MaDiH (مديح): Mapping Digital Cultural Heritage in Jordan is an AHRC/Newton funded collaborative project between King’s Digital Lab (KDL), the Hashemite University, the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, the Jordanian Open Source Association (JOSA), and the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project.

Defining a robust technical and operational architecture for digital cultural heritage through the identification of key systems, datasets, standards, and policies, MaDiH (مديح) will assist the Department of Antiquities in their planning processes, help product development teams develop their systems, facilitate the aggregation of valuable datasets held in disparate repositories, and ensure data generated from research activity is properly stored and widely accessible.

Analysis will also result in the identification of infrastructural gaps and opportunities for long-term sustainable development, including system development, data aggregation, and online learning. Prototyping will ensure analysis and lessons learned are cost-effective and aligned to real-world scenarios, and a series of workshops with stakeholders from the cultural heritage, research, government, and technology sectors, will ensure the project fulfils the needs of the local community. A hackathon led by JOSA will ensure project outcomes are aligned to educational and commercial opportunities.