Digital Documentation of Cultural Heritage in Morocco Using ASOR CHI Programs
Dr. Abdelkarim Ouguinaz | GIS Specialist, High Atlas Foundation (HAF)
I was invited to participate in the cultural heritage tour organized by the Dakira project funded by USAID and implemented by the High Atlas Foundation with a group of local partners. This tour in southern Morocco lasted 6 days, from September 28th to October 3rd, and covered seven rural communities from four provinces: Ouarzazate, Taroudant, Tiznit, and Guelmim. Its main objective was to celebrate the cultural pluralism that characterizes these regions, which is reflected in their local traditions.
During this tour, which I enjoyed a lot, I trained groups of local youth from the seven communities on open-source technologies and programs offered by ASOR, and used for documenting the diverse cultural heritage of Morocco. These trainings are part of a partnership between the High Atlas Foundation and the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) which received funding from an anonymous donor to document cultural patrimony belonging to religious and ethnic minorities in the Maghreb. The field aspect of the ASOR project consists practically of two parts: the first is concerned with inventorying and documenting cultural heritage sites, and the second is related to training sessions in digital documentation tools offered to the local communities. To date, three field training programs were completed in the cities of Casablanca, Essaouira, and Taroudant. Future trainings are also planned for communities from northern Morocco.
Fig. 1. Theoretical training organized at the Dakira office in the city of Essaouira.
Each training includes theoretical and practical training sessions held in the field, at a rate of two hours per session. The aim is to teach participants how to collect and document data on heritage sites based on questionnaires and evaluations created with the open-source program KoboToolbox. Attendees learn how to create a project enabling them to collect information on heritage sites using tablets and mobile phones or the web browser interface of the program.
Fig. 2. Practical training session on KoboToolbox documentation tool in the city of Essaouira.
After collecting data in the field, training moves to identify ways to synchronize this geographic and descriptive data with various geographic information systems programs such as the open-source QGIS program, and to display the recorded data in the form of static and interactive maps.
Photogrammetry technology is the third component of the training course, and it is based on the use of two-dimensional images of ancient buildings, rock engravings, or writings carved on slabs, houses, tombs, or other features to obtain a three-dimensional model with the help of cameras and computer programs such as Metashape.
Fig. 3. Training course in Taroudant in its theoretical aspect.
Documenting heritage and archaeological sites across the country has become an absolute necessity in view of the risks and challenges that endangering them, whether due to natural disasters such as floods or to actions resulting from reckless man-made activities such as arson fires, theft, or vandalism. Unfortunately, the damage inflicted by human actions is usually done by individuals ignorant of the value and importance of their heritage. Since damage, part or total loss of this heritage means the disappearance of historical memory in the absence of timely and appropriate documentation, the ASOR project in the Maghreb is of absolute importance to mitigate this situation.
Fig. 4. Demonstration of KoboToolbox program to a group of youth from the village of Tamazirt, affiliated to the Egram Noukdal commune in the Ouarzazate province.
During the multiple instruction sessions I conducted, I sensed a great excitement in the young participants for this training which strengthened their capabilities in handling modern technologies that facilitate data collection, documentation, and archiving, not only in the framework of the ASOR heritage sites documentation project but also or in their own academic or professional ventures.
The High Atlas Foundation and its partners in these training aim to develop the competencies of the largest possible number of young people in the above-mentioned techniques. First to raise awareness among them of the importance of preserving the cultural heritage as one of the authentic components of the united and rich Moroccan identity; then, to pass this training to their peers from their respective communities; and finally, to create an interactive map that will include all collected data and that will be freely available on the Internet with the hope that the published information will not only help protect and revive the rich and diverse Moroccan cultural heritage for the benefit of future generations but also open new avenues for cultural tourism.