The Bibliographic Database: Cultural History of the Western Himalaya and Adjacent Areas (BibDB) consists of more than 7800 indexed bibliographic references focusing on the westernmost zone of the Himalayan region. Starting as a simple catalogue on paper cards by emer. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Deborah Klimburg-Salter in the 70s, it has been transformed into a local digital database of references and extended with the participation of various scholars. In the course of the FWF financed National Research Network (NFN) The Cultural History of the Western Himalaya (2006-2013) the BibDB was made publicly available as an online resource.
The aim of the CHIS - Cultural History Information System project was to design and build a collaborative spatially enabled system for archiving, analyzing and visualizing datasets of cultural history. Through the interdisciplinary aspects of the various partner involved, a more holistic view on the overall cultural history of a wide region (including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and China) can be achieved. The CHIS therefore serves as a communication platform for information dissemination.
The main focus of the CHIS is to offer a map-centered system approach in order to locate as well as display objects by their geographical location. It also has the purpose to visualize and communicate the research outcomes of all project partners promoting the involved disciplines and increasing public awareness about this remote area of the world.
In future, special focus will be put on the examination of methods and concepts for visualization and communication processes with regard to topics like information access, usability, engineered serendipity (where the user is able to ‘browse’ through a web delivered interactive integrated media repository), and the differences between various interdisciplinary expert/non-expert user groups.
The University of Vienna has been conducting research on the cultural history of Inner and South Asia for more than 35 years, and has been documenting its activities by audio and visual media including data of material cultures, art and architecture, rituals and ceremonies, as well as everyday life and customs.
It is one of the main concerns of CIRDIS to scientifically archive this material through advanced digital archives, to expand these collections and databases, and to further optimise the methodology and systems for archiving in order to increase their usability and access for scholars. Thus making use of these new technologies of an emerging Digital Humanities will not only contribute to the long-term availability of sources but also generate new research questions and innovative projects.
Relevant Publications:
The Western Himalaya Archive Vienna (WHAV) at the Department of Art History, University of Vienna, is a documentation and research center that focuses on the art and material culture of the Western Himalayan region. With over 130.000 analogue and visual assets mainly from research travel made by various scholars since 1990, the WHAV contains one of the most extensive collections of scientifically archived visual documentation and associated research materials for this area. The collections far exceed the geographic boundaries of the Western Himalaya by including visual resources from countries in Central, South, South East and East Asia, such as India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Tibetan Autonomous Region, Nepal, Burma, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Following established international standards for long-term archiving and in accordance with the policy of open access, most of these resources are already available through our online database.