I was invited to present online my thoughts on paradata and metadata in digital heritage today, a free webinar run by the UNESCO chair of digital cultural heritage staring 2PM Central European Time. More details are here. Talks are 10-15 minutes each…
14:00-14:10 Harry Verwayen DG. Europeana Foundation. NL Opening remarks 14:10-14:20 Marinos Ioannides, et al UNESCO Chair on DCH at Cyprus University of Technology. CY Paradata, Metadata & Data for a digital #MemoryTwin 14:20-14:35 Isto Huvila Invited KEYNOTE Uppsala University. SE Datafication of archaeological archiving and the preservation of what? 14:35-14:50 Luisa Ammirati, et al UNOSAT/UNITAR. CH, UNESCO WHC, FR Paradata and metadata in an immersive digital heritage experience 14:50-15:05 Erik Champion University of South Australia. AU Usable, Useful, Reviewable and Reusable Metadata 15:05-15:20 Carla Schroer, et al Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI). US Building Reliable and Reusable Complex Digital Representations: The Digital Lab Notebook 15:20-15:35 Daniel Pletinckx Visual Dimension bvba. BE 3D Heritage is Heritage, we should treat it as such 15.35-15:50 Tony Cassar, et al Heritage Malta. MT Challenges of 3D Digitisation of Cultural Heritage 15:50-16:05 Shuyi Yin, et al Columbia University. US Blockchain Technology for Enhanced Documentation and Management of Built Heritage in Historic Cities 16:20-16:35 Jean-Baptiste Barreau Archéologie des Amériques (ArchAm), CNRS. FR Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of an Egyptian Saqiya: A Computational Approach to Preserving Cultural Heritage and Water Management Systems 16:35-16:50 Antoine Isaac, et al Europeana Foundation. NL Making the Europeana Data Model a better fit for documentation of 3D objects 16:50-17:05 Raffaella Brumana, et al Politecnico di Milano. IT HBIM quality information model to manage surveying, stratigraphic units and transformations into paradata. The mausoleum of Cecilia Metella and the Castrum Caetani 17:05-17:30 Discussion Session & Closing Remarks
Champion, E., & Emery, S. (2024). Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums [GLAM]-focussed Games and Gamification. In J. Nichols & B. Mehra (Eds.), Data Curation and Information Systems Design from Australasia: Implications for Cataloguing of Vernacular Knowledge in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (Vol. 54, pp. 67-83). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-283020240000054006.
Engaging with digital heritage requires understanding not only to comprehend what is simulated but also the reasons leading to its creation and curation, and how to ensure both the digital media and the significance of the cultural heritage it portrays are passed on effectively, meaningfully, and appropriately. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization defines ‘digital heritage’ to comprise of computer-based materials of enduring value some of which require active preservation strategies to maintain them for years to come.
With the proliferation of digital technologies and digital media, computer games have increasingly been seen as not only depicters of cultural heritage and platforms for virtual heritage scholarship and dissemination but also as digital cultural artefacts worthy of preservation. In this chapter, we examine how games (both digital and non-digital) can communicate cultural heritage in a galleries, libraries, archives, and museums [GLAM] setting. We also consider how they can and have been used to explore, communicate, and preserve heritage and, in particular, Indigenous heritage. Despite their apparently transient and ephemeral nature, especially compared to conventional media such as books, we argue computer games can be incorporated into active preservation approaches to digital heritage. Indeed, they may be of value to cultural heritage that needs to be not only viewed but also viscerally experienced or otherwise performed.
Assassin’s Creed‹ in the Classroom History’s Playground or a Stab in the Dark? HAS been published by De Gruyter, on 18 December. Thanks to my co-editor Dr Juan Hiriart, and our authors.
The eCHOing project is inviting you to a lunch lecture, join us for an exciting event that explores the fascinating world of visitor experiences in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums). Photo: gunnerus.no NTNU UB
TUESDAY17 OCTOBER Hands-on Game Design Workshop, TRONDHEIM NORWAY, 09:30-14:30
Join us for an exciting event that explores the fascinating world of visitor experiences in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums).
Whether you’re a student curator, librarian, archivist, or museum enthusiast, this event is a must-attend to stay ahead in the ever-evolving GLAM landscape.
In this half-day workshop Erik Champion will help small groups of 4 brainstorm (“ideate”) ideas to create engaging games using a simplified working definition of computer games, and with the help of physical items. Although these game ideas could eventually become digital games, escape rooms, augmented or mixed reality projects, this introductory workshop will concentrate on creating and testing physical (analogue) demos and simple prototypes. Although Erik’s focus has been on history and heritage games, this workshop will be open to other types of games, but particularly on those where players can learn beyond the game, and where the game is a series of engaging challenges. You may bring your own idea for a game, or develop a game idea on the day in a group. No programming necessary.
Work in interdisciplinary groups with real life problems
Be an agent of change as your ideas will help professionals reach a wider audience for their cultural institutions!
Learn the fundamentals of serious games and why so many fail.
Discover how paper prototyping in groups can help you quickly create engaging game ideas.
Short bio for NTNU workshop
Erik Champion tutors game jam projects in South Australia at UniSA, and has hosted game design workshops in Australia, Italy, Poland, the United States, Qatar, and Finland, and co-hosted remotely a game design workshop with school children in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with Dr Juan Hiriart. He is currently working on research projects with Tencent Games and Ubisoft. He wrote Playing With The Past: Into The Future (Springer 2022), and edited the open access book Virtual Heritage: A Guide (Routledge, 2021) and has written books on the intersection between video games and cultural heritage. He has honorary appointments at Curtin, UWA, and ANU and was recently a visiting professor at the University of Jyvāskylā, Finland, a partner of the Centre of Excellence in Game Studies (https://coe-gamecult.org/).
Skills required: none.
The eCHOing project is an EU-funded programme that aims to foster collaboration through open innovation between universities and 29 cultural institutions in five European countries. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to gain valuable insights from our invited gaming guru and writer of the book PLAYING WITH THE PAST.
WEDNESDAY18 October MediaCity, Salford University, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, UK, 15:00-19.00
This talk will examine how key challenges in digital heritage involving 3D models could be brought to life and re-opened to interpretation by game design, and how game-like interaction could also help increase the richness and immersive qualities of XR (extended reality) and virtual tourism. Can 3D models, the scholarly information surrounding them, and the involvement of the public be brought closer together? And can we harness the speed and complexity of new technologies to ensure both the data and our understanding of that data can be recorded, interpreted, and shared more fairly, openly, and democratically?
Reflective Experiences with Immersive Heritage (Difficult Digital Heritage)
Despite the growth and spread of digital humanities visualisation projects, parallel and accessible examples in immersive virtual heritage are harder to find. Over the last three decades, immersive technologies (especially as “new” media) have embraced digital heritage to create spectacular experiences, but existing and durable examples of virtual heritage (virtual reality applied to cultural heritage) are relatively rare, while examples of difficult heritage far rarer. In this talk I will summarize relevant dilemmas in presence research, and recent developments in virtual heritage, reflect on some difficult lessons learnt, and offer some recommendations as to how we could address the depiction or evocation of difficult pasts in the near future.
BIO
Erik Champion is an Enterprise Fellow at UniSA, Emeritus Professor at Curtin University, Honorary Research Fellow at UWA, and Honorary Research Professor at ANU. He has published books and papers on serious games and game mods, virtual heritage, virtual world phenomenology, digital humanities infrastructures, and architectural history.
Partnering with the Adelaide Gaol, we are looking for a PhD student to explore a project that looks at tourism of places with challenging histories in respectful and personalised ways using Augmented Reality.
You need to be eligible to complete a PhD to apply and you can find the eligibility requirements link at the bottom of the UniSA Project Page.
I’m sorry I have not been updating this blog very frequently.
I spent a week in Sydney (at my expense but for a good cause): ICOMOS. I am a member of ICIP ICOMOS but to be honest I don’t seem to be very involved or I don’t know (currently) what is happening. They had their meeting as I was travelling to ICOMOS General Assembly, we co-chairs of the Scientific Symposium had to meet at 7.30 every day and Tuesday and Thursday was a full on Digital Heritage program that I have mixed feelings about.
The concerns I have about Digital Heritage seem shared by the others, but I only had 15 minutes to talk and they decided (because of others, and the screen having to reset) that there were no Q&A for my session. I think in future I will work with more specialist audiences at smaller events, I don’t think my involvement at these bigger conferences is very effective, it will be more relevant for others.
During our day break (the session was split into Tuesday and Thursday with a visit in between to the Blue Mountains, (I don’t know why, but perhaps it wasn’t such an issue after all) I visited the Australian National Maritime Museum and had a brief conversation with the submarine HMAS Vampire volunteer, an ex-submariner about when things go wrong (footnote: he was lucky the sub only had practice torpedos, they return to the nearest acoustic object if they can’t find their target, a lesson he learnt all too well). It was fascinating listening to him.
GLAM Games: Gaps and Glimmers in the Visitor Experience
Bradley Forum Level 5 Hawke Building 50-55 North Terrace, Adelaide
25 September from 9.30. Book a free ticket at Eventbrite.
GLAM Games: Gaps and Glimmers in the Visitor Experience
Join us for an exciting event that explores the fascinating world of visitor experiences in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums).
Discover the gaps and glimmers in the visitor journey as we delve into the latest trends and strategies to enhance engagement and create memorable experiences.
Date: Mon Sep 25 2023 Time: 09:30 AM ACST Location: Bradley Forum, Level 5, Hawke Building, UniSA City West Campus, 55 North Terrace, Adelaide, SA
Immerse yourself in a day filled with insightful discussions, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities with industry experts and like-minded professionals.
Whether you’re a curator, librarian, archivist, or museum enthusiast, this event is a must-attend to stay ahead in the ever-evolving GLAM landscape.
Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to gain valuable insights and exchange ideas with fellow GLAM enthusiasts. Register now to secure your spot!
SCHEDULE:
9.30 Intro & talk Associate Professor Erik Champion (UniSA) Learning Through Play
10.00 Peter Tattersall (Head of Visitor Engagement, National Maritime Museum (Sydney)) What are you playing at? Contested histories, video games, classrooms, and museums
10.30 MORNING TEA (provided)
11.00 Dr Melissa Rogerson (University of Melbourne) Avoiding “analogue” – combining physical components with technologies to make new playful experiences
11.30 Dr Bernardo Pereira (ANU) Insights from a Computer Science Escape Room Experience
Exploring Historical Australian Expeditions with Time-Layered Cultural Maps
The Australian Time Layered Cultural Map platform was created to help digital humanities scholars investigate how online geospatial tools could provide exemplars to their humanities colleagues on how historical collections and cultural data could be extended and re-examined with geospatial tools. The project discussed here investigated how Recogito/TMT could effectively extract spatial and temporal data from pure text-based historical information and generate time-layered interactive maps of that spatio-temporal data using accessible and user-friendly software. The target audience was humanities scholars relatively new to geospatial technologies and relevant programming systems. The interactive maps were created with two free, open-source web applications and one commercial GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping application. The relative pros and cons of each application are discussed. This paper also investigates simple workflows for extracting spatiotemporal data into RDF (Resource Description Framework) format to be used as Linked Open Data.
“Over the years, the CIPA Symposium has been an important international crossroad for a wide community of researchers, professionals, and site managers interested in documenting, understanding, and preserving cultural heritage. CIPA was jointly founded in 1968 by ICOMOS (International Council of Monuments and Sites) and ISPRS (International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) to facilitate the transfer of technology from the measurement sciences into the heritage documentation and recording disciplines. Since then, the biennial symposia have enabled an ever-growing community to meet, debate, network, and get up-to-date. After the very sad and long period that forced us to stay separated, we will meet again in person during CIPA2023 in Florence, from 25-30 June 2023.”
Authors of selected papers will have the opportunity to present their work during the Symposium as long or short presentations.
Proceedings will collect all the papers that have passed a peer-review process in the ISPRS Archives and Annals.
Selected contributors will be invited to submit an extended version of their papers to Special Issues of Journals linked to the Conference (e.g. Applied Geomatics, Ananke, Sensors, Virtual Archaeology Review – list to be updated).
Next project: edited collected chapters (free online): DIY archaeology (history, architectural/art history and heritage) escape rooms children/students can create at home or in class (written and illustrated like cookbook recipes). Now, just how to write up the proposal & find the right designers, writers, & experts!
A Framework for Developing Educational Games in and with Australian Museums
This PhD project focuses on reviewing challenges and successes in Australian museums (MOD, National Maritime Museum and the South Australian Museum) with the aim to develop a participatory open-ended game framework to encourage greater engagement, wider audiences, and increased visitation, as well as reuse of content, data, and related media.
The successful candidate will focus on either the evaluation and framework based on interviews, surveys and workshops with museum experts, or on developing overall game mechanics examples (game prototypes) showcasing best practice game techniques for showcasing Australian museum content, promoting reuse.
This project is funded for reasonable research expenses. Additionally, a living allowance scholarship of $28,854 per annum is available to Australian and New Zealand citizens, and permanent residents of Australia, including permanent humanitarian visa holders. A fee-offset or waiver for the standard term of the program is also included. For full terms and benefits of the scholarship please refer to our scholarship information.
I will give a talk tonight via Zoom to UniSA IVE colleagues on the above topic.
Time: 4PM
2022 IVE Research Seminar Series
Please join our next IVE Seminar.
Presenter:
Prof. Erik Champion
Enterprise Fellow, UniSA Creative
Title: Immersive Challenges for Museums and Heritage Sites
Abstract:
This talk will cover recent and persistent challenges facing museums, practical issues with the implementation of virtual reality, games and gamification, and some case studies exploring potential solutions, particularly in the area of cultural heritage.
Bio:
Erik Champion is currently Enterprise Fellow (Architecture, Creative) at the University of South Australia; Emeritus Professor at Curtin University; Honorary Research Professor at ANU; and Honorary Research Fellow at UWA. He was recently a chief investigator on 4 Australian Research Council grants, Curtin University’s first UNESCO Chair (of Cultural Visualisation and Heritage) and Visualisation theme leader and Steering Committee member of the Curtin Institute for Computation.
If you are interested, CAA2022’s first session is calling for papers on cultural presence. Elaine contacted me about this for the last CAA (that was postponed) and it sounds very interesting so, hopefully, some of you can make it. You can also submit individual papers to CAA2022.
S01: iN Deep: Cultural Presence in Immersive Educational Experiences (Other)
Elaine A Sullivan, University of California Santa Cruz
Sara Perry, Museum of London Archaeology
Paola Derudas, Lund University
Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (XR) technologies are increasingly incorporated into university classrooms and public education in the GLAM sector (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums). The potential to use these technologies to engage students and the public with archaeological knowledge (such as site reconstructions, artefacts, or re-imagining the activities of past peoples) is exciting, but these forms of representation, including the use of individual headsets, tablets, and personal mobile phones, come with particular challenges. In his book Critical Gaming (2015), Eric Champion argued that virtual realities should express ‘cultural presence,’ the meaning and significance of a time, place, or object to people of the past.
Hyper-reality, photogrammetry, and ever-increasing levels of ‘accuracy’ in 3D models do not inherently convey aspects of cultural significance and meaning, and many VR/AR/XR experiences fall dramatically short of the goal of expressing the importance of past places and things to their original communities. Emphasis on technological and (especially) hardware innovation often deflects attention from critically engaging with questions of meaning-making.
This panel asks those creating or intensely using Archaeology VR/AR/XR to focus NOT on software, hardware, or the latest technical innovations, but on how we as archaeologists can better design, create, or curate experiences that inspire and educate students and the public on the cultural importance of archaeological spaces, objects or themes.
What are successful techniques to aid a visitor to better understand the original context of an object now placed in a (often far off) museum or gallery? How can university instructors incorporate the (problematically individual) headset or mobile experiences into pedagogy to provide meaningful and active student learning? How can complex data be usefully layered or curated so that multiple types of museum visitors or classes could find it informative and emotionally resonant? How can we turn these increasingly popular technologies into serious spaces of cultural learning and curiosity, moving beyond the initial ‘wow’ factor
Format Instead of traditional 20 minute talks, we request that participants present 8-10 minutes in depth on one VR/AR/XR experience they have designed and/or utilized in a university or GLAM setting (not a general review of multiple types of work). We ask participants to present and explain aspects of design and interaction and their intent in that experience; or, if the content was not designed by the presenter, how content was incorporated, curated, or enhanced for the classroom or GLAM experience.
Specifically, we ask presenters to think thoughtfully and critically about how we might collectively learn to use these technologies in more informed ways, including: What types of interactions with students or the public have shown promise, and how might we build on those successes? What practices have not worked, and how might we learn from our failures? What particular aspects of archaeological and cultural heritage knowledge are best emphasized in the VR/AR/XR experience? What is key to re-using content created by others, including content created by non-archaeologists?
The session will be divided into four sections:
1st group of presentations, ~five presenters (10 minutes per presentation)
a ~30 minute ‘hands-on’ period** where participants and the audience will be able to engage/interact directly with the presented content from both presentation groups
2nd group of presentations, ~five presenters (10 minutes per presentation)
concluded by a ~30-minute Q&A session for the full group of presenters and audience
We hope this format will allow the audience to engage directly with the content before opening up the session for questions and comments. The goal is to turn this session into a workshop that helps all present work more critically with VR/AR/XR content and improve how we communicate scholarly information at the university and GLAM setting.
**We therefore ask participants to commit to bringing their discussed content uploaded or downloadable in some format that can be shared directly with others: including (but not limited to) VR headsets, Google cardboard, AR apps pre-installed on tablets or smart phones, etc.
Erik Champion 