The following glossary with terms relevant to the interdisciplinary research and development processes in the MEMORISE project is a living document that serves as a collection of working definitions for evaluating existing digital HNP projects, communicating research findings and preliminary results from the MEMORISE project as well as developing and testing MEMORISE prototypes.
This glossary is constantly adjusted and extended in the process of developing and implementing computer-based visualization projects fostering engagement with heritage on Nazi persecution.
Some of the terms defined here are general-use terms (e.g. Document, film) which have narrower, more specific, meanings in the framework of the MEMORISE project. It is these narrower definitions that are included here.
3D Model: A digitally created topographical or architectural model based on information from maps, plans, photographs, or paintings.
App: Mobile application to be used on a smartphone or tablet.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): The capacity of a programmed computer (or a robot) to operate tasks associated with human intelligence, such as recommending, analyzing, problem-solving, and generating language and images.
Augmented Reality (AR): A semi-immersive technology that displays virtual overlays on the users’ physical environment, allowing users to interact with virtual elements in real time.
Audioguide: An Audio app that offers information about a particular place or site, which can be listened to while visiting.
Blog: Short online articles with links and illustrations that present particular topics and themes.
Born Digital: In contrast to digital reformatting (i.e., digitization), born-digital content describes objects and sources that originate in a digital form.
Computer-based Visualisation: Computer-based visualization describes approaches of visually representing information through computer technologies, ranging from data visualization and 3D modeling to online exhibitions and platforms, interactive virtual maps, VR and AR environments as well as mobile and web applications.
Cultural Heritage: The preservation and communication of the entirety of material and intellectual culture from all areas of human life and activity.
Data Visualisation: Use of interactive graphs and other visual models to allow humans to extract information and insights from data.
Diary: Transcribed or scanned historical personal diary containing regular entries documenting private experiences and memories. In contrast to other textual sources, they usually describe the present-day. This differs from other retellings of events like testimonies by not having the knowledge of the author surviving or happenings in the following days.
Digital Memorial: Website, social media activity, or data visualization primarily used for commemoration (i.e. commemoration of names or events).
Digital Video: Born digital and edited video; potentially multimodal.
Digitization: Conversion of information from a physical into a computer-readable format.
Document: Transcribed or scanned and digitized historical text documents (excluding diaries).
E-Learning: Online lessons with digital educational material.
Extended Reality (XR): The term is used to cover different forms of immersive technologies, which merge virtual and physical realities. It encapsulates Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, its combination of Mixed Reality, and everything in between.
Film: Digitised historical 35-, 16- or 8-mm film (professional or private).
Game: Digital video or online game set in a virtual or animated space, with interactive elements and tasks.
Heritage on Nazi Persecution (HNP): As a specific part of cultural heritage, HNP encompasses all tangible and intangible objects (documents, testimonies, sites) from before and after the end of World War II that refer to the history, experiences, and memory of persecution between January 1933 and May 1945.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI): A measurable and quantifiable metric to measure the progress and performance towards a specific objective or goal, i.e., in developing a digital HMP project or its usability.
Knowledge Graph: Graph-structured data model or topography to integrate data.
Map: Digitised or geo-referenced historical or contemporary map presented as a digital object or used for creating a digital model/interactive map.
Multimodal: Media and digital applications whose composition is characterized by multiple different modes. These modes (i.e. sound, image, film, text) are in a permanent interplay, appeal to different senses, and address the users on several levels.
Object: Photographed or digitally reproduced (animated, 3D modeling) historical object.
Online Exhibition: Exhibition of digital objects (photographs, videos, maps, etc.) and text on a specific topic.
Online Platform: Search engine, online archive, or repository.
Photograph: Digitised historical photograph.
Podcast: Audio conversation or report about a specific historical topic.
Pop-Up Window: A window with additional information or displayed digital objects that appears when the user selects an option with a mouse or touches a specific function key.
Social Media Project: Commemorative project on a social media platform (i.e., Instagram, TikTok).
Sound: Voiceover, music, or other added sounds.
Soundscape: Digital environment with specifically designed sound arrangement containing music, voices, sounds, etc.
Testimony: Written or videographed (digitized or digitally born) testimony of an eyewitness, survivor, second or third generation, or perpetrator. In contrast to diaries and some letters, this may be influenced in their recapping of the past by knowledge achieved after the described events.
Timeline: (Interactive) timeline with attached information including text and pictures.
User Experience (UX): UX describes how users interact and experience a digital application, including aesthetic and emotional factors. It aims towards a deep understanding of users, their expectations, needs, values, abilities, and limitations for creating meaningful and relevant experiences.
User Interface (UI): UI is the space in which users interact and communicate with machines in a device or application. This point of user-computer interaction can include screens, keyboards, the mouse, or desktop appearance.
Video: Digitised or digitally born video that is accessible through a user interface.
Virtual Map: Interactive map that provides access to embedded information through navigation by mouse or touchscreen.
Virtual Reality (VR): A fully immersive technology that displays a virtually constructed visual 3D or another sensory environment with which the user can interact, typically while using a VR headset or goggles.
Virtual Tour: Online tour based on 3D modeling, VR animation, or 360° photography.
Visual Storytelling: A storytelling approach that combines written, oral, or multimodal narration with visual design.
Web App: Web-based online application that can be accessed with a personal desktop or mobile device through a standard Web Browser.
Webdoc: Interactive web documentary on a particular topic combining text, video, and images.
Website: Internet page providing information and links to additional pages.
Last updated: 06.03.2024
