Digitising Thailand's cultural attractions

       System aims to ease access to treasures and boost tourism, reports Sasiwimon Boonruang
       This will empower villagers to generate revenue
       Wandering through cultural attractions and museums will become more rewarding once you are able to view items and locations over the web to aid trip-planning.
       The Culture Ministry and Science and Technology Ministry have collaborated to digitise cultural and art content to enhance access to and preservation of cultural heritage resources.
       Ayutthaya is the first province in which the Culture Ministry has integrated historical information and presented it to visitors, in both still photographs and videos.
       Visitors can also look around the surrounding area via geographical information system (GIS) over the Internet, by computer or mobile phone. The website will be launched soon.
       At the Chao Sam Praya museum, in stead of receiving a conventional paper ticket, visitors will get a wristband with radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to identify the registered visitors.
       The RFID-embedded wristband also guides the visitors by presenting information on exhibits and proposing further interesting visitor destinations in the area.
       The province can keep a database of which tourist destinations these people have visited, as well as the route they used to get there.
       "This information will benefit the province as it will be able to provide information and promote destinations to the prospective visitors," said Virach Sornlertlamvanich, assistant executive director of National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec).
       For the Museum, RFID has been used to systematically manage the items in the museum so that the position of each visitor can be identified so as to keep track of what they have and have not yet seen, as well as to help prevent the loss of any items or exhibits.
       Culture Ministry deputy permanent secretary Somchai Seanglai said there are some 120,000 digital files of the cultural and art content which the ministry will transfer to video clips, with Nectec's help.
       The digital files have been developed and added to Google Maps of popular places in Ayutthaya province, such as Wat Yai Chaimongkol.
       "We will collect places of national and religious importance, along with descriptions of what styles of architecture they are, and the Buddha styles," Somchai said.
       Collecting information for the pilot project has taken three months.
       The Culture Ministry has added to the digital archives system information on Khon, the Thai classical dance.
       The software program, developed by Chulalongkorn University, has simulated the Khon costume to help shortcut the production process, as the designer and tailors can view the costume model before choosing materials, patterns and styles according to their requirements.
       This reduces the time and total cost of tailoring as they can reduce material waste.
       It is therefore anticipated that the software program will save the Fine Art Department a great deal of money.
       The museum management system supports the maintenance and borrowing system of the Khon costume, reducing deterioration and the risk of loss or theft.
       The digital archives system also promotes sustainable education and development of Khon.
       The Khon knowledge dissemination via computer network should ease educational access as the persons and experts involved with the performance can collect and develop it more efficiently, while the public and academics can use the same information for reference.
       While Ayutthaya Historical Park is the highlight of Ayutthaya, the living culture of Suphan Buri will be the next province to benefit from the digitisation of its arts and cultural content.
       Suphan Buri has the most complete mapping system in Thailand, as the province has already collected its data in a co-ordinates system, the deputy permanent secretary said, noting that the its premier visitor attractions include Wat Pra Noan and Wat Pai Rong Wua.
       The Culture Ministry will integrate cultural collections of digitised resources and improve access for the wider public.
       "This will also empower the villagers and small community groups to share their local wisdom and heritage, such as the design patterns of clothes, and from this they can generate revenue due to tourism, homestays and the sale of handicrafts," Somchai said.
       He added that this can help the communities to further develop businesses,for example in the visual arts, by giving artists an opportunity to showcase their works in an e-gallery or e-marketplace.
       "There will be information of the local performance such as Li-Kae , the musical folk drama and Lam-Tad , the performing art, with information and contact details of the bands," Somchai said, noting that the current target audience is Thai, although the ministry plans to translate the content into English and Chinese.
       Citing the Tourism Authority of Thailand, he said only 24 percent of foreign tourists visit the kingdom for cultural purposes, so this initiative intends to encourage greater numbers of cultural tourists to the country.
       He noted that the Route E-sarn (the Northeastern course) promotion, which features World Heritage locations such as Phu Phrabat Historical Park in Udon Thani, will be the next project for digital archive.
       In addition, the ministry will present the living culture of eight Northern provinces including Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai,Lampang, Lamphun, Phayao, Phrae,Nan and Mae Hong Son and historical and religious places.
       "It takes time for the process of digitising data and most of the budget has gone towards the data collection," he said.
       Virach said Nectec has set up the infrastructure and web portal for communities to collect photographs, video files, captions and keywords for searching.
       "We have designed the system to allows users, data owners and communities to simply deliver the data based on the social networking pattern," he said.
       The community database is comparable with a live encyclopedia that promotes cultural traditions, local wisdom and tourism and also presents crucial information about the communities in both of quantitative and comparative styles.
       Nectec has also developed the "Fiesta on Mobile" application that provides information on Thai festivals and other cultural events to users via mobile phone.
       The application helps users to search for information in various modes, such as automatic search, search with picture and search with GPS.
       The application can also define the locations and help guide users to the events.
       This information service will cover all five regions of Thailand, with Ayutthaya being the pilot project which is now is at the data-testing stage.
       "There are lists of popular tourist attractions such as Wat Yai Chaimongkol and local museums, as Nectec has developed the application to show tourists the top-hit spots by ranking," said Virach.
       All this technology will be showcased at Nectec's Annual Conference and Exhibition during September 23-25 at Science Park in Phatum Thani.
       According to Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich, Science and Technology minister, the ultimate goal of the cooperative venture is to use science and technology capabilities as tools to enable people to easily access knowledge and information resources.
       It also strengthens the education,economic and social aspects of the country, she said.
       Culture minister Teera Slukpetch said the cultural content digitisation is a key strategy of the ministry in adding value to the cultural capital, as it has supported the creative economy and promoted cultural tourism at national and international level.
       The cultural information centre will collect the knowledge and wisdom of the rural communities and villages, and turn it into educational and economic resources.
       Based on the collaboration for cultural capital development, science and technology has been applied to public services such as libraries, civic halls,archeological sites, museums, historical parks, contemporary cultural arts, Thai performing arts and musical dance.