Data To Power Prototype

Data To Power Prototype is a new experimental mapping solution that provides an interface for automatic data aggregation from cultural institutions to visualize their global outreach and influence in different countries. It offers a new data analysis tool for universal use across institutions to demonstrate their impact in different geolocations and to provide an inductive research platform for strategic development and growth.

The prototype builds on the award-winning pilot project Museum Soft Power Map, developed in collaboration with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Watch a 2 min video demo about ACMI Soft Power Map. The new solution significantly advances the pilot application by applying new approaches to data collection, analysis and visualization.



From labour-intensive manual data collection to automatic data aggregation

Data mining and aggregation, tapping into open access data

From a static visualisation of data to a dynamic mapping

Developing a mapping app with interface for a dynamic data update

From accumulative data mapping to time-space data visualization

Developing a timeline

From data visualization to data intelligence

Employing machine learning and AI to analyze patterns of cultural engagement

Research Outputs

To learn more about the critical digital praxis research on developing Data to Power geo-visusalisation system and its implications for cultural institutions and strategic relation management, please consult the list of academic publications:

  1. Grincheva, N. (2022). Beyond the scorecard diplomacy: From soft power rankings to critical inductive geography. Convergence, 28(1), 70–91.
    https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221079158
  2. Grincheva, N. (2022). Making museum global impacts visible: Advancing digital public humanities from data aggregation to data intelligence. In Schwan, A., Thomson, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Digital and Public Humanities (pp. 397–419). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
    Part of ISBN 9783031118852, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11886-9_21
  3. Grincheva, N. (2020). Deep Mapping: Creating a Dynamic Web Application Museum ‘Soft Power’ Map. In Jacobs, H., Fischer, B. (eds) Visualizing Objects, Places, and Spaces: A Digital Project Handbook. The MIT Press Online.
    https://doi.org/10.21428/51bee781.3856e5cb
  4. Grincheva, N. (2019). The Form and Content of ‘Digital Spatiality’: Mapping the Soft Power of DreamWorks Animation in Asia. Asiascape: Digital Asia, 6(1-2), 58-83.
    https://doi.org/10.1163/22142312-12340102
  5. Grincheva, N. (2018). Mapping museum ‘Soft Power’: Adding geo-visualization to the methodological framework. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 34(4), 730-751.
    https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqy072

Research Design

Employing data-driven approaches, geo-visualisation, and machine learning, Data To Power Prototype was developed through the research project “GLAM and Digital Soft Power in the Post-pandemic World,” completed in 2022 in collaboration with the Digital Diplomacy Research Group from the University of Oxford. Drawing on collaborations and consultations with 25 museum professionals from Europe and Asia-Pacific, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Asian Civilisations in Singapore and the Australian Museum in Sydney, the project explored illuminating provocative examples of GLAM digital soft power effects. It also generated knowledge through critical reflexive praxis, bringing together over 200 museum professionals, policy makers and digital creatives through a series of online research sessions, webinars and datathons. Watch video materials of all sessions and explore more below.

Global circulation of collections and exhibitions in immersive environments

Online Session 1
Opportunities

Global circulation of collections and exhibitions in immersive environments

  • Datathon: Mapping the potential appeal of heritage collections: From API to geo-visualization
  • Webinar: GLAM collections and exhibitions in immersive environments
Click to Learn More
Communicating to audiences in the global media environment

Online Session 2
Risks and Challenges

Communicating to audiences in the global media environment

  • Datathon: Understanding and mapping digital museum audiences
  • Webinar: Global communications and audiences: Propaganda, fake news & AI censorship
Click to Learn More
Digital GLAM and Urban Soft Power

Online Session 3
Zooming In

Digital GLAM and Urban Soft Power

  • Datathon: Forecasting local impacts of travelling exhibitions
  • Webinar: Urban Data Infrastructures and Digital Place-making
Click to Learn More

Goals and Objectives

Live Forum

Bring together academics, diplomacy experts and GLAM representatives

Learning

Explore and advance current thinking of the role of digital tools, data-driven approaches and AI to strengthen the delivery of soft power programs

Engagements

Develop policy-oriented partnerships between academics and practitioners through a series of educational online sessions

Research Creation

Advance digital diplomacy research and scholarship by modelling, testing and designing a new prototype solution Data To Power that can measure, map, predict and visualize soft power

Research Areas

Digital Opportunities

Digital Opportunities

How to sustain visibility and leverage digital assets in a saturated informational environment?

  • Building on VR and AR technologies trends and promises
  • Using data-driven approaches and innovative techniques
  • Crafting an appealing digital image and reputation
Digital Risks

Digital Risks

How to conduct trustworthy cultural relations and exchanges in a post-truth environment?

  • Eliminating digital disruptions of informational outreach
  • Countering miscommunication and online propaganda attacks
  • Understanding data surveillance and digital espionage
Digital Approaches

Digital Approaches

How to use new technologies to leverage and augment cultural appeal?

  • Employing geo-visualization to explore soft power as a geographical variable
  • Mapping cross-cultural trust and understanding impacts of multilateral communication efforts
  • Employing AI to forecast soft power appeal in different parts of the world

Meet The Team

Natalia Grincheva Natalia Grincheva

Lead Project Investigator
LASALLE College of the Arts
University of the Arts
Singapore

Dr Natalia Grincheva is a Programme Leader in Arts Management at University of the Arts Singapore and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Digital Studio at the University of Melbourne. She is an internationally recognized expert in innovative forms and global trends in contemporary museology, digital diplomacy, and international cultural relations. Her most recent publications are two monographs: Museum Diplomacy in the Digital Age (Routledge: 2020) and Global Trends in Museum Diplomacy (Routledge: 2019). Currently she is working on a new co-authored monograph, Geopolitics of Digital Heritage, forthcoming in 2023 with Cambridge University Press. Dr Grincheva's professional engagements include her dedicated work for the International Fund for Cultural Diversity at UNESCO (2011), International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (2011–2015) as well as service for the international Cultural Research Network (CRN) (2018–2020).

Corneliu Bjola Corneliu Bjola

Project Investigator
University of Oxford
UK

Corneliu Bjola is Associate Professor in Diplomatic Studies at the University of Oxford and Head of the Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group. He also serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Center on Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California and as a Professorial Lecturer at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. He has authored and edited six books, including Countering Online Propaganda and Extremism: The Dark Side of Digital Diplomacy (Routledge: 2019) – listed in the 20 Best New International Relations Books To Read In 2019 - and Digital Diplomacy: Theory and Practice (Routledge: 2015). He has served as a consultant for Ministries of Foreign Affairs in the U.K., Germany, Spain, Israel, Lithuania, UAE, Armenia, Romania as well as for the UN and the Commonwealth.

Laura-Maria Popoviciu Laura-Maria Popoviciu

Project Coordinator
London
UK

Dr Laura-Maria Popoviciu is an experienced London-based art historian, curator and researcher specialising in the early modern period. She holds a Doctorate and a Master's degree in Cultural and Intellectual History from the Warburg Institute in London. Her academic achievements have been recognised through prestigious fellowships and grants from The Arts and Humanities Research Council; The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art; The American Friends of the Warburg Institute and Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art in Paris. Her portfolio includes scholarly publications, teaching appointments, international conferences, curated exhibitions, audio and video podcasts.

Toyah Horman Toyah Horman

Project Coordinator
Melbourne
Australia

Toyah Horman works as a researcher in the areas of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Diplomacy within the School of Social Sciences at The University of Western Australia. Obtaining a Masters in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies from Deakin University in 2011, she has been involved in a variety of projects at a number of Australian Institutions, including Museum Victoria, Heritage Victoria and the National Film and Sound Archive. Toyah has co-authored publications focused on the Kelabit Highlands Museum Project, developed and coordinated the Leverhulme Trust funded WARMAP project website, and is currently producing the UNESCO funded War Heritage podcast series.

Jasmine Christian Jasmine Christian

Marketing and Promotions
Singapore

Jasmine Christian has experience in marketing for local and international theatre companies including Sing’theatre Productions, ABA Productions, KidsFest!, and Faust International Youth Theatre Singapore. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing with a Minor in Communications from the Singapore University of Social Sciences and is pursuing a Diploma in Music Theatre at the London College of Music. With her interest in consumer behavior and human interactions, she has a newfound interest in acting and storytelling. Fusing her love and experience in singing and music, she is continuously honing her performing skills and entering the industry as a musical theatre performer.