The document discusses several projects undertaken by the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) in Egypt to document and preserve cultural heritage using information technology. Some of the key projects mentioned are the Archaeological Map of Egypt, documenting Egypt's architectural and natural heritage through databases and GIS, digitizing historical photographs, and documenting manuscripts and folkloric traditions. The overall goal is to apply the latest digital tools to comprehensively archive Egypt's cultural history and make it globally accessible.

1. Prepared by: Sherin Haroun El. Rashied
BETWEEN
HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY
BETWEEN
PAST AND PRESENT

2. INTRODUCTION
A result of the discoveries of archaeological on going and the resulting
waste material from buildings and works of art and ancient artefacts and
remnants of historical and cultural, there is an urgent need to arrange
this huge number of pieces and works of art, and in the search
continued for the conservation of these residues is seeking specialists to
create a system for documenting this information, which may require
research by long periods of time have been found between the folds of
books, folders, and specialized research or do not find.

3. DOCUMENTATION
IS THE SCIENCE OF
CONTROLLING INFORMATION

4. SCIENCE OF DOCUMENTATION
• Elements of the document
• Adopt the document as a document originally scientific rests on four
pillars:
 Date of the document
 Source of document
 Document’s receiver
 Subject of document

5. SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF MODERN
AUTHENTICATION
• Optical archiving systems
• Digital Archive Systems
• Integrated systems combined

6. MEMORY OF THE ARAB WORLD
The Memory of the Arab World is concerned with developing a specialized
portal on the Internet, applying the latest software to introduce the Arab
civilization to the world and to contribute to the Arabic content on the
Internet. The bilingual gateway is meant to connect the younger generations
of Arabs with their cultural identity, and to maintain the comprehensive
memory of the people of the Arab World. It is the first Arab project aiming to
digitize the Arab heritage and aiming to preserve its memory to pass it on to
future generations. The project is supported by the Ministry of Communication
and Information Technology, Arab Republic of Egypt (MCIT) represented by
the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT), the
League of Arab States, the United Nations Educational, the Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Telecommunication Union,
the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO),
and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO).

7. CULTNAT
Is affiliated with Bibliotheca Alexandrina and supported by the Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology.
The Center's mandate is to document the various aspects of Egypt's tangible and
intangible cultural heritage as well as its natural heritage.
This involves the implementation of the national plan of action towards the
documentation program, making use of the most up-to-date information
technology in collaboration with the national and international specialized
organizations.
The Center also aims at increasing public awareness of Egypt's cultural& natural
heritage using all available media as well as building capacities of professionals in
the fields of conservation and documentation of cultural and natural heritage

8. CULTURAMA
• CULTURAMA, is a Cultural Panorama over nine screens, the first ever patented 9-
projector interactive system. It is an innovative harmonized mix of cultural and
natural heritage information, using an informative and attractive multimedia program
and the latest display technology. Winner of many awards, the CULTURAMA, which
was developed by the Egyptian Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural
Heritage (CULTNAT), allows the presentation of a wealth of data layers, where the
presenter can click on an item and go to a new level of detail. It is a remarkably
informative multi-media presentation of Egypt’s heritage across 5000 years of history
up to modern times, with highlights and examples of Ancient Egyptian, Coptic and
Muslim heritage.
• The hardware part contains a huge 180 degrees panoramic interactive computer
screen with a diameter of 10 meters that consists of nine separate flat screens
arranged in a semi-circular shape and nine video projectors controlled by a single
computer. An Interactive multimedia software was especially developed by our team
to enable the display on the panoramic screen.

10. VIRTUAL IMMERSIVE SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS (VISTA)
• Virtual reality is one of the very practical tools of visualization during
research. With virtual reality, or immersive visualization, researchers
are able to experience 3D simulations of natural or human-engineered
phenomena, thus developing new insights and more profound
understanding to the subject of their research. Often eliminating the
need for physical models, work within virtual environments has been
shown to save time and resources in both commercial and scientific
research.
• In its efforts to serve science and development, the BA installed a
CAVE (Computer Aided Virtual Environment) system known as VISTA
(Virtual Immersive Science and Technology Applications) to meet the
digital challenges of today. Managed by ISIS, VISTA is the latest
generation of FLEX™ visualization systems that allow for running
research applications where viewing, association and presentation
requirements are poorly met within the confines of 2D visualization.
This walk-in virtual reality system allows for interactive work within
three-dimensional computer-generated models and environments,
thus providing better visualization and analysis of the carried out
research.

12. The most important projects have
been implemented to document the
cultural history and natural use of
information technology

13. DOCUMENTATION OF HERITAGE
• Digital Manuscript Library
• Arabic Papyri Collections at the National Library of Egypt
• Al-Hilal Digital Archive
• The 100,000 Manuscripts Project
• Ancient Egyptian Language Dictionary

14. DIGITAL LIBRARY
• Memory of Modern Egypt
• Eternal Egypt
• Description de l’Egypte
• L'Art Arabe
• Digital Assets Repository (DAR)
• Universal Digital Library
• The World Digital Library

15. DIGITAL LIBRARY
• Global Egyptian Museum Website
• Gamal Abdel Nasser Digital Archive
• Sadat Digital Archive
• Memory of the Suez Canal
• The Digital Library of Inscriptions and Calligraphies
• National Archives of Egypt
• Memory of the Arab World

16. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MAP OF EGYPT
The Archaeological Map of Egypt program is a
multidimensional program aiming to employing the latest
information technology to produce a powerful
documentation and management tool for the Egyptian
archaeological sites that are spread all over the country.
It involves dividing the information of the archaeological
sites into three levels (National, Sites, and the Monuments
level) and using the multimedia technologies in conjunction
with the GIS to document the archeological and
geographical details of each monument.

17. THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF EGYPT
To document the nineteenth and twentieth century architectural heritage of
Egypt, starting with the Downtown area of Cairo as a pilot project and continuing
with more parts of Cairo and other cities. This project constitutes of a Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) with an easy to browse database that includes
extensive photographic documentation, all published material for each
inventoried building, in addition to historic documents, maps and archival
material.

18. THE DOCUMENTATION OF EGYPT'S NATURAL
HERITAGE
Documenting and disseminating information on the natural heritage of Egypt. It
involves the collection of all data available on protected areas as well as the
diverse habitats and their components of flora, fauna, geological formations and
cultural features.

19. THE PHOTOGRAPHIC HERITAGE
An ambitious undertaking as it documents Egypt's
intangible cultural heritage through photography.
The program's primary activity is to digitize the
archives of photographers [foreign and Egyptian]
from the Nineteenth and early Twentieth-century.

20. THE FOLKLORIC HERITAGE PROGRAM
The program documents, in a database compilation process, different aspects of
the historical daily life that are about to become extinct all over Egypt, and
specially in places like Fatimic Cairo, Sinai, the Oasis , Quena and Aswan.

21. THE ARTS CULTURAL
HERITAGE
Documentation/Preservation of the Arts
Cultural heritage is a persistent concern of
every nation. The Arab Nation's Arts
Heritage is a wealthy one which is
considered to be a reference to the
development of human civilization.

23. THE ETERNAL EGYPT
For over five thousand years, from the dawn of the pharaohs to the Islamic era,
passing through both the Greco-Roman and the Coptic periods, Egyptian
culture has evoked a sense of almost inexpressible awe. By the fifth century
BC, as the Greek historian Herodotus wrote, Egypt had ‘more wonders in it
than any other country in the world,’ and provided for the world ‘more works
that defy description than any other place.’

24. DOCUMENTATION OF MANUSCRIPTS
In view of the continued interest of the Centre for the Documentation of Cultural
and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT), of Bibliotheca Alexandrina, in maintaining
cultural sustainability – particularly in the field of Science; and due to the
importance of digital electronic documentation of manuscripts in asserting the
effective role undertaken by the Arab and Muslim Scientists in developing the
human Scientific knowledge: CULTNAT is preparing a series of publications aiming
at bringing, to the World attention, the Arab and Islamic contributions to the
progress of Science; through a well established partnership with UNESCO.