new old article available

I finally added this 2017 article online, but I noticed the overall issue (SAA Archaeological Record) has disappeared (or URL changed).

Article is:

Champion, E. (2017). Bringing Your A-Game to Digital Archaeology: Issues with Serious Games and Virtual Heritage and What We Can Do About It. SAA Archaeological Record: Forum on Digital Games & Archaeology, Vol. 17 No.2 (special section: Video Games and Archaeology: part two issue), pp. 24-27. March issue. PDF available at https://espace.curtin.edu.au/handle/20.500.11937/67358?show=full (and academia and researchgate).

No longer working: Society for American Archaeology URL: http://www.saa.org/Portals/0/Record_March_2017.pdf

Above image AI-generated by wordpress based on post (not in article!)

#CFP call for journal articles

#CFP call for papers Journal of Digital Media & Interaction (JDMI)

Special Issue on Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age: Innovative Approaches to Preservation and Promotion

We invite original and unpublished contributions addressing theoretical advances and practical applications of emerging technologies, methodologies, and cross-disciplinary collaborations in Cultural Heritage preservation and promotion. Contributions from computer science, digital humanities, cultural studies, anthropology, and media studies are encouraged to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue on the future of cultural heritage preservation in the digital era.

🔗 Learn more and submit here: https://proa.ua.pt/index.php/jdmi/call_papers

🗓️ Submission deadline: March 31, 2025

call for papers

 *START*DUECONFTHEME
11/06/254/3/2025Europeana 2025 – Preserve, Protect, Reuse Europeana 2025 – Preserve, Protect, Reuse 
17/06/2528/2/2025XR SalentoeXtended Reality (online 250; early face to face 640)
22/06/2530/4/2025WACWorld Archaeology Conference
25/08/259/3/2025CIPAFrom Digital Documentation to Data-driven Heritage Conservation
8/09/2528/2/2025IEEE CH2025IEEE International Conference on Cyber Humanities (IEEE CH)
9/09/2515/3/2025Digital Heritage 2025Digital Heritage (200 Euro a day)
11/09/2514/3/2025Historicizing G.A.M.E.S.Bern, Switzerland
1/10/2512/3/2025ECGBLEuropean Conference of Game-based Learning
12/10/25?ICOMOS 2025ICOMOS 2025 General Assembly: Transhumance
13/10/2518/4/2025ICMI 202527th ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction
19/11/2524/3/2025SIGraDi 2025META RESPONSIVE APPROACHES
29/11/252/6/2025OZCHI2025Generative Intelligences, Planetary Futures (29/11-3/12)
3/12/25?AI4LAMFantastic Futures
13/12/25?TAGTheoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) Conference
15/12/25?SIGGRAPH ASIACFP online in March 2025
1/02/26?DIGRAADigital Games Research
15/04/265/6/2025SAHSociety of Architectural Historians
17/06/2612/9/2025EAH European Architectural History Network
27/07/26?Digital Humanities 2026 (27 July – 1 August 2026)
14/09/2615/1/2026ICOM CC2026Cultural Connections in Conservation
28/06/27?Digital Humanities 2027 
    
START*DUE*CONFERENCETHEME
11/06/254/3/2025Europeana 2025 – Preserve, Protect, Reuse Europeana 2025 – Preserve, Protect, Reuse 
17/06/2528/2/2025XR SalentoeXtended Reality (online 250; early face to face 640)
8/09/2528/2/2025IEEE CH2025IEEE International Conference on Cyber Humanities (IEEE CH)
25/08/259/3/2025CIPAFrom Digital Documentation to Data-driven Heritage Conservation
1/10/2512/3/2025ECGBLEuropean Conference of Game-based Learning
11/09/2514/3/2025Historicizing G.A.M.E.S.Bern, Switzerland
9/09/2515/3/2025Digital Heritage 2025Digital Heritage (200 Euro a day)
19/11/2524/3/2025SIGraDi 2025META RESPONSIVE APPROACHES
13/10/2518/4/2025ICMI 202527th ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction
22/06/2530/4/2025WACWorld Archaeology Conference
29/11/252/6/2025OZCHI2025Generative Intelligences, Planetary Futures (29/11-3/12)
15/04/265/6/2025SAHSociety of Architectural Historians
17/06/2612/9/2025EAH European Architectural History Network
14/09/2615/1/2026ICOM CC2026Cultural Connections in Conservation

upcoming conference calls

*START*

DUECONFTHEMELOCATION
4/06/2530/1/2025imx2025ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences Rio de Janeiro Brazil
17/06/2528/2/2025XR SalentoeXtended Reality Otranto Italy
22/06/2530/4/2025WACWorld Archaeology ConferenceDarwin Australia
25/08/259/3/2025CIPA Seoul Korea
9/09/2515/3/2025Digital Heritage 2025Digital HeritageSiena Italy
1/10/2512/3/2025ECGBLEuropean Conference of Game-based LearningBodø Norway
12/10/25?ICOMOS 2025ICOMOS 2025 General Assembly: TranshumanceLumbini Nepal
13/10/2519/2/2025CHIPLAYAnnual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in PlayPittsburgh Pennsylvania USA
13/12/25?TAGTheoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) ConferenceYork UK
3/12/25?AI4LAMFantastic FuturesLondon UK
15/12/25?SIGGRAPH ASIACFP online in March 2025Hong Kong
START

*DUE*

CONFERENCETHEMELOCATION
4/06/2530/1/2025imx2025ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences Rio de Janeiro Brazil
13/10/2519/2/2025CHIPLAYAnnual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in PlayPittsburgh Pennsylvania USA
17/06/2528/2/2025XR SalentoeXtended Reality Otranto Italy
25/08/259/3/2025CIPA Seoul Korea
1/10/2512/3/2025ECGBLEuropean Conference of Game-based LearningBodø Norway
9/09/2515/3/2025Digital Heritage 2025Digital HeritageSiena Italy
31/03/2511/4/2025EU reviews31-3 to 11-4 BRUSSELS??Belgium
22/06/2530/4/2025WACWorld Archaeology ConferenceDarwin Australia

Working on a book with questions posted here

I’m writing a short book, “3D Visualization as Critical Heritage”. I’ll post questions on earzow.com as I work through chapters: 3D As Argument; Culturally Significant Presence; Immersive Literacy; The Vanishing Virtual; The Heritage Multiverse. Chapter titles are draft but hopefully I will stick to them. The book will be in the Critical Heritage series at https://www.cambridge.org/core/publications/elements/critical-heritage-studie

Sorry I don’t have funds for open access publication.

new book chapter

My/Tatiana Estrina’s chapter “On his roles as Professor and Research Fellow” should be available to order 16 January 2025.

In:

Hui, V., Scavnicky, R., & Estrina, T. (Eds.). (2024). Architecture and Videogames: Intersecting Worlds (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003408970. [If the DOI does not work try the Routledge website.]

“This book explores and affirms the emergent symbiosis between videogames and architecture, including insights from a diverse range of disciplines.

With contributions from authorities in both architecture and videogame industries, it examines how videogames as a medium have enlightened the public about the built environments of the past, offered heightened awareness of our current urban context, and presented inspiration for the future directions of architecture. A relatively nascent medium, videogames have rapidly transitioned from cultural novelty to architectural prophet over the past 50 years. That videogames serve as an interactive proxy for the real world is merely a gateway into just how pervasive and potent the medium is in architectural praxis. If architecture is a synthesis of cultural value and videogames are a dominant cultural medium of today, how will they influence the architecture of tomorrow?

The book is split into seven sections: Cultural Artifacts, Historic Reproduction, Production Technologies, Design Pedagogy, Proxies and Representation, Bridging Worlds, and Projected Futures.”

CFP: Journal articles

Journal of Digital Media & Interaction (JDMI)

Special Issue on Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age: Innovative Approaches to Preservation and Promotion

We invite original and unpublished contributions addressing theoretical advances and practical applications of emerging technologies, methodologies, and cross-disciplinary collaborations in Cultural Heritage preservation and promotion. Contributions from computer science, digital humanities, cultural studies, anthropology, and media studies are encouraged to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue on the future of cultural heritage preservation in the digital era.

🔗 Learn more and submit here: https://proa.ua.pt/index.php/jdmi/call_papers

🗓️ Submission deadline: February 28, 2025

Open access book on paradata

M. Ioannides, D. Baker, A. Agapiou, & P. Siegkas (Eds.), 3D Research Challenges in Cultural Heritage V: Paradata, Metadata and Data in Digitisation. Springer Nature Switzerland. Open Access. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-78590-0

I have a chapter in there.

Champion, E. (2025). Usable, Useful, Reviewable and Reusable Metadata. In M. Ioannides, D. Baker, A. Agapiou, & P. Siegkas (Eds.), 3D Research Challenges in Cultural Heritage V: Paradata, Metadata and Data in Digitisation (pp. 176-183). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-78590-0_15. Open Access.

Places you have visited

I just wanted to compare simple mapping software for excell/CSV data input.

Here is trial version of https://www.maptive.com/map-excel-data/ (note huge watermark) of countries which invited me to speak there (physically or virtually). I may have missed a few but hey Canada, and South America, and Africa, what’s happening!?

There are a few that invited me (Iraq, Canada, France, Bulgaria) but it just didn’t work out. I didn’t count countries I have presented a conference paper in but there’s only a few more (Canada, Portugal, Thailand, Hong Kong-ok, not a country). But even such a simple exercise reveals I still travel quite a bit to Europe and the more famous European countries (perhaps a tad too much).

But more importantly, a free, well-featured, simple from .CSV to map app seems out of reach, currently. Maybe I have missed some.

Free QGIS requires a 1.6gb or so download but accepts CSV: https://docs.qgis.org/3.34/en/docs/user_manual/introduction/getting_started.html#downloading-sample-data. looks like it will take more than 5 minutes.

Apparently there are quite a few free but you have to pay to download packages. All seem to use the same underling format etc, I thought this would take 5 minutes but QGIS etc take more time (the default appears to want you to upload lat. and long. for each place/city).

New PhD vacancies open February

In February I will have 2 PhD projects open for candidates to apply at this new (merged) Adelaide University- Filter “History, Heritage and Archaeology”

https://adelaideuni.edu.au/research/research-degrees/research-projects/

Radical Co-Design for Filtered Affective Digital Heritage via AR and WebXR

This project explores how technology like Augmented Reality (AR) and WebXR can enhance visitor engagement with Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM), particularly dark tourism sites such as prisons, through game design and storytelling. The project focuses on Adelaide Gaol, one of Australia’s oldest colonial buildings. By involving volunteer communities and former prisoners’ families in the radical co-design process, the research aims to develop AR-based experiences that convey personal narratives that can be filtered and tailored to visitors. Key research questions explore utilising radical co-design for dark tourism sites, whether escape-room style game design enhances engagement and how effectively content can be personalised. The project will use low-cost, open-access tools throughout, and will generate new insights applicable across the GLAM and tourism sectors.

Game Prototyping for Museums and Galleries

This project will examine the development and design of game prototypes for use in museums and galleries with content specialists to create interactive, augmented, or immersive exhibitions and/or the evaluation of these exhibitions and works. A number of methods may be considered and investigated, including Figma, ShapesXR, Blueprints, physical game demos, and other methods. Possible outcomes of the project include non-traditional research outputs as well as contributions to theoretical disciplinary knowledge.

Recent news and update

I am working on a new grant, on a 22+ year old idea that was never implemented!

And I have mentioned the grants below, if not the chapters published this month, but just as a roundup (and I have to do this for my current university) here is a summary.

2024      ARC Discovery DP250104625: Champion, E., Kotarba, A., Greenop, K., & Gibbs, M. (2025). A Gamified 3D Cultural Heritage Platform for Archaeology and Architecture. Australia. $520,686. 3 years.

  • A Gamified 3D Cultural Heritage Platform for Archaeology and Architecture. Few research infrastructures support engaging and useful 3D heritage content for both archaeology and architecture. A user-focused, experiential immersive environment with AI content creation will be developed and evaluated. Audience and international expert feedback will create a flexible feature list. Workshops with museums and galleries will test the prototype’s usefulness for communication and preservation. The system will allow groups to explore 3D models in conjectural and imaginative contexts and pose counterfactual arguments. The project will also consider how to convey levels of authenticity and uncertainty. Outputs will be a website with open-source tools and data, publications, a conference and a demonstration as an exhibition.
  • National Interest Test Statement:Examples of 3D heritage content showcasing archaeology and architecture are rare, limiting opportunities for the Australian public to engage with culture and history. To address this gap, the project will develop a gamified 3D cultural heritage platform to make archaeological and architectural heritage accessible and interactive. Technologies including artificial intelligence and 3D interactive modelling will create immersive, educational experiences that engage the public with historical narratives. This platform will deliver multiple benefits. Economically, the cultural tourism sector will be enhanced by enriching visitor engagement with innovative storytelling and exhibition tools. Socially, Australia’s national identity and civic pride will be strengthened by making cultural heritage more accessible and engaging. Environmentally, the digitalisation approach will protect archaeological sites and built heritage, preserving these critical and non-renewable assets for future generations. The project will collaborate with cultural and educational institutions to maximise outcomes beyond academia, promoting the platform’s use in public education programs and exhibitions. Targeted workshops and a website with open-source tools will facilitate its adoption, contributing significantly to national and cultural discourse. Aligning with broader national interests, this project positions the platform as a pioneer in digital cultural preservation and educational innovation.

2024      ARC LIEF Grant LE250100051: “The Australian Emulation Network Phase 2 – Extending the Reach.” Awarded to Prof Melanie Swalwell; Prof Sarah Teasley; Dr Helen Stuckey; Dr Stephanie Harkin; Prof Sean Cubitt; Dr Kirsten Day; A/Prof Peter Raisbeck; A/Prof Erik Champion; Prof Simon Biggs; Dr Margaret Borschke; A/Prof Elizabeth Tait; Dr Caroline Wilson-Barnao; Dr Kim Machan; Dr Ashley Robertson; Mr Adam Bell. $544,947. 2 years.

  • The Australian Emulation Network Phase 2 – Extending the Reach. This project aims to extend the reach of the Australian Emulation Network, conserving born digital artefacts and making them accessible for research purposes. High value collections from university archives and the GLAM sector requiring legacy computer environments will be targeted. The project expects to generate new knowledge across media arts, design, and architecture. Expected outcomes include stabilising and providing researchers with emulated access to born digital cultural artefacts, sharing legacy computer environments across the network, and expanding the Australian software preservation Community of Practice, building skills in preserving and emulating digital cultural artefacts across an expanded set of domains and institutions.
  • National Interest Test Statement:The project aims to extend national emulation infrastructure, more than doubling the size of the existing Australian Emulation Network by adding 22 new institutional nodes. This addresses the national challenge of preserving and accessing Australia’s born digital heritage. Born digital heritage faces several forms of obsolescence. Consequently, much born digital material has not been collected, is inaccessible because of its reliance on legacy computing environments, and at risk of loss. The project will provide the tools and skillsets required so that professionals in the university and Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museum (GLAM) sectors have confidence in collecting, preserving and emulating complex digital artefacts. Securing digital heritage materials and making these available to the researchers who need access to them promises to deliver new knowledge in the inter-related fields of digital art, design, and creative practice, delivering research with social and cultural benefits. Making emulation infrastructure available to more national and state institutions will improve access to digital collections in keeping with the national cultural policy, and ensure that the benefits extend well beyond academia to the wider public. This investment will ensure a sustainable, resilient network that can address the needs of diverse collections across the nation, including in regional areas.

BOOK CHAPTERS

Champion, E. (2024). Caught Between a Rock and a Ludic Place: Geography for Non-geographers via Games. In: Morawski, M., Wolff-Seidel, S. (eds) Gaming and Geography. Key Challenges in Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42260-7_3

Champion, E. (2025: in press). On his roles as Professor and Research Fellow. In V. Hui, R. Scavnicky, & T. Estrina (Eds.), Architecture and Videogames: Intersecting Worlds. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Architecture-and-Videogames-Intersecting-Worlds/Hui-Scavnicky-Estrina/p/book/9781032528854  

ARC Discovery Grant: A Gamified 3D Cultural Heritage Platform for Archaeology and Architecture

I am happy to announce we were funded an ARC Discovery grant today. I will be looking for 2 PhD students for the University of South Australia (Adelaide), and AProf Greenop will be looking for one at University of Queensland (Brisbane). DP250104625: Champion, E., Kotarba, A., Greenop, K., & Gibbs, M. (2025). A Gamified 3D Cultural Heritage Platform for Archaeology and Architecture. Australia. $520,686. https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/DP250104625

CFP Digital Heritage 2025 Siena Italy 8-13/9/25

Digital Heritage Congress is the big meta-conference of the digital heritage/virtual heritage field. I have been to the first one in Marseille (2013) and reviewed for others.

https://digitalheritage2025.unisi.it/call-for-paper

I thought it was going to be in Thailand in December 2025, so best not to ask me any details but go to the website!

Museum Big Data Athens

If you are near Athens 18-19 November there is an interesting conference on the topic of the above at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

The program is now available: https://2024.museumbigdata.org/program/

I am giving the below talk and I am happy to mention any information on projects or technology around the following topics and themes.

Immersive Visualisation and the Emergence of Collaborative XR in the Museum Sector

In this talk, I will explore the increasing promise of extended reality (XR), new sensory data and immersive experiences, and recent emerging visualisation strategies for conveying increasingly immersive and data-driven possibilities for the museum sector. Some recent projects I will cover include the Australian Cultural Data Engine, the Time Layered Cultural Map of Australia, and smaller case studies and experiments in data-driven story-mapping, mixed, augmented, and virtual reality. A key issue is immersive literacy: how designers can cater to the visualisation and navigation issues of the general public not yet experienced in these emerging rich, multimodal, but potentially overpowering or confusing immersive experiences. I will sketch out concepts that may be borrowed from game design to engage, entice, and also encourage audiences to explore this new and more immersive world of big data.

Videogames, Heritage and Tourism

I gave an online talk on the above to Hiroshima University today.

I have 4 excellent questions from the students to research and hopefully answer:

  • Which videogames specifically led to real-world tourism? I add here, and what if one’s that are also in film or tv or in book form?
  • Of those games transformed into virtual tourism, which ones incorporated local cultural context?
  • How can we stop virtual tourism from creating false memories?
  • Is there anywhere in the world where virtual heritage is checked for authenticity by organisations (such as UNESCO?)