Voices from the field
Jafar Albadarneh
"A 3D reconstruction of an old castle is a bridge to connect young people with their heritage"
I was born in 1992 in Jordan in a large family composed of 5 brothers and 4 sisters. I consider myself very lucky to be grown up in Jordan. As a young adult, I realized that Jordan is one of the best developing countries that continue to prove itself, given all obstacles and circumstances both economical and political that the region is facing today. Human Capital is considered the treasure the country is counting on in order to keep the progression pace. It’s an honour for me to present some qualities of what Jordanians can do.
The I AM project, supported under the ENPI CBC MED programme, is one of the best experiences I had in my whole life. I learned about it back in 2013, when I was in my last year at the Jordan University of Science and Technology (partner in the project – editor’s note). Being one of the good students at the computer information systems department, I was offered the chance to work as part of it. This opportunity was a life-changing. Throughout the project period, I followed different training sessions given by other partners from Lebanon, Tunisia, Palestine and Egypt. We also organised a practical training session to share our project deliverables.
The International Augmented Med (IAM) project focused on the application of innovative multimedia technologies in the management of cultural and natural heritage. Visitors of the project’s pilot sites were given the opportunity to rediscover various sites and monuments – such as the Library of Alexandria (Egypt), the El Khadr Greek-Orthodox church in Taybeh (Palestine), and the archaeological museum of Dar-es-Saraya in Jordan – under a new perspective thanks to the potentialities offered by 3D reconstructions, Augmented Reality installations or interactive illumination.
The start up I developed in this context, ARTour, is an Augmented Reality Application for Innovating museum and historical site visiting experiences. It acts as a bridge between the history of artifacts and monuments with our generation, replacing the current old-fashioned traditional tools such as brochures and informational panels. ARTour also acts as a tour guide that can navigate you through augmented scenes and tells you about it using your language. ARTour also serves as a tool for digital documentation for museums and historical sites. Digital documentation can be enhanced to reach a point where museums and historical sites can keep 3D digital copies of their artifacts and monuments and utilise them for other added-value services. ARTour is currently in the development phase. This important scope (Tourism and Heritage management) will need major and collaborative efforts to achieve such vision. I truly believe that ARTour might be a bridge between different civilizations and cultures thanks to tourism across the countries in the Mediterranean.
I think a programme of cooperation among the countries of the Mediterranean Sea Basin region like the ENPI CBC MED programme can make a difference for the young generation. Today, millennials are more aware and more open to learn new skills. This is crucial to survive the rate of change we’re living into.
I-projects like I AM, will have even a larger impact than it was back two years ago. These Opportunities will help sewing their careers best, or even help entrepreneurship to progress more in the region.
If you are interested to meet Jafar and hear his story live, joins us during the ENI CBC workshop at the European Week of Cities and Regions 2018! Register here:
If you want to know more about Jafar’s project, read here:
With an early passion for technology and innovation, Jafar graduated in 2014 in Computer Information Systems from the Jordan University of Science and Technology and completed his studies with a Master’s degree in Computer Science. That’s when he came across the I AM project, which gave him the opportunity to develop his idea of using cutting-edge technologies, namely augmented reality, to revitalize the ancient cultural heritage found in Jordan. Since 2016, Jafar has also started a promising career as software development director of the Jordanian startup “Audiogram”. In 2018, Jafar Albadarneh has reached the second place in the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) Tech-I competition, the annual competition for science and technology entrepreneurs from 136 emerging economies around the world, promoted by the U.S. Department of State.
