Weaving Communities of Practice

Researchers

• Denise Y. Arnold : ILCA, La Paz, Bolivia
  Georges Gyory , Immanuel Normann , Sven Helmer : DCSIS, Birkbeck, University of London
  Luciana Martins : CILAVS, Birkbeck, University of London
  

Funding

• This project is funded by AHRC.

Project Brief

• This project is about developing a knowledge base to store 3D Andean textile patterns together with rich cultural and historic context information.
• Andean civilisations have used weaving for conveying information for a very long time. In contrast to alphabetic writing as developed in Europe and the Middle East, information is stored in patterns on materials such as cloth. Research has established that Andean people have employed this medium to document and communicate complex information. While some of these textile messages are understood by today's researchers, others are still waiting to be deciphered. One challenge in continuing this research is that the material for study is only available in a piecemeal fashion and without contextual information.
• We plan to prepare information on Andean textiles in a way that puts it into a cultural, geographical, and historical context by providing a knowledge base that researchers can annotate and query. We draw on AI techniques for knowledge representation, reasoning, and sophisticated methods for searching. In addition to storing weaving patterns, our knowledge base will be fed with multimedia data such as digital photos, video, and text, providing context for the textile designs. This ranges from commentaries by living weavers to ethnographic and historical records.
• This project has a certain urgency to it, as the weaving practices, some of which have been handed down for millennia, are endangered. Younger generations no longer pick up weaving, meaning that this knowledge is being lost. We want to contribute to preserving the rich cultural heritage of Andean weaving. In particular, we have the following objectives:
  • Developing an ontological approach that permits a more logical systematisation of the data and interpretations of former studies on Andean weaving.
  • Surpassing the (software) limitations of the current 2D analysis techniques of Andean cloth through the development of 3D virtual reality fabric design and simulation tools.

Official Web Site

• The official web site of the project can be found here .

Publications

• Denise Y. Arnold, Sven Helmer, Rodolfo Velasquez Arando: Towards Building a Knowledge Base for Research on Andean Weaving. Proc. 26th British National Conf. on Databases (BNCOD), Birmingham, July 2009: 180-188