In this issue of Digital Initiatives, we look at three projects that use digital platforms to investigate subjects in Buddhist art and architecture. As explored in the reviews below, the projects include an in-depth examination of a single object; a complex, multilayered presentation of an entire site; and an ambitious effort to document endangered cultural heritage sites around the globe. While the projects’ structures, goals, and audiences vary, they share a reliance on technology and an understanding of the research and public engagement that digital tools make possible.

Digital Initiatives is a column that explores digital tools, research resources, publications, and learning opportunities in art history and related fields, with a special focus on topics relevant to Ars Orientalis readers. Each volume will present a series of reviews or discussions around an interconnected set of digital resources or projects, written by scholars or other practitioners. If you would like to propose a topic for a future edition of Digital Initiatives, please email Nancy Micklewright at [email protected].

Taming the Sphinx: Smithsonian X 3D on the Freer|Sackler’s Cosmic Buddha

—Karen Hwang

The University of Chicago-Initiated Tianlongshan Caves Project

—Kevin McLoughlin

CyArk: Protecting Cultural Heritage through Digital Preservation

—Joanna Kendall Epstein

Ars Orientalis Volume 46

Permalink: https://doi.org/10.3998/ars.13441566.0046.009

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