Participating in the Mingei project led to the Chios Mastic Museum in Greece installing advanced applications that preserve and present the tangible and intangible elements of the heritage craft of mastic production. At the same time, these applications are designed to trial new and exciting ways to learn more about crafts through digital applications. Chios Mastic Museum asked itself: how can we ensure a positive experience for our museum professionals who demonstrate this advanced technology to visitors? Meeting a gap in existing research, this case study reports on what was learned for the benefit of other museums that consider installing digital applications. 

About the Chios Mastic Museum

The Chios Mastic Museum is built in the Mastichohoria (mastic villages), a rural area in the south of the island of Chios. The museum replicates a mastic factory and consists of indoor and outdoor areas, including a mastic field. It is staffed by museum professionals and volunteers from the island. A typical day for the professionals responsible for the exhibition areas includes the opening of the exhibition (e.g. lights, audio-visual installations), keeping an eye on different exhibition areas, offering guided tours to groups and schools, and closing at the end of the day. 

About the mastic digital applications

Three applications were created and installed during the Mingei project, and each application had to be introduced to and internalised by the museum professionals. 

1. Airborne, developed by FORTH, is an immersive flight simulator allowing users to fly over various mastic villages of Chios. During the flyover, users can stop at each village and retrieve multimedia and text information related to those villages. The setup is very straightforward: it involves a desktop computer. 
2. Mastic Narratives, also developed by FORTH, is made up of four tablet devices located in four main spots of the museum. From each tablet, a specific area of the museum is covered and augmented through the camera of the tablet with ‘hotspots’. At each hotspot, a Virtual Human (VH) appears who is the digital twin of someone who used to work in that part of the factory. When the hotspot is selected the VH can be seen through the camera of the tablet narrating their life story and work at the factory. 
3. ARMINES developed Craft Training which demonstrates mastic cultivation activities through a more immersive experience. The installation consists of a personal computer and a monitor together with a depth sensor for tracking the user’s actions. The user stands in front of the installation and follows the instructions to mimic craft actions.

Researching the experience of museum professionals with digital applications 

We decided to research the experience of the museum professionals related to the digital applications recently installed in the museum through one of the Mingei Team-Based Inquiry cycles in March 2022. 

We investigated a number of different areas relating to the museum staff’s experience of the advanced digital applications described above, including their:

• understanding of how the applications work
• opinion about this addition to their everyday tasks
• comfort in using the applications
• thoughts on more efficient ways to implement new digital applications in the exhibition

We conducted a focus group interview with museum professionals working directly with the applications in the exhibition areas. 

What we learned

Experience and comfort in demonstrating using the applications

The results were very interesting and practical. The levels of comfort experienced by the museum professionals while using technology varied. All of them are open to technology but only one of them can be considered an expert and this is understandably the person that everyone turns to when there is a technical problem.

• The digital applications add value to the exhibition because they invite visitors to interact and learn about already existing information in a more playful way. 
• The applications need improvement regarding their technical stability and how their instructions were communicated to the audience. 
• They worry that during the summer they will face problems such as damage to the technical equipment and errors in the software because of overuse. 
• They worry also that they might not explain correctly the context and content of the applications. 
• Concerning their everyday tasks, there was no significant change and they are eager to learn more. 
• They expressed that they understand how the applications work and feel comfortable to transmit this knowledge.

Ideas to help museum professionals feel comfortable with current and future digital applications in future

• Hold a demonstration at the same time as when the applications are installed in the museum.
• Create an accompanying PDF file with user and installation instructions, troubleshooting information and a contact in case of emergency, cleaning requirements, a break-down of daily tasks, and background information on the context, content and development of the application.

Next steps

Getting to know the perspective of what museum professionals feel about digital applications is an under-researched topic in an era where, especially after COVID-19, digital transformation is a pressing matter. The museum professionals of the Chios Mastic Museum are not software developers but are nonetheless intimately involved in the concept development of the applications, because they have the experience of interacting directly with the audience and knowing more about their reactions and needs. We wished to research their perspective to make it easier for them to work with advanced digital applications. Looking strategically forward, we will take into account more often museum professionals’ perspectives as a source of insight on how to create effective digital activities that meet the audience’s expectations.

The Chios Mastic Museum, located on the Greek island of Chios, is home to the unique craft of mastic cultivation. Here, colleagues from PIOP introduce the three digital applications developed in Mingei and share anecdotes on how visitors have been engaging with these.

The Chios Mastic Museum is housed in a building that was designed exclusively for the purpose of showcasing the traditional craft of mastic cultivation. Its complex is harmoniously embedded in the surrounding landscape. The permanent exhibition centres on the Chios gum mastic as a unique natural product that is produced exclusively in southern Chios, in the Mastichochoria region. Visitors learn about the skinos plant and gum mastic, the resin that was acknowledged as natural medicine in 2015, and discover the traditional crafts know-how of mastic cultivation, which was inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2014. Visitors also trace the management of mastic throughout history and understand the way in which it shaped cultural heritage in the agricultural and urban landscapes of southern Chios. They are informed about the function of the cooperatives and the processing of mastic in modern times, which constitutes a significant chapter in the production history of Chios, as well as the uses of mastic today throughout the world. Finally, they come into contact with the plant itself and the natural landscape in which it thrives[1]. PIOP’s goal through Mingei is to enrich the narration of the permanent exhibition with digital applications. The applications developed vary in format but their main aim is to offer further information and experiences to the visitors on gum mastic, the landscape it grows, mastic growers, and industrial processes.

Mastic narrations – virtual humans and real-life stories

The installation consists of four tablet devices located in four main spots in the museum. From each tablet, a specific area of the museum is covered and augmented through the camera of the tablet with virtual ‘hot spots’, each of which tells one or more stories. By selecting the hotspot, a Virtual Human (VH) appears who is the virtual twin of someone who used to work in the factory and operate one of the machines close by. Viewing the hot spot through the tablet camera, the VH appears on the factory floor to narrate its life story, daily life and work at the factory.

The first installation of the application took place in November 2021, during which time we were able to do a brief testing with visitors. Encountering problems with the installation, we decided to demount it, reinstalling an improved version in May 2022. We also had the opportunity to more intensively train the museum professionals on how to run and demonstrate the application. 

The application has received positive comments by the visitors so far who mention that it is a nice way to learn about local people’s life. The augmented appearance of a VH in the physical space through the tablet screen has also triggered playful reactions, especially among young visitors who try to place themselves near the VH and take photos. 

Mastic gestures – immersive insights into crafts processes

The mastic gestures application provides an immersive experience of a craftsperson’s cultivation actions. It consists of a computer and monitor together with a depth sensor that tracks the user’s actions. The user stands in front of the installation and follows the instructions provided on the screen to mimic specific craft actions. 

Having installed the app, we have been able to evaluate how visitors interacted with it. We observed that visitors are getting confused in regard to the instructions of the application, and this is a point we are currently trying to fix. Nevertheless, when they engage with the application and mimic the grower’s gestures, they are especially impressed by the technology. Even mastic growers that have tried the application were astonished by the fact that visitors can experience their work in this way. 

Mastic landscapes – exploring from above

The immersive flight simulator Airborne flies over different mastic villages of Chios, giving museum visitors insights into how geographical location and environmental context affect craft practices and their development. During the flyover, users can stop at each village and retrieve multimedia and text information related to those villages. Airborne is installed as a desktop computer set in the multimedia room of the museum. There are two options available: (a) automated tour and (b) flight simulator. The automated tour targets users that wish to explore the mastic villages in a movie-like way while the flight simulator is more gameplay-oriented since users have control of the virtual drone flying on Chios sky and are free to explore information in any way they like. Visitors have shown a special interest in the 3D reconstructions of the mastic villages. Some local people have even tried to find their houses when the drone flies over their village. When we first evaluated the simulator, many visitors pointed out that the content of each village is disproportional; that is, some villages had more text and fewer images while others the other way around. After this evaluation, we worked further on the content and installed an updated version.

 Visit the Chios Mastic Museum

The Mingei apps explored above are now part of the museum’s permanent exhibitions. You can explore more about the Mingei protocol used in the digitisation and representation of the craft of mastic cultivation and the objects and processes digitised on the Mingei Open Platform. Finally, if you are in the area or looking for a heritage-filled holiday, visit the museum and explore the craft of mastíc cultivation for yourself! 

[1] Kallinikidou, A. (2017) Chios Mastiha Museum. Athens: Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation.

In the last four years, Waag and nine European partners and craftsmen have experimented in Mingei project by documenting and digitalising crafts, storytelling, interactive Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and motion capture.

During this webinar on Mingei Day we would like to share and discuss the results and knowledge we gained. In four online panel discussions, experts from all over Europe will discuss and share their views on how to preserve crafts and how we can keep improving this in the future. During the webinar, participants will also have the opportunity to ask questions online.

Join the conversation! The link to the meeting will be provided to you by email. This event will be recorded.

Programme

16.00 hrs – Welcome Mingei Day – host Nicole McNeilly (Impact Evaluation Advisor Waag)
16.05 hrs – Introduction to Mingei Project (Xenophon Zabulis – Project Coordinator Mingei)
16.15 hrs – Expert panel discussion will cover the following questions:

1. What is the urgency of preserving and documenting crafts?
2. What is the impact for the craft and heritage community, education and future generations?
3. What tech advances are helping us make steps in the preservation and documentation of crafts?
4. How could the Mingei platform be useful for future users to make the impact sustainable?

17.35 hrs – Q&A from participants and recap lessons learned
17.45 hrs – Closing

Panelists

• Xenophon Zabulis – Research Director FORTH, project coordinator Mingei
• Carlo Meghini – Research Director at CNR-ISTI and developer Mingei platform
• Arnaud Dubois – Research Associate at CNAM, social anthropologist Mingei
• Eirini Kaldeli – Researcher and AI expert involved in the Crafted Europeana project
• Marinos Ioannides – UNESCO chair Digital Cultural Heritage at Cyprus University of Technology

Have a look at this episode of Euronews (Europe’s leading international news channel) dedicated to one of the many innovative ideas of Mingei that engage today’s youth with past traditions.  

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 822336.

In this third part of the series about a year in a mastic village, we’ll follow the journey of little Dimitris and his family. Together with Dimitris, we are observing and learning about the craft of mastic cultivation. Stay tuned for more!

‘Grandma, were you only singing at the fields while embroidering?’, Irini asked her the other day. ‘No, honey. Collecting the mastic was a joyful period too, which took place from September until mid-October, when hunting season began. You know, children, we were spreading white sheets near the mastic trees that we were working on. This way the hunters would notice that people were there, so they would not shoot’, Grandma said while smiling. ‘What were they hunting?’, Dimitris asked. ‘Rabbits and grouses, which were all around us!’, Grandma said enthusiastically.

Irini started wondering about their safety in the fields, and asked Grandma, ‘So, you women were alone in the fields with hunters strolling around? Wasn’t it dangerous?’ Irini didn’t realise that Grandma grew up in a different period of time when people usually felt safer. ‘Dangerous? No, dear’, grandma replied. ‘Quite the opposite. Imagine, the collecting season was also a courting season for the villagers. The unmarried women went into the fields, accompanied by their mothers and sisters, so the men had the opportunity to see them outside of the village and court them. Young men were leaving small pieces of paper under the rocks so that the young girls would find them while collecting mastic.’ ‘And what if the mother collected the love note instead of the daughter?’, Irini wondered. ‘If the mother did not approve the sender, she would go to his mother and complain. Good old times, my child’, Grandma said and moved her arm in a circular pattern*.

‘And what songs did you sing while collecting the mastic?’, Irini continued. Grandma paused for a moment and then said, ‘Well, this is one that a few older women of my age might remember. The younger women do not know it.’

Στο μάζεμα του μαστιχιού (While collecting the mastic)

Σκοπώνε τραγουδούσαν (They sang a song)

Τον άρεσε κι αρέσει τον (Τhey liked it and it was liked)

Όσοι κι αν τον εκούσαν (By any who heard it.)

Ο κάτω κόσμος μάτια μου (The underworld, my eyes)

Νάτος σαν τον απάνω (Here it is like the above)

Μον’ήθελα να παρακαλώ (But I only wanted to beg)

Γρήγορι να πεθάνω (To die soon.)

Όταν σε πρωτοείδανε (When you were first seen)

Τα μάτια τα δικά μου (By my own eyes)

Ήταν το στήθος μου ανοιχτό (My chest was open)

Και μπήκες στην καρδιά μου (And you entered my heart.)

‘Isn’t it a bit dark, Grandma? Why did she want to die? And what does death have to do with collecting mastic?’ Irini asked upset. ‘My child, don’t ask for interpretations. A song has different meanings for each person. It speaks about death, but also about love’, Grandma said to soothe her, and continued with a rather sad and tired tone in her voice, ‘Working with mastic is a very hard job, children. All year long you are either in the field working with the tree, and believe me, manipulating another living being is not an easy job, or at the house working with its product. After collecting the mastic, you know that the process of cleaning will start soon; another meticulous hand work. That’s why it is very difficult to automate mastic cultivation tasks. At the Association they have built machines to do some of the tasks, like a machine for separating mastic pieces according to their size. Nevertheless, pinching still needs to be done by hand. No machine can perform that task’.

Irini and Dimitris were skeptical for a moment due to the song and Grandma’s comments but the truth is, little Dimitris was more preoccupied with the custom of leaving love notes under the trees. For a little boy, he really seemed to like old-fashioned ways of living. Two weeks before, at the celebration of the Dormition of Virgin Mary, he was not able to find Eleni, the girl that he likes, but now the collecting period begins and he might see her in the fields. And maybe he’ll also leave her a note?

* This is a common way to express that a lot of time has gone by non-verbally in Greece.

This is a fictional story written by Danae Kaplanidi (PIOP), and is the outcome of archival and ethnographic fieldwork research in the villages of Mesta, Olimpi, Emporios and Pyrgi. The author would like to thank the research participants for their time and willingness to share stories about life in southern Chios.

In this series of short stories about a year in a mastic village, you will get to follow the journey of Dimitris and Giannis. Together with the young Dimitris, you are invited to observe and learn the master’s craft. This is the first chapter; stay tuned for more!

Α δε λαλήσει τζίτζικας εν είναι καλοκαίρι
If the harvest fly does not sing, it is not summer
(local saying of Chios island)

It is already late June, and Giannis decided to take young Dimitris on the mastic fields with him. Dimitris was waiting anxiously to help with the ‘kendima’, which means embroidering. He has grown up around mastic and wants to become a mastic grower. The fields of Giannis are near the village of Pyrgi, where they live. From the road, they can easily see those rather short trees with deep green leaves and with interesting trunks. On the southwestern part of Chios, mastic trees line the roads on both sides. The sun has started to come up, so Giannis and Dimitris must hurry if they want to finish their work before late noon. Otherwise the Greek sun will be unbearable.

“Dimitri, go find some branches and twigs to make a broom. We need to clean the soil under the trees,” Giannis said. “Ok, I’m going. Don’t start the ‘table’ without me,” Dimitrits replied and he started running immediately to look for branches. “You don’t have to run!” Giannis shouted after him. “Have some patience. I will wait for you.”

While waiting for Dimitris, Giannis looked at one of the older mastic trees. Its branches had grown so much that you could almost stand completely under it. When he was a child, he used to think that the trees were already very big, because he himself was small. While growing up, he learned that mastic trees are actually rather short trees, and it takes specific cultivation methods to make them bigger.

His grandmother used to tell him many stories about life in the past. How back then, they used to bring their children along at the field because there was no one else to babysit at home. Their main transport were donkeys and their saddles were used as baby beds. After taking off the saddle from the donkey, the women would turn it over and place a jute bag in it. Using a rope, they would then hang the saddle-baby bed from a strong mastic tree branch and leave the baby to sleep as if in a swinging bed.

“Hey Giannis, wake up!” Dimitris called him out of his daydream. “What happened?” Giannis asked. “Come on! Let’s clean and level the soil and lay down the white soil!” Dimitris answered full of excitement. “Okay, okay.. I wish I had that enthusiasm when I was your age,” Giannis laughed. Together, they carefully cleaned the soil with the broom they made, called ‘athrimba’.

“I will show you today how to make the first incisions on the tree,” Giannis said. “Today, Kendima? But isn’t it too early? June has not even finished,” said Dimitris confused. “No, it is not too early,” Giannis explained. “We always do the first incisions right after cleaning the soil, in order to ‘wake up’  the tree and start producing mastic. But be careful, we will only make some very few incisions on the bottom of the trunk of each tree. Do you want to know how we call this first kendima?” Giannis asked. “Sure!” Dimitris was excited to learn. “It is called riniasma,” Giannis told him.

Now they were ready to start. “Which tool are you going to use?” Giannis asked. Dimitris looked at the tools in front of them. “The kenditiri or baltadaki,” he answered. “Well done, you have learned all of them!” said Giannis enthusiastically. “Now let’s get to work.”

This is a fictional story written by Danae Kaplanidi (PIOP), and is the outcome of archival and ethnographic fieldwork research in the villages of Mesta, Olimpi, Emporeios and Pyrgi. The author would like to thank the research participants for their time and willingness to share stories about life in southern Chios.
Top image: Mastic field of the Chios Mastic Museum, 2019. Photo: Danae Kaplanidi