Master of continuing education in Digital Humanities applied to Cultural, Intangible and Artistic Heritage in America and Spain

Presentation

The interest and academic relevance of this proposal are framed within the official studies of Arts and Humanities of the URJC, with preferential consideration given to the disciplines in the field of knowledge of Tourism, History, Heritage, Hispanic American Culture and Digital Technologies. Thus, the creation of the University Master's Degree in Digital Humanities applied to Cultural, Intangible and Artistic Heritage in America and Spain is proposed, which would respond to the growing demand for professionals and researchers trained in this field. To achieve this specialization, a deep understanding and development of skills is necessary to address the challenges in evaluation, diagnosis and intervention from the heritage and technological perspective.

The proposed master's degree has a research and professional orientation. In coherence, its training itinerary has a base of theoretical and practical subjects integrated in the first four-month period: Viceregal heritage in Spain, Pre-Hispanic Visual Culture, Field documentation techniques and digital documentation applied to territorial study (GIS, LiDAR), Pre-Hispanic hieroglyphic writings, Methods and sources of research in American cultural heritage, Generation of digital databases and catalogues and Digital tools (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Autocad, etc.)

For its part, the second quarter would be for specific training: ECTS: 30

Materiality and sensoriality of viceregal art; Paleography and Numismatics and viceregal monetary history; Digital documentation techniques applied to museum collections (Photogrammetry, three-dimensional modeling and 3D printing); Extended Reality; Introduction to drawing and digitization of archaeological pieces; From Asia to Spain: the Manila Galleon, Generation of cartographic databases and Storymaps.

In addition, the master's degree will have 12 credits for levelling up knowledge for students who do not come from a degree in branches related to Tourism, Heritage, History or similar. They must take, as an extra, two six-credit subjects before the master's degree begins in order to be able to follow the classes normally: Introduction to the thought of American cultures and Mesoamerican cultural heritage.

Finally, the degree would end with the development of the Master's Final Project.

This degree presents different interests, making it attractive for different professional profiles:

Academic interest: there are few universities in Spain that offer degrees related to the applications of Digital Technologies in specialized areas of the study of Cultural Heritage, both Material and Immaterial. This problem is aggravated in the case of American heritage (pre-Hispanic and viceregal), given that there is a significant part of American heritage throughout the Spanish territory that has yet to be studied. Furthermore, this circumstance is made worse given that a large number of museums do not currently have specialists trained in American heritage.

This makes this master's degree an innovative one. The academic orientation will focus on providing students with a theoretical, practical and solid knowledge of the digital foundations applied to the heritage field. The objective of this is to reduce the gap between the Humanities (especially in American culture and heritage), and current virtual technologies; nowadays absolutely essential in general areas of tourism, museums, archaeology, art, culture, heritage, research, education. All this can be applied to any other area of ​​general cultural heritage, given that the methodologies and tools offered in this master's degree will enable students to obtain technological knowledge applicable to any historical period.

To do this, the latest advances in digital tools will be used, such as Blender, LiDAR, or Geographic Information Systems, among others. The purpose of this will be to generate three-dimensional models, both of isolated pieces and of historical scenarios, addressing aspects such as documentation, research or specialized intervention strategies. In addition, there will be anthropological, archaeological, artistic, numismatic replicas and typhlological collections, which, throughout the course, will also be made by the students. These will be able to guarantee a close and realistic sensory experience. In this line, heritage accessibility will be addressed from all points of view, generating collections suitable for scientific dissemination to the general public and to the public with functional diversity.

Scientific interest: At present, digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence are covering all social and work areas. In the case of Humanities, a new interest is developing in digital technologies applied to the field of cultural heritage. Given that the museum and heritage field shows a growing tendency towards virtual bets, this master's degree focuses on digitalization to contribute to generating new experiences of heritage accessibility. The expected objective is that it has significant implications in the labor insertion of students in the branches of History, Tourism and Heritage in general adapted to the needs of the 21st century, emphasizing training in American heritage, which, despite being Spanish heritage, has been undervalued in the study plans.

Professional interest: Given the theoretical profile of disciplines such as Viceregal Art History, American Anthropology, American Visual Culture, Economic History and Institutions, Tourism and Humanities in general, new demands require students who do not have a digital-based education to complement their knowledge with solid notions about its various applications to heritage. Thus, this master's degree is especially aimed at tourism professionals, historians, designers of cultural experiences, archaeologists, video game developers, and book editors.

Social interest: In the Community of Madrid, and specifically in the public universities of Madrid, a similar degree has not been found. Therefore, the creation of this qualification by URJC represents a valuable option for students to complete their academic training with the excellence that characterizes our institution.

Collaborating institutions or companies (if applicable): 

Name of the entity: Museum of America

Please indicate whether it is a public or private entity: Public

Person/s responsible: Andrés Gutiérrez Usillos, Director of the Museum of America

Contact person/s in relation to the proposed course: Andrés Gutiérrez Usillos, Director of the Museum of America

Web address: https://www.cultura.gob.es/museodeamerica/portada.html

Objectives

As a fundamental objective, the Master's Degree in Digital Humanities applied to Cultural, Intangible and Artistic Heritage in America and Spain will offer its students comprehensive and specialized training in digital technologies applied to all types of heritage and artistic assets.

This basic objective is broken down into the following training objectives:

• AD-Acquisition, on the one hand, of theoretical and practical knowledge of American cultural heritage, with special attention to institutions such as the Museum of America, the Tiflological Museum, the Oriental Museum of Valladolid, the Naval Museum, the royal collections of the Palacio de Oriente, Las Descalzas Reales, among others, and on the other hand, of current digital skills used to generate better documentation and dissemination of quality heritage to society. Through a base of theoretical and practical knowledge, students will be provided with the ability to relate two traditionally separate fields of study, such as culture and digital tools.
• CA-Training of students in the application of digital technologies in the fields of History, Tourism, Culture and Art (focusing on pre-Hispanic pieces kept in museums, as well as those made with American materials that permeated Spanish heritage until the 18th century). This will allow them to generate a novel discourse (from a thematic and technological point of view) and updated to present the heritage and make it accessible to the general public.
• FA-To promote knowledge and generate interest among the general public in the poorly researched American heritage, as well as research by specialists in the aforementioned fields.
• DE-Develop the creative capacity to generate projects that involve digitalization as well as the needs of general heritage.