How to make educational programme Curator Challenge of House of Lobkowicz available online globally and modernize it was proposed by students of the Faculty of Information Technology of CTU in Prague (FIT CTU) during the 5-day Design Sprint course, which took place on 16th-20th September 2024 at the premises of faculty.
The educational programme Curator Challenge allows chosen students to physically experience the role of young curators who research and document the uncatalogued treasures of the Lobkowicz collections. Bringing the program online will allow a much wider number of students around the world to get involved. Alexandra Lobkowicz, president of the non-profit organization Lobkowicz Collections, one of the main parts of the HoL, Marcel Jiřina, dean of FIT CTU, and Matthew Hayes, history teacher at the International School of Prague, came to personally introduce the Curator Challenge to the students of the course.
"We are excited to collaborate with FIT CTU, as we see this as an opportunity to use technology to improve our program by creating a truly engaging online experience for students. This project is important because it allows us to expand our ability to share objects from our collections in new ways. We hope that this collaboration will also foster community building and teamwork as we continue to work with universities from around the world. Although this is just a pilot project, we are very impressed by the students' creativity and enthusiasm and we are looking forward to continuing our work together on the further development of Curator Challenge," said Alexandra Lobkowicz.
Under the expert guidance of FIT CTU teachers and HoL mentors, students worked on designing a solution using the unique Design Sprint methodology, originally developed by Google. This method allowed them to move from an initial idea through testing to a final proposal for possible innovations and transformations of the Curator Challenge programme within just five days.
FIT CTU students came up with a solution of a complex online educational web application that integrates the latest technologies, including digitalization of historical objects and artificial intelligence. If implemented, their web application would enable the Curator Challenge programme to be fully transfered into an online environment and involve students from all over the world.
The web application would feature pre-recorded videos from HoL curators to help users begin their Curator Challenge journey. Users would be able to explore and analyze objects by using interactive 3D models, to add historical milestones and contexts on a timeline, and ultimately create broader narratives about the origins and uses of the artifacts being researched. Finally, they would create a simple but engaging video or presentation summarizing their findings about the object.
The application design also incorporates a fun, interactive element where users, with the help of AI guides, correctly place an object within an exhibition in one of HoL’s historical sites. Additionally, curators would have access to a dedicated section providing an overview of ongoing research projects and activities conducted by participating schools and young curators.
"I am very pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with HoL on the innovation and modernization of the access to historical collections so that we can bring them together to as wide a range of users as possible," said Assoc. RNDr. Ing. Marcel Jiřina, PhD., dean of FIT CTU. "From our side, we bring to the project cutting-edge technologies, the knowledge and experience of our students, as well as the mentoring and expertise of our teachers. I'm looking forward to the final proposal of this innovative solution and believe that its early implementation will significantly enrich the Curator Challenge educational programme, opening the Lobkowicz Collections to a new generation of young enthusiasts and experts."
