Nara Symposium for Digital Silk Roads
(The second NII International Symposium)



Organised by UNESCO, Japanese National Commission for UNESCO,
Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU),
National Institute of Informatics (NII)

Sponsored by Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Agency for Cultural Affairs
Nara prefecture
Nara City
The Nara International Foundation
National Federation of UNESCO Associtations in Japan
Japan Digital Archives Association(to be considered) japan Art Documentation Society(to be considered)



December 10 - 12, 2003
At Nara-ken New Public Hall



Nara Symposium for Digital Silk Roads (DSR Nara) aims to provide an opportunity to discuss research on the Silk Roads from a new perspective based on the collaboration of cultural studies and digital technology. It is designed as a follow-up of Tokyo Symposium for Digital Silk Roads in December 2001, where Tokyo Declaration on the Digital Silk Roads was adopted. The Tokyo Declaration calls for global corporation in passing the Silk Roads heritage on to future generations as a common asset of mankind by fully utilizing advanced information technology.

The city of Nara is apparently one of the most suitable places to host this symposium. Nara, an ancient capital of Japan that prospered most in the eighth century, was the easternmost stop of the Silk Roads. Artifacts originating as far away as in ancient Persia and Arabia ended up in the capital after traveling thousands of miles across the Eurasian Continent. One can even observe the influence of ancient Greece on one of the city's oldest temples. Thus, Nara was effectively the final destination of the Silk Roads and Japan's gateway for cultural encounters with other civilizations.




TOPICS OF INTEREST
1. Research on Silk Roads in cultural fields
- Language, literature, art, social customs, tradition from the viewpoint of cultural exchanges
- Protection, archiving, preservation of tangible/intangible cultural assets; efforts to organize, manage, and publicize research materials on them

2. Research on digital technology
- Technologies for digital archiving, information retrieval, storage, and display
- New approaches related to the above-mentioned technologies

3. Interdisciplinary research that links cultural studies and digital technology
- Research on the Silk Roads through network collaboration
- Demands for digital technologies from cultural studies, and vice versa.
- Protection, archiving, preservation, and publication of tangible/intangible cultural assets utilizing advanced information technologies

4. Research and case studies on digital capacity building for culture
- Multi-stakeholder cooperation for human resource development
- Advanced training program and curricula in digital technology for culture
- Promotion of sustainable synergy in digital technology applications for culture

VENUE : Nara-ken New Public Hall (Nara-ken Shin Kokaido)


PROGRAMME OUTLINE
Dec 10, 2003 Session open to the public
AM: Opening Ceremony and Keynote Address
PM: General Lecture
Dec 11, 2003 Expert session
AM: Current Achievements, New Perspectives
PM: Poster Session
Dec 12, 2003 Expert session
AM: Proposals for the Future, Concluding Remarks of Nara Symposium and Closing Ceremony
PM: Study Tour

SYMPOSIUM SECRETARIAT ADDRESSES

DSR Nara Symposium Secretariat,
Publicity and Survey Division,
National Institute of Informatics (NII)
2-1-2, Hitotsubashi
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8430 Japan


NARA SYMPOSIUM FOR DIGITAL SILK ROADS WEB SITE

http://www.nii.ac.jp/dsrnara/
For inquiry , please contact at info-dsrnara@nii.ac.jp



SYMPOSIUM COMMITTEE CHAIR

Prof. Kinji ONO
Executive Director for Research, National Institute of Informatics (NII)



NII Home
info-dsrnara@nii.ac.jp