OREANDA-NEWS. July 09, 2012. The XVIth Annual International Scientific-Practical Conference Automation Directions in Museums and Information Technologies (ADIT 2012) on the subject of Cultural Heritage and Information Technologies. Museum As an Information System coordinated by the Kizhi State Open Air Museum took place in Petrozavodsk.

The important feature of the conference of ADIT 2012 was its international status. The conference participants from abroad were invovled due to the grant support. To hold the Conference ADIT-2012 the Kizhi State Open Air Museum has got support within the Nordic Culture Point program.

The Conference has also become a part of the project Northern Dimension. Management in Culture and Creative Industries supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Experts from museums and cultural institutions from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland have taken part in the Conference. Thanks to the grant financing it was possible to provide good simultaneous translation at the conference, and to prepare a special program for participants from Nordic countries, that had allowed them to get acquainted with history and culture of Karelia and the city of Petrozavodsk in a more advanced way. Experts of the Kizhi State Open Air Museum have prepared a special presentation of international projects of the museum and a round table discussion of possible prospects for cooperation.

Participants from Nordic countries have taken an active part in work of the plenary session and several breakup groups of the Conference held at the support of NCP and Nordic Council of Ministers. The breakup group Information Technologies for Cultural Tourism was the most popular. The breakup group Global tendencies. Foreign Practices in the Use of Information Technologies for Preservation, Study and Presentation of Cultural Heritage where most of participants from Nordic countries delivered their papers has also engaged attention of Russian participants of the Conference. The breakup group was held as a videoconference with the State Russian Museum (St.-Petersburg) and its virtual branches in Petrozavodsk, Izhevsk, Kostroma and several other cities of Russia, and was also broadcasted on the Internet. This feature of the breakup group has allowed to expand its audience considerably.

Except for the two planned breakup groups within the projects it was possible to provide participation of experts from Nordic countries in the breakup group Information Technologies for Preservation of the Cultural Landscape and Immovable Monuments. This breakup group was prepared jointly by specialists from the Kizhi State Open Air Museum, Petrozavodsk State University and Karelian Research Center of the Russian Academy of Science. Besides participants from Nordic countries, old partners of the Kizhi State Open Air Museum from Italy took part in work of the breakup group.

Experts from St.-Petersburg, Arkhangelsk have also taken part in the Conference within the scope of the supported projects.

The Conference ADIT-2012 may become a good start for further cooperation between museums and experts from Nordic countries and Northwest of Russia.