Unfolding Communities: imaging the Past, Envisioning the Future

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Unfolding Communities Imaging the Past, Envisioning the Future Moshe Caine Eyal Tagar Idit Ben Or Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem Project archLive Project archLive Hanevi’im 74, Jerusalem, Israel 57 Jasmin st. Ora, Israel Elisha 11, Jerusalem, Israel [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] This paper describes an ongoing project which is ideological in its vision, anthropological and historical in its research and technological in its application. It outlines a model for cross cultural documentation and analysis of lost communities through a combination of “hands on” and advanced imaging technologies. The rationale underlining the project is that through joint activity, discourse and discovery, widely differing groups can forge a common ground and gain a better understanding of the other. The pilot project outlined here describes a venture involving the participation of students from Israel and Germany in restoring a cemetery of the lost Jewish community of Bad Neustadt in Northern Bavaria. The paper introduces the conceptual background of cemeteries in various cultures. It then presents the case study of the Bad Neustadt project and continues with the various technological and methodological approaches to the application of advanced photographic and imaging technologies in observation, investigation, documentation and dissemination of the content. The paper concludes with the suggestion that this model may act as a template for future cross cultural collaborations of a technical, academic and social nature. Community. Imaging. 3D, RTI, Virtual Reality, Photography. Heritage, Culture 1. INTRODUCTION This is not a paper about groundbreaking advances in computer imaging. Nor is this a talk about technology for technology's sake. This is a presentation about a place where ideology and technology meet. About the coming together of people with the desire to better understand each other and about the role of digital imaging and interactive media technologies in enabling this dream. This is an example of the potential of growth, the growth of a simple idea into a powerful action. Above all, this is a demonstration of the power of joint social values, belief in human goodness and the positive potential of communication technologies to bring about better understanding amongst people and above conflict. 1

Transcript of Unfolding Communities: imaging the Past, Envisioning the Future

Unfolding CommunitiesImaging the Past, Envisioning the

Future

Moshe Caine Eyal Tagar Idit Ben OrHadassah Academic College,

JerusalemProject archLive Project archLive

Hanevi’im 74, Jerusalem,Israel

57 Jasmin st. Ora, Israel Elisha 11, Jerusalem, Israel

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

This paper describes an ongoing project which is ideological in its vision,anthropological and historical in its research and technological in itsapplication. It outlines a model for cross cultural documentation and analysisof lost communities through a combination of “hands on” and advanced imagingtechnologies. The rationale underlining the project is that through jointactivity, discourse and discovery, widely differing groups can forge a commonground and gain a better understanding of the other.

The pilot project outlined here describes a venture involving theparticipation of students from Israel and Germany in restoring a cemetery ofthe lost Jewish community of Bad Neustadt in Northern Bavaria. The paperintroduces the conceptual background of cemeteries in various cultures. Itthen presents the case study of the Bad Neustadt project and continueswith the various technological and methodological approaches to theapplication of advanced photographic and imaging technologies in observation,investigation, documentation and dissemination of the content. The paperconcludes with the suggestion that this model may act as a template for futurecross cultural collaborations of a technical, academic and social nature.

Community. Imaging. 3D, RTI, Virtual Reality, Photography. Heritage, Culture

1. INTRODUCTION

This is not a paper aboutgroundbreaking advances in computerimaging. Nor is this a talk abouttechnology for technology's sake.

This is a presentation about a placewhere ideology and technology meet.About the coming together of peoplewith the desire to better understandeach other and about the role ofdigital imaging and interactive media

technologies in enabling this dream.This is an example of the potential ofgrowth, the growth of a simple ideainto a powerful action. Above all,this is a demonstration of the powerof joint social values, belief inhuman goodness and the positivepotential of communicationtechnologies to bring about betterunderstanding amongst people and aboveconflict.

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When a once vibrant community nolonger exits, it leaves behindphysical evidence of all aspects ofcommunal life. The evidence is usuallyconcrete: Public buildings, privatehomes, cemeteries or artefacts. Therational of unfolding communities isthat it enables the participants toexperience "hands on" historicalresearch of this evidence.

This paper will describe an ongoingdocumentary project, combininghistorical research, cross culturaleducational work, applied imagingtechnologies and a re-thinking ofcircles of identity. The specificdocumentation project discussed herefocuses on a Jewish cemetery in BadNeustadt an der Saale, a small town inNorthern Bavaria, Germany.

2. CONCEPTUALIZING CEMETERIES

Most people's immediate association tocemeteries is personal grief, sadnessand memories. But a site whichembodies so many personal stories canalso be a window into wholecommunities. Bar Levav (2002)describes Jewish cemeteries as a placewhere not only the dead and the livingmeet, but also as a meeting place ofspiritual, emotional and aestheticideas. As a result, the cemetery is amixture of different and contradictingperceptions. These perceptions shapethe physical development of thecemetery as well as the world of thosewho visit it. Worpole (2003) sheds light on the waysin which the landscaping and planningaspects of cemeteries have importancein understanding cemeteries religious,political and social links to culturalbelief systems that symbolicallymanifest themselves in burial grounds.For instance, in the 19th centurycemeteries in Western Europe,cemeteries were designed in a well

organized and beautiful fashion todemonstrate social progress. But manytimes the cultural beliefs beingmanifested in these landscapes are notsingular. Cemeteries are a landscapewhere past and future values can benegotiated. An example of this can befound at the colonial cemeteries inIndia today, some of which are theearliest modern cemeteries in theworld. In the present they are sitesof ambivalent meaning due to theheritage of colonialism. The claim isthat it is because of this ambivalencein values and heritage that thecemeteries still stand, but in a stateof decay and abandonment (Chadha2006).

By viewing cemeteries as a mosaic thatembeds different kinds of informationwe are able to ask questions regardingcommunities of a more anthropologicaland sociological nature. For example,we can learn demographic information,social structure and gender roles(Foster, Hummel & Adamchack, 1998).From an anthropological point of viewit is important to discuss burialpractices as well as understand how agiven culture understands death. Wemust ask what forces shape funerarypractices and rituals. Thisinformation is twofold, we can learnabout the communities of the past, butalso about those visiting the cemeteryin the present.

Bar Levav (2002) offers 8 models thatcan help understand the social andcultural functions of cemeteries inJewish culture. Using these modelsenables us to think theoretically ofways we can access the wealth ofinformation cemeteries provide. Thesemodels include analyzing the cemeteryas;

(i) A neighbourhood - analyzingsocial structure and of the

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geographic marginality ofcemeteries in Jewish tradition

(ii) A gate or Portal to the world ofthe dead.

(iii) A communication centre with thedead and with god.

(iv) A Stage where rituals takeplace.

(v) A setting or backdrop - a moralsetting aimed at shaping theconsciousness of the visitor.

(vi) A refuge for dubious charactersor activity.

(vii) A trap where those who enter cannever leave.

(viii) A centre of identity for theliving.

2.1 CASE STUDY

In September 2013, a joint high schoolexchange program of German and Israelistudents set out to restore, renovateand document the abandoned Jewishcemetery of Bad Neustadt an der Saale,where all traces of a once thrivingJewish community vanished followingthe annihilation of the Jews duringWorld War 2. The exchange programbetween the high schools Mikve YisraelHigh School (Holon, Israel) and theBad Neustadt Rhön Gymnasium (BadNeustadt a.S., Germany) has existedfor over twenty years. The content ofthe program was traditionally one ofcultural exchange. The documentationprogram that took place was the firstattempt to address the question of thepast.

This cemetery is one of many inBavaria that is not documented andmany of the graves are alreadyunreadable. The main initial goal ofthe project was to clean up and mapout the cemetery and to document eachgrave. (Fig.1) Already at this stage,the joint work of students proved tobe a pathway to asking questions aboutpersonal and communal identity, aboutbeliefs, preconceptions and jointvalues. Furthermore, the information

gathered was used to expand theknowledge about the Jewish communityof Bad Neustadt. History books did notpay much attention to this smallperipheral community. The tombstoneswere able to shed light on aspects thestudents would not be able to learnabout through other written sources.

Figure 1: Students working on site

The sources that exist teach us thefollowing- Jews, in very smallnumbers, lived in the town of BadNeustadt from the end of the 13th

century. The community began togradually grow from the beginning ofthe 19th century. At the beginning ofthe 20th century there were more than200 Jews, amounting to 10% of thecity's population. The community wasnot very educated and seems to havebeen of scarce means. Many of the Jewswere cattle merchants. Like in many communities a burialground was set up before a localsynagogue was built. Between the years1769-1888 members of the communitywere brought to burial in a town namedKleinbardorf at the regional Jewishcemetery. The cemetery still existstoday with over 5000 undocumentedgraves. In 1887 a local Jewishcemetery was inaugurated. The localsynagogue was built in 1892, untilthat point the community wouldcongregate in a building purchased in1860 that served as a school, livingquarters and a community centre. Very

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little is known about communityleaders. When the Nazi party was elected togovernment in 1933, a wave ofpersecutions against the Jews began inthe town, including a series oflimitations on day to day activities,investigations of community leadersand forced labour. The grave stones inthe cemetery were desecrated twice(March 1936 and November 1938) and thesynagogue was damaged several times aswell. In 1938 the synagogue was takenfrom the community and turned into awarehouse. As a result of thepersecution the majority of thecommunity migrated. On February 1942,there were only 56 Jews in the town.The final transfer of the remainingJews took place Between February andAugust, 1942. The Jews weretransferred to Wurzburg and from thereto Izbica (adjacent to Lublin) or toGhetto Theresienstadt.

After the war no one from the originalcommunity returned. The Synagoguestill stands, and true to September2013 serves as an apartment buildingand doctor's clinic. The old communitybuilding stands abandoned and shut.The cemetery in 2013 is maintained bythe municipality. It is known thatafter the War the American armyordered the local municipality to fixthe damage in the site (Ophir,Schmiedt & Turtel-Aberzhanska, 1972).

The student's documentation of thecemetery brought to the table newinformation which can be used forresearch. The documentation cards giveus an idea of how many men, women andChildren were buried. In some cases wecan learn causes of death. Someleaders of the community have becomeevident- Teachers, doctors, people whowere known to give charity etc. Fromthe places of birth stated on thegrave we learned where people

emigrated from. By reading what peoplechose to engrave we can learn whatthey wanted to emphasize. A veryinteresting example are a few gravesof men which mention the unit theyfought in during World War One. Thisteaches us of the identity in regardto national affiliation. Thisinformation needs to be treatedcarefully, just like any text.Questions need to be asked on motivesand social structures. But with acarful analysis that cross referencesthe documentation material witharchives and local knowledge, much canbe learned. Unfortunately, because thesituation of the graves, some ofknowledge could potentially be lost.This is why we began to think oftechnology that can enhance theproject.

2.1.1 DIGITAL IMAGING AND INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN DOCUMENTATION

Whilst the primary aim of thisproject was never defined astechnological, it was clear from theoutset that imaging technologiescould, should and hopefully wouldlater on play an essential role as ameans to an end.

Four main goals were marked out forimaging technologies. They were:Observation, investigation,documentation & dissemination. Foreach of these goals, specificphotographic and imaging technologieswere explored and applied, each withthe aim of furthering the overall taskof unfolding the lost community.

Many technologies are available todayfor these purposes. However, most areexpensive and out of reach foracademia. Common sense and budgetaryconstraints dictated a more pragmaticapproach. It was obvious that alltechnologies had to be cheap andaccessible, even if not necessarily

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simple to use. Several imagingtechnologies were finally chosen:

For Observation - Low level elevatedphotography, Virtual reality, 3D andpanoramic photography. These weredesignated for mapping out thecemetery, reconstructing the spaceand providing virtual onlineaccessibility to the site.

For Investigation - RTI (ReflectanceTransformation Imaging). Aimed toenhance the readability of worn andfaded letters and symbols on thegrave stones.

For Documentation - Interactivehotspot data embedding, designed tolink the cemetery and grave stoneswith personal names, dates,biographies etc.

For Dissemination - Uploading allthe information to a CMS based website, thus providing access tocrowdsourcing for the generalpublic, to add further informationand hopefully to rebuild the lostcommunity.

2.1.1.1 PLANNING THE APPLIED RESEARCH

By now, the first, non-digital phaseof the project was complete and thestudents had returned to theirrespective homes and the second phaseof the project was being researched. According to the plan, all imagingtechnologies are ultimately to becarried out in situ, namely in thecemetery of Bad Neustadt. However atthe time leading up to the writing ofthis paper this was not possible dueto the limitations of both the time

and budget. Therefore, alternativelocations had to be mapped out forexperimentation and for testing of theplanned technologies. Subsequently,four local sites were chosen for theapplied research, each one on thebasis of its suitability for one ormore of the imaging technologies.

The Sambusky Jewish Cemetery

The Sambusky Jewish paupers’ cemeteryis an abandoned graveyard on theslopes of Mount Zion, in Jerusalem.(Fig. 2) Named after the sambusak, thepastry of the poor, the Sambusky Cemeterycontains the graves of thousands ofJerusalem’s poor who were buried thereover the past several centuries. Thisforgotten and desecrated cemetery, hasonly lately gained attention. Thus,while most of the original simpletombstones have long disappeared,vandalized and stolen during theOttoman, the British and the Jordanianrule, several remain. Neglected,withered and worn down by theelements, they are barely readable.These were therefore chosen forimaging with RTI, with the purpose ofrevealing the names of the wretchedmen, women and children, who weredestined to remain as nameless indeath as they were in life (Herzog2011).

Figure 2: Sambusky Cemetery

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The Mamillah Muslim Cemetery

A historic Muslim cemetery locatedjust to the west of the walls of theOld City of Jerusalem. (Fig.3) Thecemetery, at the centre of which liesthe Mamilla Pool, contains the remainsof figures from the early Islamicperiod, several Sufi shrines andMamluk-era tombs. The cemetery groundsalso contain the bodies of thousandsof Christians killed in the pre-Islamic era, as well as several tombsfrom Crusader times. In 1927 theSupreme Muslim Council decided topreserve it as a historic site(Khalidi 2009). Following the 1948Arab–Israeli War, the cemetery fellunder the control of Israeligovernmental bodies (Dumper 1997). Anumber of buildings, a road and otherpublic facilities, have since beenconstructed on the cemetery grounds,arousing much controversy and tension.

Figure 3: Mamillah Cemetery

This cemetery was chosen for 3Dimaging and grid mapping photography.

The Jerusalem British War Cemetery

A British cemetery in Jerusalem forfallen servicemen of the BritishCommonwealth in the World War I. Thecemetery is located on Mount Scopus,just north of the Mount of Olives andthe Old City of Jerusalem. (Fig.4) Itnow contains the graves of 2,515Commonwealth service personnel fromAustralia, New Zealand, India, Egypt,South Africa and the British WestIndies, besides those of the UnitedKingdom. The cemetery also contains theJerusalem Memorial to 3,300Commonwealth service personnel who

died on operations in the same war inEgypt and Palestine and have no knowngrave (CWGC Cemetery Report & website).Figure 4: British War Cemetery

In light of the access to information,i.e. names, dates and places, thiscemetery was chosen for geo locationand data mapping.

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Ma’ale Romaim, Fortress

A fortress from the Roman period,situated near the roman roadconnecting Jerusalem to Emmaus, acity from the Hellenistic periodthrough the Byzantine period. Thefortress is strategically located onthe main road from the plains toJerusalem, and served as anadministrative, military and economiccentre.

During the 4th century C.E. and therise of the Byzantine rule in thearea, the by now abandoned structurewas enlarged and probably served asworkshop for mosaics. During the riseof Islam in the 7th century C.E. thestructure was once again destroyedand repurposed as a whitewashfactory.

The site was originally excavated in1967 by Vassilios Tzaferis, duringwhich time basic conservation wascarried out (Tzaferis 1974).

This site was chosen in context ofunfolding communities due to its threetiered chronological structure andsuitability for panoramic photographyand Virtual Reality reconstruction.

3. APPLIED RESEARCH

3.1. Observation- 3D, VR, Grid Mapping

One of the central applications ofimaging in this project was themapping out of the cemetery andproviding both virtual access to the

site and tagging the graves with asmuch information as possible.

The original plan was to base the mapon aerial photography. However, itsoon became apparent that twoobstacles lay in our path. Onefinancial and the other physical.

Commissioning an aerial survey of thesite would not be possible financiallyand no suitable up to date low levelimages were found. Google images werenowhere near high enough in resolutionand were thus not of any real use.Over more, it became apparent thatapproximately half the area of thecemetery was hidden from site under athick canopy of trees, renderingaerial imaging or even mastphotography ineffective. To overcomethis limitation aerial LiDAR scanningcould be an effective solution. TheLiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging)scanner is an optical sensor thatmeasures the distance and otherproperties of an object byilluminating it with a laser andanalysing the returned light. Thistechnique can penetrate the overgrowthand the resulting Digital TerrainModel ("DTM") can show the hiddensurface. However this too was not apractical solution due to cost. It wasthus decided to test three approachesas possible solutions on the Mamillahcemetery. The first, 3d area mappingbased on ground level photogrammetry.

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The second, VR photography. The third,grid mapping based on multiplevertical images (Ofek Aerial Photo wesite).

3.1.1. 3D Model - Mamillah Cemetery

For the 3d area mapping, the AutodeskRecap a Photo software was chosen.This is a cloud based service,designed to enable the construction of3d models based on photogrammetry.Autodesk introduced ReCap photorecently as an upgrade to its original123D Catch, a mobile app for consumersthat turned photographs into 3Dmodels. This highly improved versionallows an unlimited number ofoverlapping photographs taken atdifferent angles around an object tobe converted into a massive pointcloud, and creates high-resolution,textured 3D. The software leveragesthe cloud to process and store thephotos and data. In our case, it wasnot so much the textured 3d model thatwas of interest, but rather theability to reconstruct the surfacearea with relative accuracy and thenmove the virtual 3d camera to anelevated position and create asimulated aerial view of the cemeterylayout (See Fig. 5)). Figure 5: Elevated view based on ground level 3D

Initial tests on the Mamillah cemeteryhave been encouraging, though it has

proved very difficult to consistentlycover large areas. Further tests arenecessary before a final conclusionmay be reached on this approach.

3.1.1.1. Virtual Tour - Roman Fortress

VR (Virtual Reality) panoramicphotography and virtual tourconstruction have been around for along time by digital imagingstandards, well over ten years,however their popularity has notdiminished. This is simply because thetechniques are time proven, visuallycompelling, effective and convenientto display. Unlike aerial photography,VR tours are usually (though notnecessarily) ground based. What theymay lack in providing an overview ofthe surface area, they compensate forhowever by virtue of their ability toconvey a sense of “being there” andgazing around from multiple viewpoints.(Fig.6)

For this reason the Ma’ale Romaim(Ascent of the Romans) fortress waschosen. The site itself is relativelysmall (approximately 240 squaremeters) but very difficult tovisualise without visual aids.Therefore the site was photographed inits entirety with 12 full sphericpanoramas. The panoramas were linkedthroughout to a map and embedded withhotspots. These provide historicaldata, images of archaeological findson the site, an artist impression ofthe structure during the three mainperiods and a video telling the storyof the unfolding communities. (Fig. 6)

Figure 6: Screen shot from Roman Fortress virtual tour

The project is presently being carriedout in conjunction with the IsraelAntiques Authority and the HerzogHospital of Jerusalem, in who'sgrounds the site resides today.

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3.1.1. Grid Mapping - Mamillah Cemetery

The third approach, constructing avertical photographic grid, is basedon the work of the German photographerAndreas Gefeller, best known for hisseries Supervisions, which employs aunique approach to recreating aerialshots. Gefeller maps out thedesignated area and then proceeds towalk the grid, step by step, shootingconsecutive vertical images from a setheight of approximately two meters.These images, often many hundreds innumber are painstakingly digitallyreconstructed to form a seamlesscollage, akin to a high resolutionGoogle Earth image. The unique aspectof these images is by virtue if thelow height at which they arephotographed, thus creating in hiscase an imaginary vantage point whichcan look through ceilings, or in ourcase through trees(www.andreasgefeller.com).

This approach has been tested out onsegments of the Mamillah cemetery andhas yielded mixed results. Theconstructed mosaic images areimpressive yet extremely difficult tocreate. Moreover, whereas in theMamillah cemetery the stones mostlylie flat on the ground, exposed to theoverhead photographs, the grave stonesin Bad Neustadt stand vertically. Thiswould make the imaging process moredifficult. Due to their height andorientation, the information inscribedon them would not be viewable. Forthese reasons it would seem that thistechnique is not best suited to theBad Neustadt cemetery.

3.2. INVESTIGATION

RTI - Reflectance Transformation Imaging

RTI was invented by Tom Malzbender atthe Hewlett Packard Labs (Malzbender,Gelb & Wolters 2001). Articlesexplaining RTI are numerous andreferences are provided at the end ofthis paper. Therefore, just a briefoverview is outlined here.

RTI is a technique aimed at enhancingthe surface detail of objects throughan algorithmic rendering of multipleregistered digital images of theobject, shot with controlled, varying,yet known light positions. The lightsources are positioned at a constantradius from the subject and surroundit at incremental angles, forming adome or hemisphere of light positions.The photographs (between 40 – 70) arethen fed into software whichcalculates the light positions (.LPfile) and forms the basis for thecreation of the final .PTM file,essentially a virtual three-dimensional digital image light sourcethat is controlled interactively via aJava based viewer,

There are two basic approaches tocreating RTI images. The HighlightMethod and the Dome Method. Using theHighlight Method, one or two red orblack balls (snooker balls work well)are placed next to the object. Themultiple registered pictures mustinclude both the object and the ball.For each photograph the light sourceis moved hemispherically at fixeddistance to the object. Finally, allthe images are placed into adirectory, and processed with the RTITracker software which searches forthe black ball, recovers the lightdirections and builds a PTM from thedataset.

The Dome Method is designed to semiautomate the process and utilizes a

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specially constructed dome into whichthe light sources have been embedded.These may be incandescent, flash orLEDs. The camera shoots through anaperture at the top. This way thelight positions, once calculated donot change. The down side of the domemethod is that the size of the objectsthat can be imaged is determined bythe size of the domes. These areusually no more than 1 to 1.5 metersin diameter, subsequently limiting thesize of object to no more than 20-30centimeters. Thus, on location at theSambusky cemetery, the highlightmethod was obviously the only possibleapproach. Even then, due to the strongMiddle East sunlight (already at 06:30a.m.) it was not easy to control thelight source. A small tent was thuserected around the grave stone toshade it from the direct sun and theexposure levels were dialed down to apoint where the ambient light was nolonger registered. All exposures werethen provided with an infra-redoperated electronic flash which wasmoved sequentially round the stones. As shown in the results below, themethod proved extremely effective inrevealing the faded texts and acted asproof of concept for the future workin Bad Neustadt. (Fig. 7)

Figure 7: Left: Default photo. Centre and right: RTI

3.3. DOCUMENTATION & DISSEMINATION

As stated, an essential element of thestudent exchange program in BadNeustadt was to document the graves.

This was a slow and labour intensiveprocess. The stones had to beunearthed and righted, cleaned andfinally transcribed onto card indexes.As the inscriptions on Jewish gravestones are In Hebrew, this in mostcases involved team work of both anIsraeli - Hebrew reading student and aGerman one. But documentation is notjust about writing down raw data,rather it is about asking questions.Understanding the meaning of names,symbols, dates, abbreviations,quotations, etc. Understanding thedifferences between cultures is key toaccepting different points of view.Even today, seventy years and threegenerations after the Holocaust,certain tensions, suspicion and basicpreconceptions still lie dormant inthe minds of the two societies. Themeeting of teenagers, the joint workand above all the attempts andwillingness to understand each other,these were some of the most valuableaspects of the Bad Neustadt project.

It is hoped that the Bad Neustadtproject will be a model forregenerating lost communities, usingthe potential of digital documentationand dissemination techniques. To thispurpose three simple strategies arecurrently being employed. They are:

Visual Hot Spot Tagging- In parallelto the testing of the various imagingtechnologies outlined above, a website is currently under construction.This will document to project and actas a focal point for the datadissemination. Central to the site isthe visual representation of the BadNeustadt cemetery in both a virtualreality tour and map form, tagged withhotspots. These will bring up theinformation gathered by the students;photographs alongside the names,dates, biographies etc. The story ofthe lost community will be retold intext and video, and the CMS backbone

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of the site will allow users to enteradditional information as it isuncovered.

Geo location tagging- Genealogysoftware has of late become verypopular. A large number of excellentweb sites offer both free and advancedfamily tree and community mappingservices. It is not the mandate orpurpose of this paper to recommend oneover the other. Nevertheless, when itcomes to the connection betweencemeteries and genealogy, it is worthnoting the BillionGraves site(www.billiongraves.com). This is a collaboration between thepopular Geni web site (www.geni.com)and BillionGraves to help photographand transcribe all the world'sgravestones in order to preserve themand their information for futuregenerations.

Key to this project is the use of anapplication for smartphones (iPhoneand Android) which allows the user tophotograph a grave stone and upload itdirectly to the BillionGraves site.There it is automatically geotaggedand marked out on a Google map.Further information can be added at alater date. allowing access by name,place, etc. The students of the BadNeustadt project will be revisitingthe cemetery and geotagging the graveswhich they helped restore lastSeptember.

In order to test the practicality ofthis approach, a small scalegeotagging project was carried out inthe British War Cemetery on MountScopus, Jerusalem. Some 100 graveswere photographed and uploaded to theBillionGraves web site along withbackground information. The processwas smooth and faultless, proving itsfeasibility and ease of use for thestudents of Bad Neustadt.

Crowd source tagging- Similar inconcept yet different in approach aretwo sites: What Was There(http://www.whatwasthere.com) andHistoryPin (http://www.historypin.com).These sites tie historical photos toGoogle Maps, allowing the user to toura present day location and see what itlooked like in the past. Using amobile phone app the user can tour alocation, raise the camera to a placeof interest and utilising the power ofaugmented reality, overlay historicphotos and data over the present daylocation. On the web site users mayupload historic photos, enter theplace, date and description and placethem on the google map or even alignthem with Google’s street view. TheHistoryPin site also enables socialinteraction, adding comments andcreating thematic or location basedtours.Over the coming months the students ofthe Bad Neustadt Rhön Gymnasium willresearch their local history andupload photographs to the web site. Sowhereas the Billion Graves site will beused to provide information about thedeceased, the What Was There web sitewill be used to put the history backthrough whatever photographs the localcommunity or relatives are able toprovide.

4. CONCLUSION

The Bad Neustadt project is still inits early stage. Following the visitof the Israeli students to Germany inSeptember, a reciprocal visit iscurrently underway. These visits,together with the power of seeing,talking and listening, are key togreater understanding amongst thefuture generation.

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As stated at the outset, this projectis not primarily about technology,nor indeed just about Bad Neustadt.It is an experimental test-bed fortackling communities in conflict,communities with a scarred past andan uncertain future. Presently, earlynegotiations are underway to engagestudents in similar projects, both onthe bitter and public IsraeliPalestinian conflict as too on other,less publicly known issues.

On the imaging and technology level,the pilot projects too are provingapplicable and relevant. It is tooearly to decide which of the abovetechnologies will finally form thebasis for this project and act as atemplate for future ones. However, asthese and indeed other imagingtechnologies continue to develop,they too will be embraced andemployed in the roll of aids inunfolding communities.

3. REFERENCES

Andreas Gefeller. http://www.strozzina.org/manipulatingreality/e_gefeller.php#content

http://www.andreasgefeller.com/supervisions/works(Retrieved 18 March2014)

Bar-Levav, A. (2002) We Are Where WeAre Not: The Cemetery in JewishCulture. Jewish Studies, 41, pp. 15-46.

BillionGraves. www.billiongraves.com(retrieved 18 March 2014).

Chadha, A. (2006) Ambivalent Heritage:Between Affect and Ideology in aColonial Cemetery. Journal of MaterialCulture, 11 (3), pp. 339-363.

CWGC (Commonwealth War GravesCommission).HTTP://WWW.CWGC.ORG/FIND-A-CEMETERY/CEMETERY/71401/JERUSALEM%2520WAR%2520CEMETERY (retrieved 18 March2014).

Dumper, M. (1997) The Politics of Jerusalemsince 1967, Columbia University Press,New York.

Foster, G., Hummel, R., Adamchak, D.(Summer 1998) Patterns of Conception,Natality, and Mortality fromMidwestern Cemeteries: A SociologicalAnalysis of Historical Data. TheSociological Quarterly, 39 (3), pp. 473-489.

Herzog, D. (2011) Sambusky: The Story of theJewish Cemetery on Mount Zion, City ofDavid Institute For Jerusalem Studies,Jerusalem.

HistoryPin. http://www.historypin.com(retrieved 18 March 2014)

Khalidi, A. (Spring 2009) The MamillaCemetery: A Buried History, JerusalemQuarterly, 37, pp. 104-109.

LIDAR.http://www.ofek-air.com/en/products/lidar (retrieved 18 March 2014)

Malzbender, T., Gelb, D., Wolters, H. (2001) Polynomial Texture Maps. HTTP://WWW.HPL.HP.COM/TECHREPORTS/2001/HPL-2001-33R1.PDF?JUMPID=REG_R1002_USEN (Retrieved 18 March 2014).

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Unfolding CommunitiesMoshe Caine, Eyal Tagar, Idit Ben Or

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