Artnet: Dispelling Rumors, Greece Has Rejected the British Museum’s Offer to Return the Parthenon Marbles as a Long-Term Loan. “Greece has rejected the prospect of a ‘long-term loan’ of the Parthenon marbles from the British Museum in London, despite reports just last week that the two sides were nearing an agreement.”
TO BHMA: Artificial intelligence in the service of Greek foreign affairs. “A modern artificial intelligence tool will put the Diplomatic and Historical Archive of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs on a digital highway. Through the project announced by the Information Society to transform the physical archive into a digital record, the practice of diplomacy and foreign policy will enter a new era. The digital archiving and microphotographing of 65 million pages of documents will turn a new page in the operation of the historical archive of Greek diplomacy.”
Voice of America: VOA Greek Service Legacy Finds Home at City University of New York. “The physical and digital archive of the Greek broadcasting service of the Voice of America, one of the original language services of the network, is now donated to the Hellenic American Project (HAP), a nonprofit program under the Department of Sociology of Queens College in the City University of New York.”
New York Times: The Robot Guerrilla Campaign to Recreate the Elgin Marbles. “Few cultural disputes inflame British passions more than the disposition of the Parthenon Marbles. Public debate about the statuary has raged since the early 1800s, when the sculptures and bas-reliefs, which date from 447 B.C. to 432 B.C., were stripped from the Parthenon and other Classical Greek temples on the Acropolis of Athens by agents of Thomas Bruce, a Scottish statesman and seventh earl of Elgin…. Roger Michel, executive director of the Institute of Digital Archaeology, believes the long-running dust-up can be resolved with the help of 3-D machining.”
Reuters: Google targeted in fresh EU consumer groups’ privacy complaints. “Alphabet unit Google has been targeted by a French consumer group and its peers in complaints to privacy watchdogs over its vast trove of users’ personal data harvested via their Google accounts, European consumer organisation BEUC said on Thursday. In addition to the French consumer group, others in Greece, the Czech Republic, Norway and Slovenia have taken their gripes to their data protection authorities, BEUC said.”
Boston College: Modern Greek literature resource . “The CENSUS of Modern Greek Literature, which provides references to all English-language translations of modern Greek literature and all modern Greek-related studies in English as far back as the 12th century, was formally unveiled last month at an event featuring remarks from the Consul General of Greece in Boston Stratos Efthymiou. Through CENSUS, researchers will be able to search for free for information and to access texts and original sources directly, where copyright allows.”
The Conversation: Migrant workers are flipping the script and using Photovoice to tell their own stories . “COVID-19 and worries about food security have resulted in increased media coverage about migrant agricultural workers, with stories usually told on their behalf. Four sets of South Asian migrant men in Greece wanted to flip the script and tell their own stories. They used Photovoice, an arts-based social justice tool, to present themselves and their concerns directly to people. This eventually transformed into a travelling multi-media exhibition and a digital archive, This is Evidence.”
Ars Technica: Researchers home in on possible “day zero” for Antikythera mechanism. “The mysterious Antikythera mechanism—an ancient device believed to have been used for tracking the heavens—has fascinated scientists and the public alike since it was first recovered from a shipwreck over a century ago. Much progress has been made in recent years to reconstruct the surviving fragments and learn more about how the mechanism might have been used. And now, members of a team of Greek researchers believe they have pinpointed the start date for the Antikythera mechanism, according to a preprint posted to the physics arXiv. Knowing that ‘day zero’ is critical to ensuring the accuracy of the device.”
Greek Reporter: Entirety of Parthenon Frieze Featured on New Website. “The upgraded website enables art lovers from around the world to analyze and marvel at the incredible frieze, which portrays a procession for the ancient festival called the Panathenaia. A stunning array of nearly 400 human figures, including charioteers and people on horseback, as well as hundreds of animals and countless offerings to the goddess Athena is emblazoned on the frieze.”
Neos Kosmos: Greece drops negative COVID-19 test demand for vaccinated travellers. “As of today, Greece will allow tourists with a European vaccination certificate to enter the country without having to provide a negative test. A valid digital European Union vaccination certificate will suffice, Reuters reported.”
Daily Beast: Athens’ Architectural Heritage Is Slowly Slipping Away but These Heroes Are Saving It. “By World War II, Athens was one of Europe’s most beautiful and eclectic cities. But a post-War building law, now seen as reckless and short-sighted, incentivised homeowners to knock down their houses and replace them with identikit concrete apartment blocks…. The post-War building spree is often given as the reason for Athens’ oppressive concrete appearance. And yet, walking through Athens today, you can still spot these pre-War survivors. There are a surprising number of them, largely hidden, subsumed, and sometimes entombed by their concrete surroundings. But they’re still there, surviving.”
Pappas Post: Anti-Vaccine Bishop and Unvaccinated Sister Die of COVID-19 Weeks Apart. “An unwavering anti-vaccine Greek Orthodox bishop has died of COVID-19 just weeks after his unvaccinated sister also died due to complications from the virus. The 76-year old Metropolitan Kosmas of Aetolia and Acarnania died after a month-long battle with the virus that saw him moved from a local hospital in Agrinio to an ICU room at Evangelismos hospital in Athens.”
Reuters: Greece reports new daily record of COVID-19 cases as Omicron dominates. “Greece reported a single-day record high of 35,580 COVID-19 infections on Thursday as the highly contagious Omicron becomes the dominant variant in the country. It was the third successive daily record of cases, with infections more than tripling since the beginning of the week.”
Times of Israel: Greek Jewish archives stolen by Nazis returned after nearly 80 years. “The Greek Jewish community is celebrating the return of a trove of manuscripts and community documents that the Nazis stole nearly 80 years ago. The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) announced in a statement earlier this month that Russia, which was in possession of the archives, had agreed to return them to their Mediterranean origin, after a diplomatic process supported by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.”
Microsoft: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport and Microsoft partner to digitally preserve ancient site of Olympia. “The Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport and Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced Ancient Olympia: Common Grounds, a new collaboration to digitally preserve and restore ancient Olympia, the original home of the Olympic games, using AI. This digital revival project allows viewers around the world to explore ancient Olympia as it stood more than 2,000 years ago through an immersive experience via an interactive mobile app, web-based desktop experience, or a Microsoft HoloLens 2 exhibition at the Athens Olympic Museum.”
The ResearchBuzz Firehose is regular RB content presented as individual posts.
For digest-type posts a couple of times a day, please visit ResearchBuzz.
Want to know how to best use the Firehose for content discovery?
Check out this handy article.