Culture and Heritage informatics CI3130 Qasim Din K1011527

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Content page

Executive summary .................................................................... 3 Brief synopsis ............................................................................. 3 Analysis ...................................................................................... 3 Theoretical / intellectual issues ................................................. 4 Technical walkthrough ............................................................... 6 Project review ............................................................................ 14 Resources ................................................................................... 15 Appendix .................................................................................... 16

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Executive summary
The shisha culture and tradition has become very trendy and fashionable across the globe. Originally invented by abul-fath gilani hundreds of years ago, in India/Persia and is commonly known as hookah in india. However in the Middle East and Arab states it is known as water pipe or shisha and people smoke it as a part of their culture and tradition in the arab states. Hookah is where just tobacco is smoked and shisha is where tobacco molasses is smoked, which is flavoured tobacco which comes in many different flavours. In this project I am a sole client and the project will be aimed at people who smoke shisha and shisha devotees. Shisha is a new social invention especially in the United Kingdom, friends and families usually get together and go to a shisha bar to socialise, unwind, play card games and enjoy the atmosphere.

Brief synopsis
The main purpose of this project is to create a website which shares information on shisha and its impact in the United Kingdom. Furthermore it will give an opportunity for the people who enjoy smoking shisha to share experiences on different types of shishas, flavours and coals. Moreover as I am a regular smoker and enjoy the experience I feel I should express this via images and also by interviews, by keen shisha smokers to gain and spread knowledge of this fascinating tradition. It will also give me the opportunity to show my collection of photographs of myself, friends and shisha products and give a better insight to others. Furthermore people can also share their experience from smoking different types of shishas, flavours and coals. I intend to use Omeka to produce my collection and exhibition of my photos. My reason for choosing Omeka is because it has been developed for online collection and exhibitions; furthermore it provides a user-friendly interface.

Analysis
This project is a development of an exhibition website which shows how the Shisha culture and tradition has become popular across the globe. Shisha is seen to be a societal tradition in many countries; furthermore there is a sense of elusive heritage drawn in. This can be referred to the development of the shisha for example the look, feel, pipe and the way it is smoked. Collections of images in a form of an online exhibition gallery will also be included within the website. For example different types of Shisha pipes and heads such as ice pipes and pineapple or orange heads. The collection of images will show the changes and similarities within the culture also from the perspective of different countries. The images will be preserved by myself and friends. This exhibition website will be further than just information about Shisha, it will give people the opportunity from different countries and cultures to interact and upload their content
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to share their experiences. This will be beneficial and educational to people with related interests, they can discuss their findings all in one place. Aims and objectives: Exhibit different types of shishas such as pipes, heads, and flavours. Include a section to users that can interact by contributing stories and images. Elevate understanding of the culture and tradition behind shisha.

Below is a table of requirements that must be fulfilled to complete the online exhibition. Must have Users must be capable of viewing items Users must be capable of to upload content Users must be able to provide contact details, so that the administrator can contact the user back. The administrator must be able to verify the content that is being published by users. Users should be able to successfully fill out contact us page Users should have a valid email address so the administrator can respond to queries

Should have

Could have Wont have

Users wont be able to upload content if any of the terms and conditions are breeched.

Culture and the web have expanded immensely in recent years, a huge range of virtual museums showcasing a variety of images and videos from the past till present in a digital format. This has targeted a wider audience which allows devotees to view these digitally from anywhere. I have taken advantage of this and developed the shisha culture online exhibition to increase awareness and provide information on shisha and its heritage.

Theoretical / intellectual issues

This project raised a number of concerns regarding acquiring images and showcasing them onto the exhibition site. The issues were in relation to copyright, reliability and authenticity of images, and legal and ethical issues. Furthermore using images from third party sources will instigate theoretical and intellectual issues within my project, I would have to obtain permission by the author and require a consent form to publish the images onto my exhibition site. In view of the fact that I will be collecting images from close friends, I would
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still need to acquire consent forms to publish these images online.

Technology used
The selected platform I decided to use to implement my project was in Omeka. The main reason for choosing Omeka is that it is user-friendly and it is appropriate for online exhibitions. Omeka provides many benefits to the user for example uploading images and adding metadata, where you can describe where the photo was taken from, who is the author, who is the creator and many more. Moreover this also gives the users the prospect to share their findings with other devotees and general public; this will broaden the exhibition scale and expand the asset collection.

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Technical walkthrough
In this section I will be describing in detail all the pages created in omeka this walkthrough will also include all collections and exhibits. In addition I will also provide details of which tools and plugins were used to develop the project. Omeka offers a variety of different themes which can be used and changed at any time. I decided to go for a simple theme which will not be complex for users to achieve their tasks. Tools and plug-ins used to develop the site:

Dublin core metadata Dublin core metadata is made up of metadata elements that offers expanded information about the media file; furthermore it is used to illustrate resources for the purpose of discovery. There are fifteen metadata elements; Title, creator, subject, description, publisher, contributor, date, type, format, identifier, source, language, relation, coverage and right. However it is not necessary to fill out every single metadata for each file. On the other hand by filling out each metadata element it provides other users of in depth information about the image. As you can see here I have filled out the necessary metadata elements which I think are most important.

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Tagging I will be adding tags to all images uploaded, the benefit that this includes for the user is, if a user searches for example coal all the tagged images with the tag coal will appear. Collections and exhibits The main reason for choosing Omeka as my development environment was because it was suitable for my needs. The collections and exhibits plug-in allow me to create a collection of images by using the images uploaded to items. Furthermore once this has been created it will allow me to create exhibits of all my images. Contribute an item Omeka offers a very useful tool, however it is not free of charge the cost of this is 30.00. However the benefit this offers to my project is superior. With this tool it will allow me to solicit user-generated content, so people can contribute their findings and share with the devotees and general public. Another advantage this tool offers is that before any user can publish their contribution it has to be approved by myself, so if the content is not applicable I have the authority to reject the contribution.

Homepage:

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The above screenshot displays the homepage of the exhibition site. As you can see it is clean and clear, which makes it user friendly the design of this is kept consistent throughout the pages. From the homepage users can see recently added items and featured items. Furthermore an introduction to shisha is shown next to recently added items. Browse items page Below is a screenshot of the browse items page where users can see all the items that have been added. Furthermore a brief description next to the image is also added to show the user what the actual image is about. Moreover as you can see this shows what tags have been used such as the first picture is tagged as pineapple. Tagging is very useful if a user wants to search for a specific item, they can type in coal for an example and every picture that has been tagged with coal will show.

If the user clicks on the browse by tag this will display all the tags that are currently being used.

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Browse collections page Below is a screen shot of the browse collections page. This page is for users who want to select specific photos for example as you can see there is currently two collections shisha uk and shisha-abroad. This will give users the option to select which images t hey would like to view and be more precise.

This shows who the collector(s) of the images within the collection.

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Contribute an item This page was created to make a participatory exhibition so that I can solicit user-generated content. The user has two options from the dropdown which they can contribute which are stories and images.

Once the user has selected which content they would like to upload the next screen will appear.

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Once the user has filled in the required fields and uploaded the content, the user has to then fill in the personal information so that I can identify who the publisher is. The next step is to enter the reCAPTCHA words correctly to successfully upload their content. If the words are incorrect the submission will not be successful the purpose of reCAPTCHA is to eradicate bots.

Contact us Having a contact us page is one of the most useful pages that a site can have. One of the benefits of this is that any customers with concerns or issues regarding the exhibition can get in contact to me directly. One the user has sent the contact form an email will be sent to me immediately, therefore leading me to address any issues and concerns.

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Theoretical or intellectual issues The overall aim of this project was to develop an exhibition website using Omeka as my chosen platform. As the exhibition website can offer users to upload their own content, this raised a few negative thoughts. One of the issues was the copyright law as images that are put on the exhibition need to be authorised and make sure the authenticity lies with the publisher. If any breeches are found within any images uploaded from users these images will be removed with immediate effect. Another issue raised is that some users may try to upload irrelevant pictures; these will also be removed from the exhibition. By using reCAPTCHA this eradicated a few issues regarding spam. The main advantage of this exhibition is that once users upload images, they will have to be authorised by myself. Once i have authorised the content it will then be published to the exhibition. Daily maintenance of the exhibition will be done; this will allow me to see if users are trying to publish any new content, and whether to determine if they should be published.

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Project review

Overall I am pleased with the outcome of the project. Creating the online exhibition was enjoyable as it was my first time creating it. I have created an exhibition for users to contribute their own content, and users to view pictures from around the world of different shisha places and types of shisha. This will enable people to see how the culture and tradition is celebrated across the globe. One of the difficulties that I came across was trying to get images from different countries; however this process seemed to be time consuming so I decided to acquire pictures from friends who have been abroad. This was a better option for me; all I had to do is get the consent form signed (refer to appendix). The main issue that concerned me was that my exhibition website would not allow me to have a contribution page. This would not have fulfilled my requirements, however I then came across a plug-in which I had to pay for which will allow me to have a contribution page. So overall my exhibition can also have user generated content. It was a delight to look into the shisha culture into far greater depth, for example the history of where the tradition started from. Some of the information that I came across I had no knowledge in. Furthermore I am a regular shisha smoker and I did not have any knowledge of the existence of ice pipes. When I found out about ice pipes I decided to go and experience this new invention which is shown on my exhibition site. Future developments can be established by conducting interviews with owners of shisha bars and view their perspective of shisha. Furthermore interviews can also be conducted at the shisha bar and see what experience and finding other members have come across.

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Resources

Bibliography

1. drtribe. (2012). The changing perceptions of shisha smoking. Available: http://www.drtribe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=870:thechanging-perceptions-of-shisha-smoking&catid=55:clinical&Itemid=182. Last accessed 22/04/2013.

2. Mark Hendrick. (2011). Britains emerging shisha culture. Available: http://www.totalpolitics.com/blog/163237/britains-emerging-shisha-culture.thtml. Last accessed 22/04/2013.

3. wikipedia. (2013). Hookah. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookah. Last accessed 22/04/2013.

4. hookah bars. (). Hookah Cultures in Different Countries. Available: http://hookahbars.co.uk/bar-and-cafes/hookah-cultures-in-different-countries.php. Last accessed 23/04/2013.

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Appendix
Prototype

Homepage

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Contribute an item page

Browse item page

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Consent forms

Release Form for Use of Photograph/Videotape

Project: Culture Heritage and informatics Contact details: Qasim Din Email: K1011527@kingston.ac.uk Name of contributor: Faheem Abbas I hereby give my permission to Qasim din to use any photos or videotape material taken from myself for his project on Shisha culture. The photos and videotape material will only be used for Exhibition purposes and for the presentation of the Exhibition. As with all consent, I may at any time withdraw permission for photos or video footage of me to be used in this project.

Signature:

Date: 03/04/2013

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Release Form for Use of Photograph/Videotape

Project: Culture Heritage and informatics Contact details: Qasim Din Email: K1011527@kingston.ac.uk Name of contributor: Azeez Hussain I hereby give my permission to Qasim din to use any photos or videotape material taken from myself for his project on Shisha culture. The photos and videotape material will only be used for Exhibition purposes and for the presentation of the Exhibition. As with all consent, I may at any time withdraw permission for photos or video footage of me to be used in this project.

Signature:

Date: 03/04/2013

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Release Form for Use of Photograph/Videotape

Project: Culture Heritage and informatics Contact details: Qasim Din Email: K1011527@kingston.ac.uk Name of contributor: Hassan Khan I hereby give my permission to Qasim din to use any photos or videotape material taken from myself for his project on Shisha culture. The photos and videotape material will only be used for Exhibition purposes and for the presentation of the Exhibition. As with all consent, I may at any time withdraw permission for photos or video footage of me to be used in this project.

Signature:

Date: 03/04/2013

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Release Form for Use of Photograph/Videotape

Project: Culture Heritage and informatics Contact details: Qasim Din Email: K1011527@kingston.ac.uk Name of contributor: Ahmed Riaz I hereby give my permission to Qasim din to use any photos or videotape material taken from myself for his project on Shisha culture. The photos and videotape material will only be used for Exhibition purposes and for the presentation of the Exhibition. As with all consent, I may at any time withdraw permission for photos or video footage of me to be used in this project.

Signature:

Date: 03/04/2013

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Release Form for Use of Photograph/Videotape

Project: Culture Heritage and informatics Contact details: Qasim Din Email: K1011527@kingston.ac.uk Name of contributor: Adeel Hussain I hereby give my permission to Qasim din to use any photos or videotape material taken from myself for his project on Shisha culture. The photos and videotape material will only be used for Exhibition purposes and for the presentation of the Exhibition. As with all consent, I may at any time withdraw permission for photos or video footage of me to be used in this project.

Signature:

Date: 03/04/2013

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Release Form for Use of Photograph/Videotape

Project: Culture Heritage and informatics Contact details: Qasim Din Email: K1011527@kingston.ac.uk Name of contributor: Sarag Rehman I hereby give my permission to Qasim din to use any photos or videotape material taken from myself for his project on Shisha culture. The photos and videotape material will only be used for Exhibition purposes and for the presentation of the Exhibition. As with all consent, I may at any time withdraw permission for photos or video footage of me to be used in this project.

Signature:

Date: 03/04/2013

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