Workshop on new technology in Sudan research

On 2-4 December, the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies hosted the workshop ‘New technologies for field-bases research and documentation in Sudan’ in collaboration with the SNAC project partners CMI, the University of Bergen and the University of Khartoum. 16 scholars from Sudan belonging to University of Khartoum, Red Sea University, Gedarif University, and NCAM which is responsible for Sudan’s antiquities and archaeological sites in Sudan, participated in the workshop.

The overarching issue for the workshop was how new technologies can benefit research on Sudan, and brought together environmental scientists, cultural heritage experts, archaeologists, paleoecologists, geographers and GIS and mapping specialists. The workshop featured discussions on the advantages of implementing new technology in research, as well as practical sessions demonstrating how to use a variety of technical equipment. It had two separate foci: 1) field mapping and geographical information systems. New technology integrated in basic equipment like for example smart phones has opened up a whole new specter of possibilities for researchers when documenting field data, like for example geolocation information. The workshop also included training in how to classify, document and protect cultural heritage in the field and how to collect, document and identify pollen. 2) digitalization of the rich Sudanese history that is found in documents of different varieties. This included practical sessions on field digitizing equipment, that is how to use for example cameras and the software Capture One, and in the standards of field digitalizing, cataloguing and how to deal with metadata.

Anne Bang (CMI/University of Bergen) and Khalifa Omer (University of Khartoum) organized the session about digitalization, and Gidske Andersen (University of Bergen) og Hussein Sulieman (University of Gedarif) organized the session on fieldmapping.