Category Archives: Digital Humanities

New Digital Humanities series ARCHumanities Press

Announcements, Book, Conference, Digital Humanities, Open Access, publication, , ,

Dymphna Evans, new editor at www.arc-humanities.org (THE APPLIED RESEARCH CENTRE IN THE HUMANITIES AND PRESS LTD) informed me they are developing a digital humanities list on digital humanities.
I don’t know the press but I vouch for Dymphna as editor (she was the editor for Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage, when she was at Ashgate before it became Routledge).
As well as publishing monographs and collections they are launching a series of short books (20-40,000 words).

Refer https://mip-archumanitiespress.org/series/impact/
The Arc Impact book offers a new route to publication at Arc Humanities Press connecting and looking beyond medieval studies to contemporary humanities research issues. The Arc Impact book offers a route to publish for scholars who have undertaken a specific research project, which does not lend itself to publishing as a traditional journal article or a long-form academic monograph. A more generous word count and faster turnaround time than a journal article allows for rapid publication of results, more scope for case study material and a more immediate impact on the field. The books are typically 20-40,000 words long and priced at an affordable level with open access options.

Philosophy of Place

Digital Humanities, , ,

Last week at the East-West Centre University of Hawaii was the Philosophers’ Place conference

I have not been to a Philosophy conference for around 25 years but it was a warm and inviting conference in a magnificient I. M. Pei designed venue with its own Japanese garden.

To be honest, a big reason to go was to hear Edward Casey speak. I learnt a great deal about Confucius and to lesser extent Laozi or Lao Tsu (not so much about place) but one question from CHENG Chung-ying (University of Hawai’i) really got me thinking: what exactly is virtuality?

Another big question or two lying in wait is what is philosophy? Do traditional non-western cultures have philosophy. Obviously to the Eastern philosophers there the answer is yes but how each saw as fundamental elements of philosophy was left unsaid.

A third issue, especially for ‘rationalist’ and western-trained philosophers was whether they should spend any time examining mythical beliefs, that was an interesting question at one panel I attended.

As to place and the design of place? I met a few designers and one architect interested in the question, but the majority of attendees seemed happy to just talk about it as if place was a given. Oh well.

Anyway, I recall a visualisation professor telling me he hated humanities conferences because they read full papers! Remembering this, I had a sudden dreadful suspicion I had to also write and read from a full paper when the panel chair emailed and suggested we share our papers first. Now I, being the idiot that I am, thought I had to write and read from a paper as well as deliver slides. I won’t bore you with the slides, but I wrote and sent a 6000 word paper, trying to explain why I was there. And that was to get feedback on hermeneutic environments and phenomenology for the evaluation of virtual places.

So that is what the draft paper circles around. I believe there will be proceedings so I may be asked to complete the paper. But someone may be interested in the draft paper and give me feedback in the meantime! Oh and the other speakers did not write or speak from or distribute written speeches. So I just talked to my slides.. 🙂

So here is the draft paper

 

 

 

 

3DH talk: notes from Geoffrey Rockwell

Digital Humanities, Virtual Reality, visualisation, , ,

After a wonderful conference in April at Leiden: Interactive Pasts   (and if you get the chance I recommend going to the next one), the very next day I gave a short presentation at the University of Hamburg for the first lecture of their new research group, 3DH:

3DH is a 3-year pilot project for the preparation of a larger research co-operation in a second phase. 3DH focuses on the dynamic visualization and exploration of Humanities data from a DH perspective, and with particular emphasis on 3D-visualizations. The major goals for the pilot phase are (a) to establish a methodological and theoretical orientation as well as to develop prototypes of visualization tools as demonstrators, and to (b) prepare and submit a funding appliaction for phase 2.

You can see notes of my talk, as recorded by Geoffrey Rockwell on their threedh blog here.
Mark Grimshaw gave a talk on Rethinking Sound, a few weeks later, notes for his talk are here. (Mark Grimshaw was editor of The Oxford Handbook of Virtuality, for which i wrote a History and Cultuarl Heritage in VE chapter).

NB Johanna Drucker, like Geoffrey, is another in-residence scholar for the project.

 

Proceedings of the Digital Humanities Congress 2014 NOW online

3D and game editors, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, Proceedings, virtual heritage, visualisation, , , , , ,

The Proceedings of 2014 are now live!! Finally!!

http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/openbook/book/dhc2014

My article:Ludic Literature: Evaluating Skyrim for Humanities Modding
Related slides of presentation are on slideshare.net

This article evaluates the practical limitations and dramatic possibilities of modding (which means modifying) the commercial role-playing game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the visualization and exploration of literature. The latest version of a 20 year-old game franchise, Skyrim has inspired various writings and musings on its relation to Digital Humanities. Digital Humanities has moved to a more immersive, participative, tool-making medium, a recent report on digital archives has proposed digital tools integrate with history curricula (Sampo, 2014) and that “digital history may narrow the gap between academic and popular history”. Can games also be used to promote traditional literary mediums as well as experiential and immersive archives?

EDIT: They have the wrong version uploaded on the Sheffield website. I will add the correct version here:

This is an open access publication with a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. As such, PDF versions can be deposited in institutional repositories. Our specific copyright statement is as follows:
“Copyright of all content is retained by the individual authors who are permitted to re-publish their work elsewhere. Likewise, other sites and media are permitted to re-use the works of authors on condition that they include a citation that references the content’s original publication by HRI OpenBook and an accurate attribution of the author’s IP and copyright.”
Finally, there is a new Call for Papers out for DHC2016, available here: http://hridigital.shef.ac.uk/dhc2016

Who is this 3D heritage all for?

3D and game editors, Digital Humanities, virtual heritage,

Lorna Richardson on twitter linked to the sketchfab blog with this provocative header.

For the life of me I don’t recall this discussion at Digital Heritage, VSMM, VAST or any of the other virtual heritage conferences I have attended and it reminds me of other problems that someone needs to summarise and dispel:

  • Preservation friendly tools and archives of 3D models: where are they, what are they, and how are they effectively used?
  • Clear and preferably verifiable reasons why 3D visualisations help the spread, democratization and understanding of the heritage objects, the intangible value and the research contribution that led to the 3D digitization
  • Non-jargon explanation of the use of 3D models to 2D humanities types (yes there is an issue).

Not likely to become a book, but perhaps a book chapter somewhere?

Interactive Fiction, Cultural Tourism, Archaeology and Gaming

3D and game editors, archaeology, Conference, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, summer school, , , ,

 Interactive Fiction

Over 4-5 April I attended the Interactive Pasts conference in Leiden, the Netherlands. It was organised by Archaeology PhD students, and they also created a gamified kickstarter project to get the funding required for an open access book publication of the proceedings. If you missed the conference (which was also on twitch), the presentations are on YouTube.

How does this relate to Interactive Fiction? Tara Copplestone and Angus Mol ran a workshop in the last session on interactive fiction.

Figure 1: #TIPC Interactive Pasts Conference Summary-Erik and Lennie photo by Tara Copplestone

Four of us (myself, Lennart Linde, Catherine Flick, B. Tyr Fothergill) used Twine (Mac version 1.42, PC is version 2.0), to develop the beginnings of an Interactive Fiction (IF) game, called A Career In Ruins, which is an archaeology conference simulator, where the student or junior researcher has to attempt to maximise their reputation while maintaining other important functions (such as phone battery and regular toilet breaks) without missing important sessions.

twine a career in ruins

FIGURE 2: IF PROTOTYPE DEVELOPED WITH TWINE 1.4.2-A CAREER IN RUINS

Like many in the digital humanities, I was a fan of Steve Jackson Adventure Books in the 1980s (yes I was young then) and I had developed my own interactive fiction/D n D game on a 1628 byte CASIO FX-702P Programmable Calculator (around 1982?) I was very keen on expanding my knowledge of what these interactive writing tools can do.

Firstly there is a wide range of these tools: Google Docs.

Secondly, open source HTML-based TWINE and application INFORM are perhaps two of the most widely known tools (and TWINE is perhaps best to start with for beginners), but Squiffy (Mac, PC, Linux) looks most to interesting to me, and I was happy to discover that Adobe’s Phone Gap Application can port the Squiffy interactive fiction / games to mobile phones. I think HTML is a big advantage over those formats that require readers to download a specialised executable and HTML 5 also has other possibilities such as extending to JavaScript (three.JS, Angular.js Node.js or WebGL exported UNITY etc.). There are a variety of ways to create the 3D model for JavaScript and there are good tutorials online, the main challenge is how to incorporate 3D with interactive fiction.

There have even been IF-isometric driving games! The other possible advantages of the JavaScript that I mentioned are that they can offer videos, panoramas, and possibly 3D models.

About 10-15 years ago a program called RealViz allowed you to create 3D layers to panoramas, allowing movies and 3D objects to co-exist (would love to refind the Embarcadero example). Some exciting work and examples was done (via Shockwave 3D) with the imagemodeler but RealViz was bought out by Adobe and no longer exists. I don’t know of a comparable software application today.

However, using the above software I mentioned, I think we can link interactive fiction, panoramas, 3D models, and possibly even 3D panoramas with JavaScripted riddles (there are similar existing applications, like Pannellum).

It would be even more interesting to create these interactive-fiction panoramas for the new head mounted displays like the HTC Vive.

htc vive

FIGURE 3: HTC VIVE, DEMO, LETS MAKE GAMES, PERTH

The possibilities for creative writing and also for archaeological story-making and cultural tourism really interests me and with European partners I hope we can propose a summer workshop. Possibly we would propose two workshops, one for creative writers and cultural tourism (using people’s own holiday snaps and other media, or drawing from digital archives of local heritage) and a second for archaeologists to create interactive fiction/fact/riddles/hypotheses. The first might combine lectures on Nordic Noir and its influence on cultural tourism. If the workshops actually take place, I think they would probably be in Denmark or Greece, or both. Best to start working on the proposal, then!

UPDATE: Inklewriter also looks promising according to this post of its use in a Choose Your Own Witchcraft Trial course.

VH has to be realistic? Not Necessarily

Digital Humanities, heritage, virtual heritage,

In Ancestor Veneration Avatars, by William Sims Bainbridge, National Science Foundation, USA, he writes:

Some scholars of human-centered computing believe that virtual architecture must be visually very realistic to achieve psychological immersion (Champion, 2011), but in this project the emphasis was placed on realistic function

No, I never said that! I have seen this several times by academics, but I only referred to others who said that the lack of photorealism is an issue in Virtual Heritage (VH). But where in Playing With The Past do I argue for photorealism?

What I actually said, in Chapter 2, (page 20-23), was

Without content relating directly to how we perceive the world, an emphasis on formal realism is not creating a virtual reality, but a storehouse of visually represented objects…Meaningful interaction seems to be a crucial issue here. Research surveys indicate that when presented with realistic visual fidelity users also expect highly realistic interaction in order to be engaged (Mosaker 2001). While others have indicated that meaningful interaction is preferable to photo-realism (Eiteljorg 1998).

Grr.

EDIT: Found an earlier reference to the passage that so irked me, it was in

Archaeology, Heritage, and Civic Engagement: Working Toward the Public Good

By Barbara J Little, Paul A Shackel, page 45.

If not DH what is it? (DH2015 presentation)

Digital Humanities, visualisation, ,

The below is the last slide from my Digital Humanities 2015 talk (“Seeing Is Revealing: A Critical Discussion on Visualisation And The Digital Humanities“) in Sydney
The paper is being reviewed for the Digital Scholarship in the Humanities Journal.

Slide 48
title: If not DH what is it?

  1. More emphasis has been on scientific visualisation, on non-interactive calculation + presentation of quantifiable data but DH Vis not only about data, also interactive. vague, questioning & rhetorical.
  2. Visualisation not only pretty, (refer Baldwin, S. 2013. The Idiocy of the Digital Literary..)
  3. Visualisation has to overcome ocularcentrism as Virtual Reality reflects not only sighted reality but non-sighted reality, visualisation is more than just the visual (explain using cave paintings!)
  4. Game design is not typically part of DH but an interesting vehicle for community feedback, cultural issues, critical reflection & medium-specific techniques (procedural rhetoric). Also huge issues, HCI, authenticity, develop scholarly arguments in collaboration, preserve etc.)
  5. It employs research in traditional humanities, converts IT people to humanities research (sometimes), preserves and communicates cultural heritage and cultural significance through alterity, cultural constraints and counterfactual imaginings.
  6. History / heritage is not always literature! DH audience not always literature-focused or interested in traditional forms of literacy.

Virtual Heritage Article free to download until 21 April 2016

archaeology, Conference, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, game, heritage, virtual heritage, , , , ,

Elsevier have kindly let me and others download the below article from the Journal Entertainment Computing, (Volume 14, May 2016, Pages 67–74) up until 21 April 2016. From 22 April it will be behind the Elsevier paywall again.

http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Se406gYiZRYG4
No sign up or registration is needed – just click and read!

Title: Entertaining The Similarities & Distinctions Between Serious Games & Virtual Heritage Projects

Abstract:
This article summarizes past definitions of entertainment, serious games and virtual heritage in order to discuss whether virtual heritage has particular problems not directly addressed by conventional serious games. For virtual heritage, typical game-style entertainment poses particular ethical problems, especially around the simulation of historic violence and the possible trivialization of culturally sensitive and significant material. While virtual heritage can be considered to share some features of serious games, there are significantly different emphases on objectives. Despite these distinctions, virtual heritage projects could still meet serious games-style objectives while entertaining participants.

The Spatial Nature of Archives

Academic, Architecture, Digital Humanities, ,

if we entertain the notion of a book as being distinct from text in an ‘universal’ library (http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3237/3416) and if we consider that early libraries could be spatially memorable forms of archives and churches to be early examples of walk-through books..

Refer The_Gothic_Cathedral_An_Immersive_Information_Visualization_Space

This has changed
http://www.e-flux.com/journal/entering-the-flow-museum-between-archive-and-gesamtkunstwerk/
“However, the relationship between internet and museum radically changes if we begin to understand the museum not as a storage place for artworks, but rather as a stage for the flow of art events..And on the internet, the museum functions as a blog. So the contemporary museum does not present universal art history, but rather its own history—as a chain of events staged by the museum itself. But most importantly: the internet relates to the museum in the mode of documentation, not in the mode of reproduction. Of course, the museums’ permanent collections can be reproduced on the internet, but the museum’s activities can only be recorded.”

Could it be possible that the spatial and physical even architectural organization and appearance of an archive could actually help organize, assist retrievability of the stored collection? I am sure research has been done on this throughout history, but knowing where to start is the question!

NB Please note I am not asking about archives of spatial data, I am asking if there are archives that were themselves physically, platially, spatially organized.

Post-doctoral contract offer : Collaborative mapping and geovisualisation of spatio-historical data sets

archaeology, Architecture, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, job, Postdoc, virtual heritage, Virtual Reality, , ,

The MAP research unit offers a post-doctoral position for a period of 12 months starting on June 1st 2016. The position profile is related to the field of geovisualisation, but in an application to spatio-historical data sets, and in the context of a citizen science exploratory project.

The MAP unit, funded by CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research) and by the French Ministry for Culture, conducts interdisciplinary research activities focusing on the integration of computer science methodologies, formalisms and tools to applications fields like heritage architecture, history and archaeology, spatio-temporal dynamics (www.map.cnrs.fr).

The team is in charge of an exploratory research programme entitled Territographie (www.map.cnrs.fr/territographie), a programme the aim of which is to weigh the potential impact of the citizen science approach in the study of the so-called minor heritage (i.e. collections encompassing tools for agriculture, old occupations, unlisted edifices, etc.).
The team wishes to develop and test a customizable collaborative mapping solution, intended for use in collecting information as well as in browsing/selecting information.

You will find attached two PDF documents (one in French, one in English) presenting the details of the offer : context , mission, skills required , conditions, application procedures.

Contact:

Livio De Luca
Directeur de Recherche au CNRS
Directeur de l’UMR CNRS/MCC MAP _ Modèles et simulations pour l’Architecture et le Patrimoine
http://www.map.cnrs.fr

Email: livio.deluca

postDoctoralPosition_territographie.pdf

offrePostDoc_territographie.pdf

Review of Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage

3D and game editors, Academic, archaeology, Biofeedback, Book, Conference, Digital Humanities, virtual heritage, Virtual Reality, ,
Internet Archaeology (@IntarchEditor)
16/02/2016, 7:52 PM
NEW! Review of Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.40… @nzerik pic.twitter.com/TMsT7pHRx1

I have to say I found this a fair and interesting book review, my book was intended more as a primer for ideas for others to both reflect on and design (as well as evaluate) virtual heritage and interactive history projects but the change in jobs (and countries) chapter structure and word parameters resulted in some chapters to be less in-depth than the topics deserved. And as I noted on Twitter there is at least one (and probably several) reasons for the apparently too-dominant focus on built heritage! So sorry archaeologists but thanks to all for retweeting the review!

archaeology publishers mostly in the area of digital archaeology and video games

Academic, archaeology, Book, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, game, heritage, Open Access, press, publication, virtual heritage, , , , , ,

I have been given a deadline of February 3 to source funding for a flight to the Netherlands to the “Interactive Pasts” Value conference 4-5 April 2016. They said they hope to publish an edited book from the conference and I asked them if they had heard of the below publishers (although they probably have their own) so I added the below links. Hope this is of use to someone. Happy to add links to publishers that I have missed.

call for chapters for edited book “Phenomenology, Place and Virtual Place”

Academic, Book, cfp, Digital Humanities, ,

Phenomenology, Place and Virtual Place: can phenomenology help us convey and understand the ‘virtual place’ experience?

I am seeking 3-5 chapters for an edited book on the history, implications and usefulness of phenomenology for real places and virtual places, with chapters by philosophers, cultural geographers, architects and archaeologists.

Main themes:

1 Phenomenology, definitions, main concepts, historical interpretations.

2 Critical reviews of phenomenology, successes failures and lessons learnt.

3 Strengths and weaknesses of phenomenology compared to other methods.

4 Context-specific and discipline-specific applications of phenomenology applied to place.

5 Particular place-centric phenomenological investigations, issues and applications.

6 Phenomenology applied to virtual places.

There are currently seven proposed authors (see below) but I am aiming to include three to five more authors though an open call for abstracts. Topic 3 is still to be addressed (as well as, to some extent, Topic 2) so I would be particularly happy to receive abstract/chapter submissions on these two topics. You may also notice we currently only have male authors, I asked four leading female writers/philosophers and they were all busy so I would be very happy for a wider and more inclusive spread of perspectives.

Current Proposed Chapters

Introduction by Distinguished Professor Jeffrey Malpas, University of Tasmania.

1 Phenomenology’s Preoccupations and Place, Professor Bruce Janz, University of Central Florida, United States of America.

2 An Encumbering, Confining Reality: Comparing and Contrasting Real Reality and Real Places with Virtual Reality and Virtual Places, Professor David Seamon, Kansas State University.

3 The Inconspicuous Familiarity of Landscapes, Professor Ted Relph, Emeritus Professor University of Toronto.

4 Heidegger’s Bauen, Wohnen, Denken in terms of Minecraft, Dr. Tobias Holischka, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

5 Attention in virtual reality, Professor Richard Coyne, University of Edinburgh

6 Hermeneutics, Horizon and ‘Sense of Place’ Affordances in Virtual Environments, Professor Erik Champion, Curtin University

7 Using Mixed Reality to undertake archaeological phenomenology, Dr Stuart Eve, University of York

Typical book chapter length: 5,000–8,000 words
Philosophical emphasis: Yes as it is intended to be part of a series in Phenomenology (Philosophy) this will be a factor. However I would also be happy to receive submissions from writers with overlapping interests.

Current Status of Proposal: Have discussed with the editor of Routledge Research in Phenomenology and the book proposal will be sent to him for review when I have approximately 10-12 authors. We currently have seven authors.

Submission: by email or attached word or RTF document, approximately 300-500 words.

Deadline for chapter abstracts: Sunday 7 February 2016.

Deadline for draft chapters: Good question but I don’t know! I would probably aim for September 2016.

Email your abstract to: erik DOT champion AT Curtin edu au

Publish or Perish?

Academic, Digital Humanities, , , , ,

In Australia the Prime Minister has recently criticized academic publications,  they aren’t value for money as they don’t directly lead to commercial outcomes, patents etc.

Prime Minister Turnbull wants to end the “publish or perish” culture in which academics are pressured to focus on constant publishing rather than producing work with commercial and community benefit.

Does that mean the government will support open access journals or reduce academic funding? Or transfer that money to STEM and business partnerships?

Under Dr Finkel’s proposal, the amount of revenue generated from industry and other users of research would be used to help determine how university research is funded.

I am afraid it will be the latter. While I am a supporter of closer relationships between universities and business – something our Australian Research Council grant system does not adequately address – there is always a need for non-commercial research.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week told a public forum: “Everyone I talk to thinks that the problem is that academics have got – their incentives are very much associated with publish or perish.”

And if the Prime Minister ever bothered to ask me, I would reply support OPEN ACCESS publications, which are currently not recognized by your Excellence in Research for Australia system!

The problem is more:

  • The reduction of funding to universities even though 20 of our universities are in the top 400 in the world.
  • The Australian government’s lack of funding support for innovation and exchange with the EU’s Horizon 2020!
  • The government reducing funding cuts for research centres and universities (and the government funding to science research hits a 30 year low).
  • The government and university focus on large and time consuming grant applications rather than effective grant applications that are evaluated to ensure they do what they promise and not just say they are new.
  • Grants should be given to people on merit rather than on previous grant success!
  • The government’s determination of national science and research objectives as reliance on pipeline science and technology when
    1. Science is more than just applied manufacturing; it requires critical thinking and fundamental research (not always directly and immediately applied to commercial returns).
    2. International education is Australia’s fourth largest export market.
    3. The Australian coterie of lawyer trained politicians owes its members’ education and subsequent careers to Plato and Aristotle i.e. humanities…
    4. The lack of suitable funding for Australian research infrastructure cripples everyone, scientists and humanities scholars.
    5. Lack of funding into community-based research puts you behind Europe and New Zealand and won’t prepare us for social problems such as potential conflict in the future.

Dramatically and instantly removing funding for publication only further destabilizes the higher education system, creates ruptures between academics here and overseas, and will not encourage academics to come to Australia.

That said, a strategic and thoughtful investigation into research funding and dissemination of results would be most welcome.

OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHERS

Speaking of Open Access here are some of the open access publication schemes NOT recognized by the Excellence in Research for Australia framework:

  1. http://punctumbooks.com/titles/the-digital-humanist/
  2. http://openhumanitiespress.org/plastic-bodies.html
  3. http://www.matteringpress.org/news/first-four-books-will-be
  4. http://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/367/vertical-readings-in-dantes-comedy/54e1823d42b1f797e97bb800dda4b22c

 

Thanks to the Open Humanities twitter feed.

Virtual Heritage Metadata

3D and game editors, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, infrastructure,

Metadata

Are there recent advancements and agreements in the design use and sharing of metadata for Virtual Heritage? Recent modifications of CIDOC-CRM and Dublin Core particularly for 3D Heritage Models would be appreciated. CARARE version 2 is pubically available and there are various papers on the topic but I have not found any large-scale agreement and deployment of any scheme that focuses on 3D Virtual Heritage.

Because in 2007 and 2011, Laia Tost and I suggested virtual heritage projects should be based on: care, accuracy, sensitivity, effective and inspirational pedagogical features, is collaborative and evaluation-orientated. Extrapolating from these aims, I suggest the following features are desirable for designing 3D virtual heritage models or developing an infrastructure that can support virtual heritage models for the purpose of classroom teaching and public dissemination:

  1. Data accuracy: the level of accuracy and type of data capture method should be associated with the model, as well as the geographical location.
  2. Format limitations: any known limitations or required conditions due to the digital format or way in which the data was created, should also be associated with the model.
  3. Provenance: the record of ownership and scholarship and community input should be recorded and accessible (the source and the ownership rights).
  4. Community protocols: social, cultural and institutional protocols that guide who accesses the sourced cultural heritage and how that should affect the transmission, distribution and dissemination of the digitally simulated model.
  5. Authenticity: the known, extrapolated, omitted, simplified and imagined areas and components of the model should be identified in some form of thematic (and preferably standardised) schema.
  6. Cultural presence: models should aim towards explaining the cultural significance of the original site, and give an impression of the situated cultural value of the place as experienced by the original inhabitants.
  7. Evaluation Data: these aims should be clearly explained and any evaluation data of participants should be linked to (or otherwise associated with) the models.
  8. Purpose: the generic ways in which original creators and shareholders intended the models could be edited or otherwise modified should be described.

The first three considerations (and possibly all of the others, especially 5: Authenticity) require the careful and appropriate use of metadata.As Wise and Miller (1997) have noted, metadata (‘data about data’), allows users to be informed without having to access the entire body of data, it helps us find information and it helps us to group and link ‘bodies of information’ together. In 2008, Addison proposed the following virtual heritage metadata:

Type#Data Encoding/Format
Whati.HeritageID (a superset of existing WorldHeritageID)
 Ii.Title/brief description
 IiiHeritage Type/Classification (e.g.: cultural: archaeological …)
 iv.Heritage Time Period (e.g.: geologic or historic time)
 v.Heritage Time Span
Whyvi.Purpose (reason recorded/produced)
Howvii.Recording Device Parameters (type, sample rate, precision …)
 viii.Secondary Device(s) (data manipulation)
 ix.Environmental conditions
Whomx.Submitter and Date of Submission
 xi.Rights given/withheld
 xii.Author/Copyright Holder
 xiii.Sponsor/Funder/Client
Whenxiv.Date (of recording, manipulation)
Wherexv.Location (Latitude/Longitude + compass direction if applicable)

References

ADDISON, A. 2008. The Vanishing Virtual. In: KALAY, Y. E., KVAN, T. & AFFLECK, J. (eds.) New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage. Oxon UK: Routledge.

BENNETT, M. J. 2015. Presentation on Evaluating the Creation and Preservation Challenges of Photogrammetry-based 3D Models.

KULASEKARAN, S., TRELOGAN, J., ESTEVA, M. & JOHNSON, M. Metadata integration for an archaeology collection architecture. Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications, 2014. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, 53-63.

REINHARD, A. 2013. Publishing Archaeological Linked Open Data: From Steampunk to Sustainability [Online]. Available: http://dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/isaw-papers/7/reinhard/ [Accessed 23 7].

TOST, L. P. & CHAMPION, E. 2011. Evaluating Presence in Cultural Heritage Projects. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 18, 83-102.

WISE, A. & MILLER, P. 1997. WHY METADATA MATTERS IN ARCHAEOLOGY. Internet Archaeology, Online.

“Conflict-Solving Strategies in Heritage Studies” Germany, conference applications

Academic, Digital Humanities, virtual heritage, ,

Application

Application.

Deadline for applications: August 25, 2015

General Information:
Applicants are expected to select one of the thematic areas in order to give a 15-minute oral presentation in one of the workshops. Short-listed applicants have to submit a 2,000-word essay and a draft poster.

The thematic areas for in-class presentations are:

  1. Conflict-solving strategies in the context of historic urban landscapes
  2. Cultural landscapes in conflict: challenges and solutions
  3. Heritage in the event of war and terrorism
  4. Climate change and natural disasters as challenges for natural heritage
  5. Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) as a tool for solving conflicts

How to apply?
In order to apply please submit the following documents:

  1. Application form (Please download the form to your computer)
  2. Curriculum Vitae (1 page)
  3. Letter of Motivation indicating the chosen thematic area (1 page)
  4. Abstract of your research project in progress, i.e. your in-class presentation (0,5 page)
  5. Proof of enrolment as a Master’s or Ph.D. student

Applications procedure:
Please, be aware that applicants have to select one of the five thematic areas described above. The application is considered incomplete, if a thematic area is not indicated. The short-listed candidates will be invited to submit a 2,000-word essay on their in-class presentation by September 15, 2015. Based on the quality of the papers the advisory board of ISAC will select the definite participants and award up to 15 scholarships.

Course Fee:
Participants have to pay a registration fee of 250 euros that includes tuition, course materials and the costs of the thematic excursions.

Scholarships:
ISAC may offer up to 15 scholarships provided by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
The selection criterion is the quality of your application (i.e. relevance of your studies, letter of motivation, quality of the abstract and the 2,000-word essay on your in-class presentation).
The scholarships cover accommodation and a lump sum for traveling costs. Please note that traveling costs will be reimbursed according to the regulations of the DAAD.
Eligible are only international students that are enrolled at a foreign university. Neither degree-seeking international students enrolled at a German higher education institution nor German students enrolled at a foreign higher education institution are eligible.
A limited number of junior researchers who work at a foreign higher education institution may be awarded a scholarship. Either way, you have to provide a proof of enrolment or a certificate from your employer.

Please send your application via email to:
Ms. Dariya Afanasyeva
Scientific Assistant
BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg
Chair Intercultural Studies, UNESCO Chair in Heritage Studies
Email: heritagecottbus[at]gmail.com

Theoretical Issues for Game-based Virtual Heritage

3D and game editors, Book, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, heritage, ,

Another book chapter published

Theoretical Issues for Game-based Virtual Heritage

Abstract:

This paper critiques essential features in prominent theories of serious games, and compares them to interaction features of commercial computer games that could be used for history and heritage-based learning in order to develop heuristics that may help future the specific requirements of serious game design for interactive history and digital heritage.

Champion, E. (2015). Theoretical Issues for Game-based Virtual Heritage. In M. Ebner, K. Erenli, R. Malaka, J. Pirker & A. E. Walsh (Eds.), Immersive Education (Vol. 486, pp. 125-136): Springer International Publishing.

It gives the reader an idea of my upcoming book:

Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage (Digital Research in the Arts and Humanities)

Out soon: My book “Critical Gaming: Interactive History & Virtual Heritage”

3D and game editors, Architecture, design, Digital Humanities, game, virtual heritage, visualisation, , , ,

Review:

If you would like to review the book please check out this page for contact details: https://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=2253 …

Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage

Purchase:

The book will be available via http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781472422910

or Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Gaming-Interactive-Heritage-Humanities/dp/1472422929

This book explains how designing, playing and modifying computer games, and understanding the theory behind them, can strengthen the area of digital humanities. This book aims to help digital humanities scholars understand both the issues and also advantages of game design, as well as encouraging them to extend the field of computer game studies, particularly in their teaching and research in the field of virtual heritage.By looking at re-occurring issues in the design, playtesting and interface of serious games and game-based learning for cultural heritage and interactive history, this book highlights the importance of visualisation and self-learning in game studies and how this can intersect with digital humanities. It also asks whether such theoretical concepts can be applied to practical learning situations. It will be of particular interest to those who wish to investigate how games and virtual environments can be used in teaching and research to critique issues and topics in the humanities, particularly in virtual heritage and interactive history. Contents: Introduction; Digital humanities and the limits of text; Game-based learning and the digital humanities; Virtual reality; Game-based history and historical simulations; Virtual heritage and digital culture; Worlds, roles and rituals; Joysticks of death, violence and morality; Intelligent agents, drama and cinematic narrative; Biofeedback, space and place; Applying critical thinking and critical play; Index.

The Egyptian Oracle Project: Ancient Ceremony in Augmented Reality (Bloomsbury Egyptology)

3D and game editors, Book, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, heritage, , , ,

Strange, authors don’t have a copy yet, and it says the book will be available from July 30 but my library already has a copy. Anyway, I wrote an introductory chapter on virtual heritage and the other chapters will be of interest to Egyptologists, Classicists, AI researchers, puppeteers, and of course Virtual Heritage designers..

http://www.amazon.com/The-Egyptian-Oracle-Project-Bloomsbury/dp/1474234151

For more than 2,000 years, between 1500 BCE and 600 CE, the Egyptian processional oracle was one of the main points of contact between temple-based religion and the general population. In a public ceremony, a god would indicate its will or answer questions through the movements of a portable cult statue borne by priests or important members of the community.

The Egyptian Oracle Project is an interactive performance that adapts this ceremony to serve as the basis for a mixed-reality educational experience for children and young adults, using both virtual reality and live performance. The scene is set in a virtual Egyptian temple projected onto a wall. An oracle led by a high priest avatar (controlled by a live human puppeteer) is brought into the presence of a live audience, who act in the role of the Egyptian populace. Through the mediation of an actress, the audience interacts with the avatar, recreating the event.

The series of carefully focused essays in this book provides vital background to this path-breaking project in three sections. After a brief introduction to educational theatre and virtual reality, the first section describes the ancient ceremony and its development, along with cross-cultural connections. Then the development of the script and its performance in the context of mixed-reality and educational theatre are examined. The final set of essays describes the virtual temple setting in more detail and explores the wider implications of this project for virtual heritage.