Luminar

Every year, under the title of Luminar, Engramma, the Fondazione Querini Stampalia and the IUAV promote a study day on the theme of "Internet and humanism" which has the aim of studying and investigating thoroughly the relationship between human sciences and new technologies. In this monographic edition, Engramma presents the materials gathered on the occasion of the study days held in Venice on 30 and 31 January 2004 at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia under the title of "Luminar 3 - Web museums".

Luminar - Internet and Humanism

Luminar, an interactive screen in the great visionary C20th novel by Ernst Jünger, Eumeswil, prefigures the virtual space now provided by the Internet. By opening up unexpected perspectives in the field of humanistic studies, the Internet not only makes it possible to explore the boundaries between areas of knowledge and the way they interact, but it also gives rise to experimentation in expressive forms and methods of research. The Internet, the 'world wide web', is a new dimension which enhances the methods and themes of research available to scholars.

In the history of the West, technological innovations - writing, bound books, the press, photography, cinema - have led to moments of beneficent crisis and revolutionary changes in the elaboration of knowledge and its transmission.

The transformation brought about by the Internet - the opening up of new links between different forms of knowledge - now, at last, leads 'scholars', technicians' 'humanists' and 'scientists' to compare their different practices and theories.

2002 - Luminar. Internet and Humanism: an introduction to the theme
The first Luminar conference gave scholars of different disciplines the opportunity to discuss the potential of the web in terms of humanistic research. A comparison between various experiences highlighted several core issues: the revolutionary role of the Internet in humanistic studies; the changes which the Internet has brought in gnosiological terms; the difficulties that these changes have inevitably brought to theory and practice.

2003 - Luminar 2. Web Auctoritas and Memory
The second Luminar conference scrutinised various technical and legal aspects of on-line humanist learning such as the authority of publications, matters regarding authors' rights (copyright and 'copyleft'), the value of the web's archive system, and the temporary on-line registration of its contents.

2004 - Luminar 3. Web museums
The third annual Luminar conference opened up new avenues of reflection specifically related to possible models for web museums. The aim is to maintain an intimate link between theoretical analysis and the practical aspects of carrying out research and comunication on the web.

Taking part in Luminar 3:

Alessandro Bianchi, A typological classification for digital museums

Francesca Cavazzana, Archives and the web

Claudia Daniotti, Margherita Lo Tito, The Archeological Museum in Venice: hypothesis for a web exhibition

Aurora Di Mauro, "Museionweb": on line museums of the Venetian region

Giovanna Pasini, The Website of a cultural institution: the example of Fondazione Querini Stampalia

Pierfilippo Pozzi, From analogical to digital language

Antonella Sbrilli, Virtual museums and data bases

Babet Trevisan, Carlo Scarpa museums in the web

Michele Trimarchi, Economy and the web

Chiara Vallini, Companies' museums of Venetian area in the web

Luminar 1 - 2002

Luminar 2 - 2003

Luminar 3 - 2004