85447 - Intangible Artifacts, Cultural Heritage and Multimedia (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students are put in touch with the intangible cultural heritage mediated by computer science and expressed under the form of practices, representations and skills that the multimedia research community recognizes as part of its identity. Students are able to reflect upon and manipulate a variety of digital instruments, including objects, artifacts and cultural spaces, manifested through interactive multimedia signs and actions.

Course contents

Section I: A short introduction to interactive multimedia technologies

Intro to Multimedia. Audio/Music. Images and Graphics. Video and Animations. Multimedia data compression. Multimedia System. Multimedia Networking and Synchronization Issues

Section II: Case Studies/Projects

Case studies will be analyzed and specific projects will be co-designed and co-developed with the participation of the class. Possible examples are as follows. Interactive applications for museums and exhibits, Gestural games with applications. Action and movement recognition with applications. Tags recognition and management. Augmented and Mixed Reality with applications. Software-based management of Performing events/Art. Interactive applications for E-health/Medicine, Smart cities and Transportation, Internet Gaming, New Game Consoles.

Readings/Bibliography

Chapman & Chapman, Digital Multimedia, J. Wiley; Steinmetz, Nahrstedt, Multimedia: Computing, Communications, and Applications, Prentice Hall; Sharda, Multimedia Information Networking, Prentice Hall. Appunti e articoli distribuiti dal docente. Research Articles to be distributed

Teaching methods

Class lectures and exercises, research projects

Assessment methods

The aim of the examination is that of assessing if skills and best practices have been acquired by students for designing and implementing multimedia software applications and systems to be exploited in contexts characterized by high interactitivity and creativity (e.g., entertainment/gaming, culture/education, exhibits/museums, design/production, performance/living art, health practices).


The exam proceeds as follows. The teacher proposes, even with the help of seminars delivered by external guests, possible case studies for which the use of multimedia techniques and tools can be of some benefit. Students choose one of those cases and develop it, even with the help of the Teacher and the class, until a software system has been implemented. The oral examination amounts to a public discussion where the developed system is analyzed and its characteristics discussed.

Teaching tools

Networked multimedia lab with mobile devices

Office hours

See the website of Marco Roccetti