Juma Al Majid Center for Culture and Heritage in Dubai, in collaboration with the Arab Administrative Development Organization of the Arab League, organized a lecture titled “Crowdsourcing Applications in Digital Documentation of Cultural Heritage: Opportunities and Challenges.” The lecture was delivered by Dr. Emad Eissa Saleh, Professor and Head of the Department of Libraries and Information at Helwan University, and Vice President of the Egyptian Library, Information and Archives Association in the Arab Republic of Egypt.
In his lecture, Dr. Emad discussed the concept of “crowdsourcing” through the presentation he delivered, defining crowdsourcing as the delegation of certain tasks by an institution to external parties to perform on its behalf due to time, human resource, or financial constraints.
The lecture explored how to harness the expertise and intelligence of internet users to collect and document cultural heritage resources, making them easier to search for and retrieve. This was done by introducing the concept of crowdsourcing and its types, and by reviewing prominent practical examples and practices at both the global and Arab levels in the field of cultural heritage documentation. The lecture concluded by highlighting the issues and challenges that must be considered when embarking on such projects.
