The Jerusalem Institute for Research and Digital Documentation of Cultural Heritage

In recent years, digital technologies have become an essential component in heritage sciences and cultural studies. Relevant digital content is being produced efficiently and rapidly, both in the field (such as in archaeology), and in cultural bodies (such as museums and cultural institutions).

Digital data can be used for a variety of purposes, such as:

• To preserve and track changes for conservation and management purposes
• To research and analyze the properties of materials
• To restore lost or damaged heritage
• To illustrate and present the past
• To provide new ways of interacting with the public
• To provide access to remote sites or inaccessible collections.

The Jerusalem Institute for Research and Digital Documentation of Cultural Heritage will provide direct experience with current technologies for data acquisition and manipulation, presentation, and analysis of captured data at any scale. Three-dimensional documentation of cultural sites and heritage assets has and will increasingly become an essential ingredient in heritage preservation and has become a staple tool in use by diverse user groups and audiences, in fields such as cultural heritage management, conservation, and academia. Research, tourism, education (especially children and youth) and more. It will equip users with the knowledge sets and skills required to create digital records and visualizations of heritage sites and objects of local, national, and international significance.

It will enable recognition of the variety of skills needed to collect information in different ways and at a variety of levels, including, among others:

• Collecting information in the multispectral space (infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, thermal photography, and more)
• Methods for visualizing materials and surface textures (RTI, Photometric Stereo)
• Dealing with documentation of extreme sizes (microscopic to macro).
• Computerized Tomography, Micro CT,
• Document information on chemically based materials (XRF)
• Spatial and 3D imaging (photogrammetry and various scanning methods)
• Information display in virtual space (VR, AR)

Beyond the plethora of photographic, media, and imaging techniques in use today for an ever-increasing range of applications, some specific imaging technologies have manifested themselves as fundamental to the field of tangible cultural heritage.
The applications of digital imaging in cultural heritage are diverse and spread to documentation, conservation, restoration, research, and dissemination.