[International Participation] PNC 2012 Annual Conference at UC Berkeley

[International Participation] PNC 2012 Annual Conference at UC Berkeley (Chinese Version)

Academia Sinica Newsletter (2012/12/03) The 2012 Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC) Annual Conference and Joint Meeting will take place at the University of California, Berkeley from December 7 to 9. The conference will be chaired by Academia Sinica Vice President Fan-sen WANG. The theme of the conference is “New Horizons: Information Technology Connecting Culture, Community, Time, and Place”. This year’s conference will focus on how today’s cutting edge information technology can facilitate profound change in the presentation of the diversity of humanity, and the way technologies can connect human history, culture, daily life and community in space and time. The three-day gathering comprises 30 sessions and is expected to attract approximately 100 experts and scholars from 10 countries throughout the region.

The conference highlights four major keynote presentations during which speakers will share their expertise on the use of cutting-edge information technologies in the identification and preservation of our human cultural and historical heritage. The first keynote speaker, Founding Director Ben KACYRA, is the founding director of the CyArk Foundation, a non-profit organization with the mission of digitally preserving cultural heritage sites through collecting, archiving and providing open access to data created by laser scanning, digital modeling, and other state-of-the-art technologies. In 1990, Founding Director KACYRA invented the first fully integrated laser 3D imaging, mapping, modeling, and CAD system. Through the use of laser scanning, digital modeling, and other state-of-the-art technologies, the CyArk Foundation has earmarked 500 important cultural heritage sites around the world as primary conservation targets. These include the American Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the Acropolis in Athens, Machu Picchu in Peru, the pre-Hispanic city of Chichen-Itza in the Caribbean and Rani Ki Vav in India. During his presentation, Founding Director Kacyra will relate his experiences with respect to digital preservation in the humanities.

The second keynote speaker, Prof. Clifford LYNCH, is Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) and Adjunct Professor of the School of Information, Berkeley, California. The CNI was founded in 1990 and is a joint initiative between the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the non-profit association EDUCAUSE. It promotes the use of digital information technology to build integrated IT service platforms for the advancement of scholarly communications and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. CNI’s membership comprises some 200 institutions including seats of higher learning, publishing, information technology, scholarly and professional organizations, foundations, and libraries and library organizations. During his address, Prof. LYNCH will discuss the latest developments in recording culture in the networked information world.

The third keynote presenter, Prof. Tai-li HU, is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica. During her lecture, Prof. Hu will share her personal expertise and experience as a pioneer ethnographic documentary film maker. Prof. HU’s works use digital technology to preserve endangered aboriginal cultures. Her documentary film ‘Returning Souls’ was selected for competition at this year’s Sole Luna Documentary Film Festival in Italy, the Jean Rouch International Film Festival in Paris, the Moscow International Visual Anthropology Festival, the Women Make Waves Film Festival in Taipei, and the Society for Visual Anthropology Ethnographic Film Festival in San Francisco.

The forth keynote speaker, Prof. Deren LI, is Chair of the Academic Committee at Wuhan University and a member of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Prof. LI is an authority on the disciplines of photogrammetry and remote sensing. His research teams use the latest methods in topography and remote sensing to collect and conserve data on shapes and sculptures with special emphasis on Mo-Gao Grotto (Caves of the Thousand Buddhas) in Dunhuang in China. These new advances in technology allow for remote detailed examination of sites down to the millimeter scale. During his keynote address, Prof. LI will share his unique experience in the use of digital technology in the conservation of Mo-Gao Grotto and the Chi-Lin Nunnery in Hong Kong.

In addition to the keynote addresses, during the PNC sessions, experts from many different countries and regions will expand on the theme of using advances in information technology to preserve, share, and document humanity’s heritage. The conference and joint meetings will provide an opportunity to learn more about the fundamental changes that are taking place in digital archiving and also highlight how these technologies are being made relevant to the human experience, especially in the preservation and sharing of culture, history, religion, and new media.

The Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC) was founded nearly 20 years ago, in 1993. Since its inception, the PNC has grown to become an essential platform for sharing information technologies and their applications in humanities among Pacific Rim countries. The PNC is committed to enhancing digital research and interaction among educators, professionals, and researchers throughout the Pacific region. Through the extensive efforts of many, especially the former Academia Sinica President, Dr. Yuan-Tseh LEE, in 1997 the headquarters of the PNC was moved to Academia Sinica. In the past, the PNC has hosted conferences throughout the Pacific Rim including events in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Osaka, Bangkok, Taipei, Hawaii, and Seoul.


Related Websites:
http://www.PNCLink.org
http://www.pnclink.org/pnc2012/english/index.html


Further Information:
Academia Sinica Newsletter 2012/12/03

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Science Council International Cooperation Sci-Tech Newsbrief
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



(編輯記錄)