We chat to librarian and digital wizard Nicole Merkel-Hilf about her many digital projects in the spaces of online archives, publishing, and the use of digital tools to improve access to increase the development of digital collections.

Nicole wears many hats and is involved with many digital projects. She is the subject librarian for Modern South Asian languages and the History and Art of South Asia at the Library of the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies. She is also the coordinator for FID4SA (Fachinformationsdienst Südasien = Specialised information service South Asia) at Heidelberg University Library and South Asia Institute. She is the project lead for Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing (HASP) and the

The ANUBhasha Podcast's 'Digital Repatriation in South Asia' series is supported by an Asia-Pacific Innovative Project grant from the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University.

Music from Epidemic Sound --
Song: 'Sultan of Delhi'
Album: Court of Akbar
Artist: Banaras Baba & Kolkata Kid
Year: 2019

This is part 2 of a 2 part conversation that the ANUBhasha team (Chris Diamond & Stephanie Majcher) have with Jason Neelis, Associate Professor of Religion & Culture at Wilfrid Laurier (Canada), Murtaza Taj, Assistant Professor and Faculty Director of the Computer Vision and Graphics Lab and Technology for People Initiative at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) (Pakistan), and Atiq Hashmi, technical project Manager for LUMS' Technology for the People Initiative (TPI) (Pakistan), We discuss the historical and contemporary pressures on heritage sites in Pakistan, mostly. Combing scholastic, heritage, and technological approaches our three guests discuss the race to image, document, and share the epigraphic and palaeographic sites in the Upper Indus Valley before much of the region is flooded in national works projects and the construction of a dam. In this half we focus on the linguistic diversity of the region and the challenges of putting technologists and academics on the same page to help present digital cultural heritage in an accessible and appealing way. 

Links to the digital preservation projects that our guests have contributed to: 

• Heritage360.pk (Digital Preservation of Pakistan's Heritage)
  • example site in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan
• Sketchfab site for LUMS Lab with around 1700 3D models

Links to publications: 

• Vol. 1 of Antiquities of Northern Pakistan (Heidelberg Akademie)
• German language volumes with catalogs of individual sites ('Felsbildstationen')
• Jason Neeli's open-access book Early Buddhist Transmission & Trade Networks (Chapter 5 on Upper Indus Capillary Networks)

Other links:

• A video on Rock Carvings and Inscriptions in Chilas along the Karakoram Highway by Maryam Shah (Jason Neelis' Masters student [Central European University])

The ANUBhasha Podcast's 'Digital Repatriation in South Asia' series is supported by an Asia-Pacific Innovative Project grant from the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University.

Music from Epidemic Sound --
Song: 'Sultan of Delhi'
Album: Court of Akbar
Artist: Banaras Baba & Kolkata Kid
Year: 2019

This is part 1 of a 2 part conversation that the ANUBhasha team (Chris Diamond & Stephanie Majcher) have with Jason Neelis, Associate Professor of Religion & Culture at Wilfrid Laurier (Canada), Murtaza Taj, Assistant Professor and Faculty Director of the Computer Vision and Graphics Lab and Technology for People Initiative at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) (Pakistan), and Atiq Hashmi, technical project Manager for LUMS' Technology for the People Initiative (TPI) (Pakistan).

We discuss the historical and contemporary pressures on heritage sites in Pakistan, mostly. Combing scholastic, heritage, and technological approaches our three guests discuss the race to image, document, and share the epigraphic and palaeographic sites in the Upper Indus Valley before much of the region is flooded in national works projects and the construction of a dam.

Links to the digital preservation projects that our guests have contributed to: 

• Heritage360.pk (Digital Preservation of Pakistan's Heritage)
  • example site in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan
• Sketchfab site for LUMS Lab with around 1700 3D models

Links to publications: 

• Vol. 1 of Antiquities of Northern Pakistan (Heidelberg Akademie)
• German language volumes with catalogs of individual sites ('Felsbildstationen')
• Jason Neeli's open-access book Early Buddhist Transmission & Trade Networks (Chapter 5 on Upper Indus Capillary Networks)

Other links:

• A video on Rock Carvings and Inscriptions in Chilas along the Karakoram Highway by Maryam Shah (Jason Neelis' Masters student [Central European University])

The ANUBhasha Podcast's 'Digital Repatriation in South Asia' series is supported by an Asia-Pacific Innovative Project grant from the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University.

Music from Epidemic Sound --
Song: 'Sultan of Delhi'
Album: Court of Akbar
Artist: Banaras Baba & Kolkata Kid
Year: 2019