Multimodal Annotation for Intangible Cultural Heritage: Embodied Knowledge and Technology

The field of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) preservation increasingly depends on multimodal data, ranging from motion capture to volumetric video and sensory recordings, yet current digital documentation still reflects a largely product-oriented paradigm. This approach privileges outcomes rather than the creative, embodied, and processual dimensions of transmission. Recent research across digital humanities, performance studies, and human-computer interaction calls for a process-oriented shift that understands multimodal annotation not simply as record-keeping, but as a dynamic, interpretative practice. Landmark projects such as TKB, BlackBox, Motion Bank, and Arvest have illustrated how digital notebooks and hybrid archives can encode tacit knowledge, making performance and creative practices computationally addressable while preserving their embodied nature. Despite these advances, persistent challenges remain: the separation of data silos across modalities (e.g., video, text, sensor data) and the limited interoperability between them. Addressing these challenges requires the integration of web-based annotation standards and linked data frameworks, paving the way for interoperable, networked cultural repositories.This Research Topic aims to explore how innovations in multimodal annotation, including applications of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/XR), can transform repositories into participatory spaces for engagement, exploration, and co-creation. It seeks to investigate methodologies that move beyond surface-level datafication toward semantic, context-sensitive representations of ICH practices. Key research questions include: How can volumetric video annotation and spatial anchoring enhance live dialogues between creative practitioners and archival memory? What role can Explainable AI (XAI) play in ensuring transparent and interpretable annotation processes? And how can multimodal synchronization of heterogeneous data streams, from motion capture to audio, help decode the performative and procedural logics of embodied heritage? Ultimately, this Research Topic aims to situate multimodal annotation at the intersection of heritage preservation, computational creativity, and human-AI collaboration. Alongside these technical and methodological questions, this Research Topic also invites critical reflection on the ethical dimensions of documenting intangible heritage, including questions of representation and bias in multimodal datasets, and the need to confront colonialist legacies in how cultural practices are recorded, archived, and made accessible.To gather further insights into the evolving landscape of multimodal annotation for ICH, we welcome contributions that develop theoretical, technical, and practice-based perspectives addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:- XR and volumetric annotation: multi-viewpoint analysis of 3D point-clouds and digital twins- Spatial anchoring and AR: connecting archival memory with live physical practices- Co-creative platforms: multi-user environments for synchronous annotation and reflection- Embodied re-enactment: immersive reconstruction of archives through VR/AR and avatar-based interaction- Interoperability standards: applying frameworks like IIIF and the Web Annotation Model to integrate multimodal assets- AI and semantic recognition: uncovering knowledge patterns in large-scale multimodal datasets- Human-AI interaction: annotation systems as interpretative and co-creative partners in cultural workflowsWe welcome original research, technology reports, and perspective papers that bridge qualitative artistic inquiry with quantitative computational approaches, contributing to the redefinition of how intangible heritage is documented, transmitted, and experienced across disciplines. Topic editors: Carla Fernandes, David Rittershaus, David Dos Santos, Diogo Cabral Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82792/multimodal-annotation-for-intangible-cultural-heritage-embodied-knowledge-and-technology