Publications
This paper describes OpeNumisma; a reusable web-based platform focused on digital numismatic collections. The platform provides an innovative merge of digital imaging and data management systems that offer great new opportunities for research and the dissemination of numismatic knowledge online. A unique feature of the platform is the application of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), a computational photographic method that offers tremendous image analysis and possibilities for numismatic research. This computational photography technique allows the user to observe on browser minor details, unseen with the naked eye just by holding the computer mouse rather than the actual object. The first successful implementation of OpeNumisma has been the creation of a digital library for the medieval coins from the collection of the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.
This paper highlights the challenges in content dissemination in Cultural Heritage (CH) institutions by digital humanities scholars and small Museums and Archival Collections. It showcases a solution based on Community Reusable Semantic Metadata Content Models (RM’s) available for download from our community website. Installing the RM’s will extend the functionality of the state of the art Content Management Framework (CMF) towards numismatic collections. Furthermore, it encapsulates metadata using the Resource Description Framework in Attributes (RDFa), and the Schema.org vocabulary. Establishing a community around RM’s will help the development, upgrading and sharing of RM’s models and packages for the benefit of the Cultural Heritage community. A distributed model for Community Reusable Semantic Metadata Content Models will allow the community to grow and improve, serving the needs and enabling the infrastructure to scale for the next generation of humanities scholars.