The SHIFT project proudly launched its inaugural pilot during the ANBPR National Conference – BiblioNEXT 2025, held on April 28–29 in Sibiu, Romania. This pilot, titled “Romanian History and Customs Explained to Digital Natives”, marked a significant milestone in the project’s mission to enhance cultural heritage accessibility through innovative technologies.
The pilot aimed to present Romanian history and culture to digital natives through the presentation of photographs, rare books, and audio/video recordings, enhanced and supported by technology (Image-to-text, Text-to-speech, Historical language translation, and automatic labelling). At the heart of the pilot were several cutting-edge tools developed by SHIFT to democratise access to cultural content:
● Image-to-Video: Transformed static images into dynamic video content, providing amore engaging way to experience historical artefacts.
● Text-to-Speech: Enabled audio narration of written content, as well as affective audio translation of video’s in Romanian, making texts accessible to a host of audiences, individuals with visual impairments.
● Contemporary Translation: Offered real-time translations, in this case of older
Romanian texts, bridging language barriers and making cultural narratives more
inclusive, accessible and relevant to today’s audience.
● Audio Narrative: Provided emotionally resonant storytelling, enhancing the depth of cultural experiences.
A feedback session, in which people from vulnerable groups were also invited to participate, followed the demonstrations, ensuring that the tools met the diverse needs of the users. The ANBPR coordinator collected testimonials from participants in the technology demonstrations and the feedback session, and will continue this effort thereafter. It is worth noting that the SHIFT tools presented in this pilot project were designed with the aim of making cultural heritage more accessible and attractive, especially for people with sensory impairments.
The feedback session is an important component of the SHIFT project, helping the team to refine the tools to better meet the needs of diverse users, including people with special needs, ensuring that the technologies developed are truly inclusive and easy to use.
Collaborative Effort
The pilot was a collaborative effort involving key stakeholders who contributed to a rich exchange of ideas, ensuring that the pilot was both innovative and grounded in practical applications.
Ioana Crihană, Executive Director of ANBPR, provided the user-oriented perspective of the Romanian partner responsible for use cases on the role of libraries in preserving cultural heritage. Răzvan Purcărea from SIMAVI Romania, leader of the SHIFT consortium, gave an overview of the project, highlighting the importance of integrating technology in different cultural contexts. Iacob Crucianu, Technical Director of SIMAVI Romania, presented the functionalities of the SHIFT platform and made several comparative text-based analyses between different bibliographic sources enhanced with the help of technology, emphasizing the importance of human validation. Dionyssos Kounadis-Bastian Senior AI Researcher at audEERING Germany presented the development of Audio Narration and Contemporary
Translation tools and also brought to the attention of the audience the achievements of the partners from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) Iosif Tsangko and Anika Spiesberger on the Digitalization of old Romanian Books, SHIFT Text Tool Interface, CH Audio Visual Tools, etc. Dr. Andreas Bienert from the Berlin State Museum discussed the importance of inclusion in museum design. On behalf of HERITAGE Greece partner, Dr. Evangelos Kyriakidis highlighted the significance of cultural heritage in promoting community identity.
Looking Ahead
The successful implementation of this pilot in Sibiu demonstrated the potential of combining advanced technologies with cultural heritage to create more inclusive and engaging experiences for all. It also set the stage for a series of future initiatives under the SHIFT project, including three more pilots offering previews of the SHIFT tools.
As SHIFT continues to develop and refine its tools, the insights gained from this pilot will be invaluable in shaping the future of accessible cultural heritage.
