Cultural heritage, which includes among others historical artefacts, works of art, and cultural traditions, is a priceless resource that belongs to a nation, as oftentimes it is unique and specific to that nation. Aside from forming cultural and national identity, cultural heritage also possesses valuable economic impact, for instance in supporting the tourism industry, arts and handicrafts, and the large culture and creative industry. The value of Indonesia’s cultural heritage, in particular, has not been fully leveraged by the aforementioned industries. Compared to neighbouring countries who are equally rich in cultural heritage, such as Thailand and India, international recognition and perception of Indonesia’s resources remains relatively low. In the tourism industry, for example, in 2008 – officially designated as Visit Indonesia year – the Central Bureau of Statistics notes 6.2 million visitors. Compare this to the number of foreign tourists in 2007 to Thailand (14.46 million) and Singapore (10.3 million).
Currently, various countries have undertaken large projects to preserve and leverage their cultural heritage through the use of information technology, which is widely viewed as an enabling technology. Perhaps the most prominent example of this is the European Union, which currently funds various large-scale research projects with an ambition to archive and digitalize the entirety of Europe’s cultural artefacts, and making them available as an information resource through digital libraries to support various needs: as a record of the history of culture, as a valuable resource for the development of new products and services in the creative industry, as a main source of materials in developing learning content, and to support the tourism industry.
One specific aspect of cultural heritage that receives special attention is historical artefacts, such as monuments, statues, and archaeological findings. These artefacts are inherently vulnerable to the influence of nature and time, and thus steps must be taken to undertake comprehensive inventory through the use of information technology. A knowledge repository of such artefacts would bring much benefit to the aforementioned industries. Furthermore, current advances in computer science fields such as image processing enable the development of systems that can repair, enhance, and restore the digital representations of these artifacts.
The purpose of the research is to aid in the preservation and utilization of cultural heritage of Indonesia as a valuable resource, specifically on historical artefacts, with the aid of information technology. This proposal is an appropriate synergy between a research topic with academic value and an application topic with much potential benefits for industry. The success of this initiative is also dependent on the involvement of various stakeholders such as government (e.g. the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), arts and culture institutions (e.g. IKJ, ISI), the creative industry, and relevant non-governmental organizations (e.g. the Indonesian Heritage Society, Indonesian Historia Community), and other institutions.
By opening access to this information system to the public, e.g. through the Web, through mobile device applications, it is hoped that the knowledge contained within can be disseminated effectively. The forming of communities that make use of this system will aid in the sustainability of the data cataloguing process. Finally, it is hoped that the commercial value of such an application would be an increase in the performance of the tourism industry