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Digitizing history

Bedouins are experiencing major shifts, transforming from a nomadic people into a population comfortable with modern technology and city living. With this shift, however, comes the danger of forgetting the old ways entirely.

If the people are no longer practicing, the heritage needs preserving in other ways.

The UAE National Archives and Library has been collecting records about life in the region since 1968. Today, more than 5 million historical documents are stored at the National Archives, including 800 audio-visual recordings of Emirati storytellers and elders, preserving dialects, songs and folktales, as well as photographs, manuscripts and written histories.

CAPTION: This Bedouin woman was photographed circa 1900-1920 in El Raha Plain, Egypt.  CREDIT: U.S. Library of Congress

Now, the challenge is to digitize everything for greater longevity. Digitization offers more than the safe storage of cultural content, however; it also offers wider availability. An ICT storage system needs to be more than a repository. It requires integrated search functions with well-organized metadata-tagging systems, interoperability with other IT systems to future-proof a collection, and easy access for archivists and curious laypeople alike.

Digitization is essential in modern management of heritage collections. The process can be as simple as photographing or scanning an extant document to be stored as a digital image, but it’s the IT architecture that’s the complicated part.

Additionally, meticulous planning is required for developing the metadata that will drive this architecture. If assets aren’t tagged appropriately, the smartest search function in the world will struggle to return them.

CHECKING FOR BIAS IN AI

Artificial intelligence can serve as a powerful tool in identifying and tagging digital-heritage assets, but it’s important to consider how bias in AI systems can affect the data collected. Careful cultivation of “cultural intelligence” is vital to developing an AI to avoid bias in identifying images of certain demographic characteristics and ensure appropriate and sensible tags and captions are generated.

Athol Yates, professor of humanities and social sciences at Khalifa University, uses examples from World War 2 archiving to explain:

“During WWII, there were U.S. aircraft and a facility located in Sharjah, UAE, but this isn’t a well-known fact. Confirmation bias was at play in the archive where I found a photo of an aircraft in Sharjah labeled as an aircraft in Egypt. Fortunately, this was found in the Australian War Memorial archive, which had a system to inform the archivist of the issue. There will be other examples of photos with an Arabic setting tagged as other areas of the Middle East, rather than Sharjah where it may actually have been.”

 U.S. servicemen work on an aircraft in Sharjah during World War II. The image was previously falsely identified as being taken in Egypt. CREDIT: U.S. Library of Congress

Not to mention, all of this tagging and archiving needs to be scalable. Digital library systems need to be able to expand to accommodate additional assets. Beyond the sheer volume of items, the system should also be able to handle different types of content, the number of users accessing the system at a given time, and the different ways the content could be accessed. The more complex they become, however, the more difficult to maintain, extend and reuse. The system needs to be flexible, not unwieldy.

When asked how difficult it is to build an IT system that stores, archives and makes easily accessible and searchable hundreds of thousands of photos, Dr. Ibrahim Elfadel answers with just three words: “Use the cloud.”

Now a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, Elfadel was a senior scientist at IBM before switching to academia. “The research on storing, archiving, indexing and searching digital media is quite old, but with the emergence of web services, early research work has become mainstream,” he says.

The research on storing, archiving, indexing and searching digital media is quite old, but with the emergence of web services, early research work has become mainstream.

– Ibrahim Elfadel

“For instance, when we place our smartphone photos on the cloud, they get stored, indexed and retrieved according to methods based on that early research. AI is now playing a larger role in retrieving digital media based on complex user queries.”

REGION’S LIBRARIES STEP UP

Libraries across the region are rising to the challenge of digitizing their history.

In 2021, Qatar Digital Library had a 2-million-page repository of culture, heritage and history. Each page highlights a historical report, letter, map, photograph or sound recording, with an explanation in both English and Arabic.

Art Jameel is a project preserving heritage and supporting creative enterprises rooted in local heritage in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. It trains photographers in advanced photogrammetry, a technique used to document objects in 3D, and is leading efforts to record and preserve the rich archaeological heritage of the region, especially the rock art.

Art Jameel has also operated abroad, using digital-documentation techniques to record evidence of Yazidi cultural heritage in Iraq. Working in the Sinjar region, the Art Jameel team used aerial photography and photogrammetry to construct 3D models of sites destroyed by conflict.

In Oman, an online training program seeks to turn young Omanis into keen digital-heritage curators, providing students and recent graduates from all disciplines with the digital skills and tools needed to conserve their history.

The Caaba and Sanctuary at Mecca was photographed from an elevated position due east of the Masjid al-Haram, or Grand Mosque, circa 1886-1889. CREDIT: Qatar Digital Library

The National Library of Israel received a donation of more than 50 years of documentation of the Bedouin community living in the Sinai Peninsula. The donation is the work of Dr. Clinton Bailey, author and researcher of Middle Eastern and Islamic history, who spent his life recording and collecting materials from the last Bedouin generation to grow up in the pre-modern period to capture an orally transmitted ancient heritage. He conducted research throughout the deserts of Sinai and the Negev, speaking with the Bedouin people to collect their knowledge, memories and history.

COLLABORATION WITH UAE

The archivists involved in curating the Clinton Bailey Archive of Bedouin Culture are now working with archivists in the UAE to transcribe more than 350 hours of interviews in the various Arabic dialects spoken by the Bedouin people.

Dr. Samuel Thrope, curator of the Islam and Middle East collection at the National Library of Israel, explained that while the storage and cataloguing of these recordings were the technical challenges, they were simple compared with the careful transcription of the content: “We have all the recordings digitized and cataloged. They’re fully searchable with rich descriptions of the topics discussed and full names and tribal affiliations of the interviewees.

“The next stage is transcribing them. Robust cataloging — that’s not new. That wasn’t the challenge. The challenge was how to make the transcriptions available and searchable — and accurate. All these dialects, they’re difficult to transcribe and translate. Working with the professionals at the National Library and Archives in the UAE has been so helpful in solving this. We can learn from their experiences, from the work they’ve done in archiving rare and precious recordings of the Arabic language.”

As for the other side of archiving — the accessibility and democratization of knowledge, as Thrope puts it — the library is forward-thinking:

“All the vast collections we have are open and accessible to everyone everywhere around the world. Maybe we don’t know why people want to access the information and it’s OK that we don’t know. We’re collecting not just for the present, but for the future. We know we have to preserve, protect, record.”

We have all the recordings digitized and cataloged. They’re fully searchable with rich descriptions of the topics discussed and full names and tribal affiliations of the interviewees.

– Samuel Thrope

GIVING OLD PHOTOS NEW PUNCH

Artificial intelligence has revolutionized the way old images are not only tagged and archived but restored and cleaned. By using sophisticated algorithms, AI can analyze and improve the quality of old photographs, even those that have suffered from decades of wear and tear.

Machine learning techniques can be used by training models on large datasets of high-quality images to learn patterns and features that can be used to restore and enhance older images. By analyzing and identifying the differences between the old and the new, AI models can determine the best way to restore an old image.

Neural networks are one such technique. These networks are designed to mimic the structure and function of the human brain, allowing them to learn and adapt to different types of images. They can learn to identify patterns and features that are specific to high-quality images, such as sharpness and light balancing, and then apply these features to old and degraded images.

In this way, AI can enhance and clean the images by removing noise and other imperfections. Human photo editors can use these techniques and their own expertise to improve the overall quality and clarity of older images, bringing them into the future in ways that were previously impossible, preserving them for anyone interested in the past.

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Modern heritage

Traditional ways often suffer after the introduction of technology. But Bedouins and other nomadic peoples are adapting modern tech to preserve the customs of their ancestors from herding and hunting to sailing and sports.

Here are four ways tech is making an impact.

CELLPHONES AND MODERN COMMS

“Before I went to do research among the Egyptian Bedouin tribes, I had envisioned Bedouins as desert roamers living in tents and herding animals,” Lila Abu-Lughod says about her time with Bedouin groups along the northern edge of the Egyptian Western Desert in 1984. “Instead, I found that these same people who touted the joys of the desert lived in houses, wore wristwatches and plastic shoes, listened to radios and cassette players, and traveled in Toyota pickup trucks.”

The falling costs of solar panels help keep cellphones a cheap means of staying in touch for nomadic peoples. IMAGE: Alamy

Abu-Lughod is a professor of social science at Columbia University these days, but in 1984, she was working on her Ph.D. at Harvard University. She was living with the Awlad ‘Ali tribe, documenting her experiences living with Bedouin women and researching their poetry and storytelling. The most visible changes in their mode of life, she says, do not signal the disintegration of their culture or society.

Thirty-nine years later, Fatma Al-Kalin visited Marsa Matrouh, Egypt, and came to a similar conclusion. The researcher from Girls’ College Ain Shams University in Egypt noted most of the Bedouin she met had a cellphone and a social media account. More than three-quarters of the population surveyed owned a cellphone and spent “a lot” of time using the internet. Compared with the mostly male ownership of the Toyotas seen by Abu-Lughod, cellphones were equally distributed among men and women.

The proliferation of cheap communications technology has rapidly modernized the way of life for many Bedouin people, as have the cheap means to keep phones charged without a fixed power station — thanks to the falling cost of solar panels.

Beyond “the internet,” there are unique benefits to reap from the cellular revolution. Sharing information through informal social networks on the price of produce, weather patterns and grazing conditions helps families to maximize their production and profits while minimizing their risk, says Mark Hay, a freelance writer focusing on the culture and society of nomadic peoples.

“During a major drought in 2010, the Kenyan government itself took to using these networks to help nomadic Maasai tribes avoid disaster,” Hay explains. “Another Kenyan project gives mobile-phone holders access to hundreds of pro bono lawyers who can help nomads defend their land rights, using tools of a legal system that were once utterly inaccessible to most of them.

Another Kenyan project gives mobile-phone holders access to hundreds of pro bono lawyers who can help nomads defend their land rights.

– Mark Hay

“In Mongolia, the solar panels brought in to charge phones have granted nomads access to cheap and reliable solar power in the countryside to light their homes, eliminating the need for candles to create light,” Hay says. “This has reduced the risk of smoke-exposure-based diseases, extended the workday and freed up huge sums in family budgets to buy consumer goods. All from the proliferation of cellphones.”

DHOWS

Symbolic of the golden age of exploration, pearl diving and fishing, the dhow is the traditionally romantic Arabian seacraft undergoing a dramatic revival.

Dhows are traditional sailing boats used in the Red Sea, Arabian Peninsula and the seas of East Africa. IMAGE: Shutterstock

While the dhows employed nowadays may look the same as the vessels that linked the countries of the Arabian Gulf to the rest of the world through the centuries, advancements in materials mean they are now built of fiberglass instead of wood. A modern fiberglass boat can be produced twice as quickly as the traditional teak boat and requires half the maintenance. While a wooden dhow needs dry-docking every three months to be treated, a fiberglass one can go much longer at sea.

Lamination has replaced shark-liver oil, and epoxy is used instead of cotton, while masts and booms are made of carbon fiber. Sails are much lighter and stronger than they used to be, and radio and satellite navigation are standard accoutrements to the modern dhow sailor.

ROBOT JOCKEYS

Across the Gulf, camel racing is a treasured sport. Controlling the camel as it thunders down the track is a remote-controlled robot jockey.

Since 2005, camel racing in the UAE and Qatar has required the use of robot jockeys rather than humans. Robots are much lighter and can’t be injured if they fall off.

Development began in the early 2000s, with Swiss company K-Team first employed to design a mannequin-like robot that wouldn’t spook the camels. Beyond the visual aspect, the robots also needed to withstand high desert temperatures and cope with a fast-moving and uneven ride. These robots were introduced to the sport but they came with disadvantages: They were relatively heavy, weighing in at 16-18 kilograms, and expensive.

Camel racing can be traced back to the 7th century CE in the Arabian Peninsula. IMAGE: Shutterstock

A team at the Qatar Scientific Club improved the design, using aluminum frames to protect the circuit box, now reduced to the size of a large book. A rotor spins the jockey’s single arm, propelling the whip. The design is simple: It’s basically a power drill, with the drill bit replaced with a riding crop. The jockey is controlled remotely by the handler.

The robots also provide feedback to the camel handlers, measuring and transmitting biological signals in real-time throughout the race.

Esan Maruff was head of IT and robotics on the Robotics Academy of Qatar for Bright Inventions (RAQBI) in 2005. His team was also tasked with developing robotic jockeys but found that camel-racing technology didn’t need to be complicated.

“Instead of full automation or a sleek design, the camel owners wanted a simple, streamlined robot. It didn’t need to be intelligent or high-spec,” Maruff says. The final RAQBI model miniaturized the K-Team design and repurposed car key fobs for remote controls. It also weighs just 2 kilograms.

“Any electronics technician can make this. Our methodology here was engineering rooted in simplification and an understanding of the local tradition. Within months, our design was being copied across the Gulf. It was amazing. We never expected that kind of reach.”

FALCONRY DRONES (AND NOT-DRONES)

For thousands of years, the Bedouin people across the Arabian Peninsula practiced falconry as an important form of hunting in a resource-scarce land. While resources are now plentiful for modern Emiratis, the sport remains popular.

Falcons require training to hunt in partnership with humans — they must be taught to fly high and swoop for their prey, a challenge for a human decidedly floor-bound. For help, modern falconers have turned to the drone.

The best falconry drone should be able to mimic the bird’s speed and flight pattern.

– Paul Posea

Falconry is a form of hunting using birds of prey. IMAGE: Shutterstock

Easy to fly and control thanks to advanced stabilization and GPS technology, modern drones are also sturdy enough to withstand the impact of a falcon seizing the lure.

Ideally, the drone needs enough battery for plenty of practicing and stability for training under diverse wind conditions. That’s it.

Paul Posea tests drones for a living. As the designers of the robot jockey found, Posea recommends simplicity in a drone designed for falconry.

“Some manufacturers of UAVs exclusively used for falconry have too many gimmicks,” he said. “They try to adopt a more ‘bird-like’ appearance. Others use folding wings, V-twincopter designs, and others just don’t help with falconry. The best falconry drone should be able to mimic the bird’s speed and flight pattern. It should be versatile, not gimmicky.”

Nick Fox of Wingbeat Ltd. disagrees. Instead of training falcons to catch prey with assists from drones, Wingbeat creates drones that the falcon can actually catch — drones with a decidedly bird-like appearance. His design has had particular success in the Middle East, where prey suitable for the hunt is in short supply. The houbara bustard is the most prestigious game bird in the region, but its population has nosedived.

“The end result is they haven’t got anything to hunt,” Fox says. “Our Robara model has been specifically designed as prey for hunting falcons. Through years of experiments, it was clear we needed a lure that looked the same as the real prey, behaved the same, had similar flight-performance characteristics, was controllable at all times, could fly high and freely in the sky, was safe to catch, could withstand repeated attacks, and could be mass-produced at an economical price.”

A tall order.

The Robara looks and flies like a houbara. Made from expanded polypropylene, the design resembles flapping wings, but it is much more resilient, with parts that can be easily replaced if broken. Although technically not a drone, more a remote-control helicopter since handlers fly it by eye, rather than videofeed from the drone cameras, the design is popular among falconers in the Middle East.

Peter Bergh went in a different direction. The Dubai-based falconer also wanted a drone that could push falcons to the limits of their speed and agility, and he also wanted his birds to be able to catch it. His may not look like a bustard, but it’s definitely a drone. His BerghWing also enables falconers to analyze flight data, which can be used to find areas of improvement for their training.

In this project, we will … create a houbara robot that can travel freely in the houbara habitats, to perform behavior observations and interaction tasks related to houbara conservation

– Lakmal Senevirtane

Powered by a single motor resembling a desk fan atop a stealth bomber, the Berghwing has just three auto features: launch into wind, return to home, and loiter mode. Everything else is between trainer and falcon.

Technology isn’t just helping train falcons, however. Researchers at Khalifa University and the Abu Dhabi-based International Fund for Houbara Conservation are looking at using robotics and AI to preserve houbara bustards, which are traditionally used to train falcons but have become endangered by habitat destruction and illegal hunting.

The idea is to use the technology to study the birds in the wild.

“In this project, we will exploit the synergies between IFHC and KU to create a houbara robot that can travel freely in the houbara habitats, to perform behavior observations and interaction tasks related to houbara conservation,” Lakmal Seneviratne, director of Khalifa University’s Center for Autonomous Robotic Systems, tells KUST Review.