Participation Report for Digital Humanities 2024 (DH2024)
Mr. KATAKURA Shumpei had the opportunity to attend Digital Humanities 2024 (DH2024), held from August 6 to August 9, 2024, at George Mason University in the United States. DH2024 was the largest annual international conference in the field of Digital Humanities, a discipline that aims to achieve new discoveries by integrating computing and the humanities.
Since the 2022 fiscal year, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) has been involved in “The Investigation of Tools and Materials Used for the Preservation and Restoration of Fine Arts and Crafts” as part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ “TAKUMI Project,” and the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems is in charge of the “Archiving of Cultural Property Restoration Records” initiative. This project is of great importance, as it focuses on preserving crucial information about the restoration records of cultural properties in an appropriate form for future generations. Given the international significance of this endeavor, it is essential to communicate our presence and progress on a global stage.
In this context, Mr. KATAKURA, a guest researcher attended DH2024 and presented a poster titled “Constructing a Database of Cultural Property Restoration Records,” sharing the progress made in the archiving process up to the previous fiscal year. The content of his presentation was based on work by Mr. TARASHIMA Satoshi and Mr. KATAKURA Shumpei, “Creating a Database of Arts and Crafts Restoration Records” (Gekkan Bunkazai, Issue No. 722, 2023), which he encourages us to refer to for more details.
The audience was particularly interested in the types of records that have been kept during the restoration of cultural properties in Japan and how these records have been accumulated and preserved over time. Many expressed a strong desire to see the database currently under development. Although the database is not yet publicly available, Mr. KATAKURA assured them that it will be released in the future and encouraged them to stay tuned.
This project is entering a critical phase, and we will continue our efforts to disseminate information internationally. Mr. KATAKURA hopes you will continue to follow our progress with interest.