The presentation will give the achievements and future perspectives.

2.Title: Development of Chinese Access and Search System for the Digital Silkroad Project
Speaker: Tao Zhang Associate Professor, Dept.of Automation, Tsinghua University

Abstract: This paper introduces the development of Chinese access and search system for the Digital Silk Road (DSR) project. In order to assist Chinese people who have interests in the history of Silk Road or carry out the research on Silk Road, to obtain the information about Silk Road, a Chinese access and search system have been developed by the collaboration between Tsinghua University and National Institute of Informatics (NII) of Japan. This system provides three approaches for users to locate the expected information from the Digital Silk Road system developed by NII. One is that user can directly access the Chinese version of the Digital Silk Road system which we have translated. Another is that we have developed a Chinese system by which user can easily link to the expected information in the Digital Silk Road system. This system is installed in the Tsinghua University. Additionally, a search tool has developed for this system so that Chinese people can easily locate the information by using Chinese words. After further improvement, this system will provide actual service for Chinese people and introduce the information given in the Digital Silk Road system.

3.Title: Enhancing Applications of the Digital Archive for Silk Road Studies
Speaker: Makiko Onishi Project Researcher(PostDoctorial Researcher) NII(National Institute of Informatics)

Abstract:Our study aims at efficient applications of the Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books (http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/) for academic research and education on Silk Roads. Firstly we describe the application of digitized maps of Central Asia drawn by English archaeologist, M. A. Stein. Mapping them on Google Earth facilitates the reference to many sheets of big maps, enables to compare old maps with current satellite images and helps to search ancient sites on them. Map is famous for its elaboration and accuracy of locations of ancient sites. Even today it is still useful for archaeological survey and excavation. Secondly we show our reproduction of the Buddhist cave no.9 in Bezeklik with a simple 3-D model. Cave no.9 was preserved best in Bezeklik, and almost all the murals were detached from the original place by European expeditors. Unfortunately, the original murals were lost during World War II. Only plates of them in a catalogue are barely left. However it is hard to imagine their original location in the cave or the total plan as a religious space. Reproduction of the cave helps to comprehend its meaning and function and can promote the study on it. Finally we address further promising utilizations of digital archives.

4.Title: Living Angkor Road
Speaker: Surat Lertlum, Ph.d. Program Head, Computer Science Program Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, Thailand

Abstract: Please refer "Surat.doc" (3 MB)

Session 2 Toward a New Perspective of e-Culture (30 August 2007 14:00-15:30)
Chair: Takaharu Kameoka, Professor, Mie University, Japan

1.Title: Dancing across the Oceans: DancingQ
Speaker: Dae Young KIM, ANF/CNU

Abstract: A Korean team led by ANF and Nulhui Dance Company has conducted a series of cyber-performance over a few years. Named as DancingQ, meaning Dancing Queen, the first such peformance took place in 2003 with musicans and dancers separated in two remote places yet connected by DVTS, a now standard DTV transmission technique over IP. Since then, the team has executed two more performances, one with NYU and the other with i2CAT in Barcelnona.
This year, DancingQ 2007 will be peformed in Busan, Korea and Den Haag, Netherlands, also connected by uncompressed HDTV, a cutting edge IP video techonolgy of the time. Experiences and lessons gathered through this series of peformances will be presented as well as future visions and plans.

2 Title: Korean Cyber Internet History Museum
Myungkoo KANG and Joohee SUH [Professor and PhD. Candidate, Department of Communication College of Social Sciences, Seoul National University, South Korea]

Abstract: This paper presents a brief introduction of Korean Cyber Internet History Museum, discussions about the issues and tasks, and a proposal for collaboration to construct Asia Internet History Museum. Cyber Internet History Museum in Korea was constructed in 2007 to collect and preserve the historical documents and materials. Though it is the first cyber museum on Korean Internet history, the Museum has many tasks waiting for actions, such as little space to participate by computer specialists or engineers, poor interactivity, and poor participation by ordinary Internet users. The four actors - engineers, IT industry, policy makers, and Internet users - were pointed out as major contributors to Korean Internet history, but there is still no agreement on who took the most important part. Moreover, it is needed to find out more elaborate methods to collect and preserve the original documents. Finally, the characteristics of Korean Internet users and Internet culture can be explained based on historical data preserved in the Museum. Regarding the Asian collaboration for Internet History Museum, the local cooperation for Asian Internet History Museum is needed, and the Asian Internet History Museum would function as the reference point for local Internet history of each country. Also, the Asian Internet Archive like China's Web Archive would be the basis for instructing Internet History Museum in the long-term.

3.Title: Participatory Media and e-Culture - How the Present Information is Aggregated and Archived in "Digital Typhoon" Website? KITAMOTO, Asanobu, Dr. Associate Professor Digital Content and Media Sciences Research Division Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS) / National Institute of Informatics (NII)

Abstract: "Digital Typhoon" Website (http://www.digital-typhoon.org) is a portal site on typhoon information that integrates large-scale scientific databases with participatory media on the general public. Scientific databases archive satellite images and weather sensor data (precipitation, wind, etc.) for several tens of years, while other databases include mass-media news text collected automatically and personal-media blog entries aggregated in a participatory manner. The talk will focus on the last part, participatory media in particular, to demonstrate that user participation may lead to the acquisition of micro-scale and present information that raises sympathy from other people. We discuss systems and results of the participatory media for typhoon information, namely "Typhoon Front" (http://front.eye.tc/), and possible applications of participatory media for e-culture, in which user participation also plays a key role for collecting micro-scale present information. -----------------------------------


4. Title: WebGIS and High-resolution Images (Demonstration)
Hiroshi Ono [CONTENTS Co., Ltd, Japan]

Joint meeting of e-Culture WG & Agriculture WG (30 August 2007 16:00-17:30)
Chairs: Takaharu Kameoka, e-Culture WG
Masayuki Hirafuji, Agriculture WG

Theme1:Distance learning by School of Internet (SOI) Asia

1. Introductory Presentation
Sayaka Fukuda SOI Asia Project Asia SEED, Bangkok, Thailand

2. Related Presentation (Remote speaker from New York)
Buenafe Abdon, Phd Student Advanced Agricultural Technology & Sciences Graduate School of Life & Environmental Sciences University of Tsukuba, Japan

Theme2: Food Cultural Database

Theme1: SOI Asia: SOI ASIA Project utilizes satellite based Internet to provide Internet environments in a less expensive, easy to deploy, and more feasible way for the universities located in the regions where Internet environments are insufficiently developed; conducts research and development of the necessary technology for IT human resource development in Asia while using the environments; and proposes, through field experiments, a new educational methodology for universities in Japan as well as educational institutions abroad. (In detail: http://www.soi.wide.ad.jp/soi-asia/)

Plan: ICT Application on Agriculture is a very important topic in Asia. Especially, the lecture on this theme should be necessary in the universities in Asia not only for Agricultural students but also for ICT students. Mie university and Asia SEED (Asia Science and Education for Economic Development, http://www.asiaseed.org/HP%20English/index.html) are proposing a special symposium to start this new program for distance learning by SOI Asia. This symposium is composed of 4 presentaions. So far, Kameoka, Ninomiya, Hirafuji and Honda will make lectures on ICT in agricultural application at Keio University and AIT in this Autumn. This symposium will be delivered to the univeristies in Southeast Asia via Internet.

Discussing point: Since we would like to make this program to be presented by APAN agricultural WG, future posibility and direction not only in Agriculture but also in e-Culture should be discussed. Fukuda from Asia SEED will explain her rough idea for this discussion.

Theme2: Discussion with consideration not only of e-Culture but also of agriculture.

Agriculture WG Report

e-Culture WG Report