L.P. Coladangelo

This multimedia project for a cultural heritage work was created for LIS 60635 Cultural Heritage Informatics.  Tasked with identifying an example of cultural heritage and applying interdisciplinary approaches and digital tools to its study and preservation, this project was the first in the course's history to take on an example of intangible heritage as its subject.  Contra dance, a form of American community folk dancing, was used as the basis of the project.  The model for the project first adapted Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO), the content standard used for cultural objects, creating new record types from this object-based approach that reflected the needs of the describing the intangible tradition and its related entities.  Event-based modeling and data mashups were also introduced in the form of interactive timelines and maps demonstrating the long history and geographic reach of this dance tradition.  Process-based modeling was used in infographics and audiovisual materials to show the melding of movement, geometry, sequence, music, and verbal instructions necessary to carry out a dance performance.  The project also anticipated future research into organizing dance vocabulary and domain knowledge in a linked data environment.  Finally, a complete project resource integrating all of these models and approaches was delivered in a web-based interface.

By studying a form of intangible heritage, the project engaged in challenging the boundaries of traditional methods of cataloging cultural heritage as it leveraged digital technologies to preserve, contextualize, and disseminate domain information.  It also analyzed and implemented a multifaceted approach by simultaneously applying different methods (object-, process-, and event-based models), finding both assets and limitations in each of their uses for documenting intangible heritage.