nowruzgan
Digital Archives & Visual Narratives
What We Do
Digital Archives
Providing descriptive metadata to essential document collections in a free-access online repository for researchers and enthusiasts
Data Visualization
Providing a conceptual "big picture" emerging out of complex datasets (statistical, spatial, relational, etc.) leading to a new understanding
Linked data & Ontologies
Providing an ontological perception of concepts and phenomena through connecting various data into a coherent network
Our Projects
Vazhgar
- Vazhgar is an online dictionary of architecture, art, and cultural studies.
- Vazhgar is multi-lingual, including Persian, English, Arabic, Italian, French, German, and Spanish.
- Vazhgar is a terminological resource in architecture, city, art, architectural history, urban history, art history, conservation, archeology, museology, cultural studies, and architectural and art anthropology.
- In each entry, these types of information are presented:
The word’s vocal pronunciation (so far excluded to English);
The word’s etymology (so far excluded to English);
The term’s equivalents in different languages, with the equivalent source;
The term’s meaning in Persian, with the meaning source;
A sentence example of the term in Persian;
A diagram of the terms semantic relationships - By the mentioned semantic diagram, Vazhgar makes it possible to study the semantics of the term;
- Persian terms of Vazhgar are linked to Nowruzgan’s other projects and some other Persian corpora.
Project Supervisor
Chaharrah.tv
A not-for-profit and voluntary video-on-demand project, launched in spring 2013, makes lectures in social sciences and humanities available to a larger audience.
- Recording lectures and conferences
- Online publishing of these videos
- Holding indepth classes and interviews
Co-Founder
Co-Founder
Editorial board:
Saba Madani
Farzad Zerehdaran
Dena Shamsizadeh
Motahareh Danaeifar
Asmaneh
Asmaneh is a network for sharing information and knowledge as well as discussing and criticizing in the fields of history and theory of architecture and art in general.
This network aims to provide an environment for thinking and speaking about the aforementioned fields, keep the enthusiasts up to date, deepen the thought, and develop discussion and criticism.
The main parts of Asmaneh website are as follows:
- Notes and Essays;
- News and Reports on the related events;
- Books, Articles, and Publications, including introductions and reviews;
- Research, including introductions of significant studies in the fields;
- Special Issue, including monographs on related subjects;
- Voices, Photos, and Videos, including recorded files of lectures, classes, and interviews;
- Digital Library.
Tinus / Documentbase
The Persian word “Tinus” (tīnūs) literally means a place for storing crops and harvests. Tinus is our document repository and is designed to make a variety of documents related to the history and culture of Nowruz land accessible to the public, including manuscripts, images, audio documents, and videos.
We aim to deliver these documents and their metadata in a method that a researcher can confidently refer to them.
Based on semantic and ontological relations, links inside the repository and interlinks with other Nowruzgan entities lead to a cohesive and comprehensive body of knowledge.
Project supervisor
Travelogue
Travelogue project, is the base for processing the data of Iran’s and Iranians’ travelogues in the Nowruzgan knowledge base. Travelogue illustrates the journeys on the modern world map, connecting the places’ past and present. Comparing different journey routes also creates a new image of different destinations and places. Travelogue also includes various tags and indices specifying the narrations’ themes and subjects, helping researchers explore the travelogue’s data in various fields and disciplines.
Project supervisor
Visual Narrative
Genealogy of Persian Music
Studying hitorical interactions among musical schools in the Islamic world from Morocco to Xinjang
Ontology of Shahnameh
Specifying the categories of Shahnameh characters and the relations among them
Oil-Timeline in Southwest Iran
Demonstrating urbanization of southwest Iran through the establishment of oil industries
About Us
M. Qayyoomi
Co-Founder Editor
B. Vandad
Co-Founder Editor
M. Najafi
Member of the Board
M. Fallah
Member of the Board
S. Soltani
Member of the Board
A. Tajbakhsh
Researcher
Z. Golshan
Researcher
S. Ahmadkhani
Researcher
M. Javadikia
Researcher
F. Ahmadi
Researcher
N. Babaei
Researcher
Z. Mohammadi
Researcher
N. Zamiri
Researcher
In Search of Cultural Links in Nowruz Land
In the northern hemisphere, in western Asia, in an area with the Darband Mountains and the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) to the north, the northern Himalayan range to the east, the Indus River to the southeast, the southern shores of the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south, and the Euphrates River and the east coast of the Black Sea to the west, lies a land spread over the present-day territories of Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Dagestan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the sheikhdoms of southern Oman and the southern Persian Gulf, Iraq, and eastern Turkey. It is also scattered across several geographical regions, such as West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and a part of the Middle East. The people of this land are united by a millennial culture, despite ethnic and linguistic differences and diversities. The best and most vivid representative of this culture is the Nowruz festival; therefore, this land can be called the “Nowruz Land.”
“Nowruzgan” (nawrūz-gān) is a network aiming to seek and address different aspects of the Nowruz Land, including any connection with links between its peoples or their culture. Respecting the nations mentioned above and their laws, Nowruzgan does not belong to either of them; in other words, it concerns Iran and Afghanistan as much as it concerns Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan.
In search of these cultural links, Nowruzgan manages scholarly activities in “digital humanities,” including digital archives, data visualization, linked data, and ontologies. Moreover, it connects different projects to create a united network through “knowledge management.” It seeks the links between data to provide information and the links of various information to produce knowledge leading to wisdom.