Edinburgh Futures Institute Explores Ethics of Digital Memory and Virtual World Cultural Preservation

The Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) hosted over 300 international curators, anthropologists, and computer scientists for its annual Digital Heritage & Collective Memory Symposium.

Discussions focused on high-precision photogrammetry of war-threatened archaeological sites, ethical repatriation of digital scans, and the preservation of indigenous oral histories in immersive virtual environments.

EFI Director Professor Judy Robertson emphasized that technology must serve human dignity and cultural memory: "At EFI, we bring data science into deep conversation with the humanities to tackle the complex challenges of the 21st century."