AR/MR case studies and zombies on a dig

Why do we use augmented reality for heritage? To show what is not there, navigate and orient people, to reveal what is created intangibly by our indirect actions, or to reveal our impact on material remains..

But AR/MR/games can reveal archaeological methods along with intrinsic reasons to play games, zombies!

Zombies are slow and can be animated or rendered clumsily; they provide a protagonist on limited AI resources; they are associated with death, decay and the past. We have some experience with zombies and biofeedback or skeletons and archaeology..

  • Example: Library Skills, Archival and archaeology methods
  • Goal: The goal can be serious exploration; but with imaginative constraints and settings.
  • Game mechanic: For example: dig up zombie, match to correct time using dating methods
  • Feedback: If correctly matched to time period, zombies are animated and run amok.
  • Setting: archaeological dig, a mortuary or a library.
  • Affordance: Find artefacts that placate zombies; mortuaries require following correct rituals to rebury zombies; library archives inform player of artefacts of value to zombies-find books of power to protect against zombies.
  • Reward: Videos or machinima augmented glimpses of potential past/individual narratives.
  • Game platform: does it have to be 3D? Could it be designed in minecraft (open source or otherwise), minetest, or terrania? Augmented reality: how could it be involved? Oh I have some ideas but that would be telling and I’d have to charge..

Fidus Writer

This is an online writing app that allows you to automatically reference then export into various academic-friendly format. Collaborative editing. Open source as far as I can see.

Fidus Writer is an online collaborative editor especially made for academics who need to use citations and/or formulas. The editor focuses on the content rather than the layout, so that with the same text, you can later on publish it in multiple ways: On a website, as a printed book, or as an ebook. In each case, you can choose from a number of layouts that are adequate for the medium of choice.

CFPs

*START*DUECONFERENCETHEMELOCATION
30-Nov-1721-Jul-17DCH2017Digital Cultural HeritageManchester UK
07-Mar-1825-Oct-17DHN2018Digital Humanities in the Nordic CountriesHelsinki Finland
19-Mar-1829-Oct-17CAA2018Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (sessions)Tübingen Germany
11-Apr-1807-Sep-17SAA FORUM 83rd Annual Meeting: VIRTUAL & DIGITAL HERITAGE ETHICSWashington DC
21-Apr-1815-Jan-18CHIPLAYACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsMontreal Canada
02-May-1815-Oct-17Best PracticesBest Practices in World Heritage: Archeology (blog)Menorca Spain
09-Jun-1808-Jan-18DISDesigning Interactive SystemsHong Kong
12-Jun-1831-Oct-17Heritage 2018HERITAGE 2018 – Heritage and Sustainable DevelopmentGranada Spain
14-Jun-1801-Mar-18ArctempsTANGIBLE – INTANGIBLE HERITAGE(S)London UK
15-Jun-18?CDH2018Centre for Digital Heritage conference (approx dates)Lund Sweden
19-Jun-1815-Jan-18IDC2018ACM Interaction Design and ChildrenTrondheim Norway
20-Jun-18?web3D 2018web 3DPoznan Poland
25-Jun-1815-Feb-18ILRNImmersive Learning Research Network ConferenceOregon USA
26-Jun-18?DH2018Digital Humanities 2018Mexico City, Mexico
04-Jul-1802-Oct-17SAHANZHistoriographies of Technology and ArchitectureWellington NZ
18-Jul-1815-Jan-18Serious PlaySerious Play ConferenceVirginia USA
25-Jul-18?DiGRA2018The Game is the MessageTurin Italy
12-Aug-1823-Jan-18SIGGRAPH18SIGGRAPHVancouver Canada
01-Sep-1830-Nov-172018achsHeritage Across BordersHangzhou China
05-Sep-1810-Nov-17EAA2018EAA 24th Annual MeetingBarcelona, Spain
19-Sep-1801-Feb-18eCAADe2018computing for a better tomorrowLodz Poland
14-Oct-1803-Apr-18UISTACM Symposium on User Interface Software and TechnologyBerlin Germany
28-Oct-18CHIPLAYThe annual symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in PlayMelbourne Australia
01-Nov-1827-Nov-17DH2018Digital Heritage 2018?
28-Nov-1815-Aug-18VRST18ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and TechnologyTOKYO
24-Apr-19?CAA2019Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in ArchaeologyKraków, Poland
01-Jun-1915-Feb-18iLRNImmersive Learning ResearchLondon UK
04-Sep-1910-Oct-17EAA2019EAA 25th Annual MeetingBern, Switzerland
01-Jan-20?DH2020Digital HumanitiesOttawa Canada
06-Jul-20?WAC#9World Archaeological CongressPrague, Czech Republic
START*DUE*CONFERENCETHEMELOCATION
07-Mar-1825-Oct-17DHN2018Digital Humanities in the Nordic CountriesHelsinki Finland
19-Mar-1829-Oct-17CAA2018Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (sessions)Tübingen Germany
12-Jun-1831-Oct-17Heritage 2018HERITAGE 2018 – Heritage and Sustainable DevelopmentGranada Spain
05-Sep-1810-Nov-17EAA2018EAA 24th Annual MeetingBarcelona, Spain
01-Nov-1827-Nov-17DH2018Digital Heritage 2018?
01-Sep-1830-Nov-172018achsHeritage Across BordersHangzhou China
09-Jun-1808-Jan-18DISDesigning Interactive SystemsHong Kong
21-Apr-1815-Jan-18CHIPLAYACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsMontreal Canada
19-Jun-1815-Jan-18IDC2018ACM Interaction Design and ChildrenTrondheim Norway
18-Jul-1815-Jan-18Serious PlaySerious Play ConferenceVirginia USA
12-Aug-1823-Jan-18SIGGRAPH18SIGGRAPHVancouver Canada
19-Sep-1801-Feb-18eCAADe2018computing for a better tomorrowLodz Poland
25-Jun-1815-Feb-18ILRNImmersive Learning Research Network ConferenceOregon USA
01-Jun-1915-Feb-18iLRNImmersive Learning ResearchLondon UK
14-Jun-1801-Mar-18ArctempsTANGIBLE – INTANGIBLE HERITAGE(S)London UK
14-Oct-1803-Apr-18UISTACM Symposium on User Interface Software and TechnologyBerlin Germany
28-Nov-1815-Aug-18VRST18ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and TechnologyTOKYO
15-Jun-18?CDH2018Centre for Digital Heritage conference (approx dates)Lund Sweden
20-Jun-18?web3D 2018web 3DPoznan Poland
26-Jun-18?DH2018Digital Humanities 2018Mexico City, Mexico
25-Jul-18?DiGRA2018The Game is the MessageTurin Italy
24-Apr-19?CAA2019Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in ArchaeologyKraków, Poland
01-Jan-20?DH2020Digital HumanitiesOttawa Canada
06-Jul-20?WAC#9World Archaeological CongressPrague, Czech Republic
28-Oct-18CHIPLAYThe annual symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in PlayMelbourne Australia

Augmented reality development: ARKit or ARCore?

Augmented reality is both promising and cutting edge, even interaction paradigms may need to change:

There are two new major augmented reality frameworks, one for Apple iOS (see Peter Jackson’s Wingnut Studio Unreal/Apple ARKit example) and ARCore for Google phones..which should you consider, ARKit or ARCore? (https://developers.google.com/ar/discover/ ) see https://medium.com/super-ventures-blog/how-is-arcore-better-than-arkit-5223e6b3e79d …

OR side-by-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNXBvDKRg1M

A good feature list comparison: https://www.newgenapps.com/blog/arkit-vs-arcore-the-key-differences

The opportunities for archaeology are huge: http://www.dead-mens-eyes.org/arkit-and-archaeology-hougoumont-farm-waterloo/

I said two options, but there are many, plus there is the more expensive HoloLens option (self contained totally portable mixed reality system with figure gesture recognition) and the new meta HMD, with wider field of view (90 degrees and about a third less in price).

The HoloLens at Curtin

 

 

#CFP CHRC Annual Meeting: The GLAMorous Humanities | November 9-10 @ ANU (with workshops on the 8th)

Join us in at the Australian National University in Canberra for the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres’ 2017 Annual Meeting with the theme of The GLAMorous Humanities: Working with Cultural and Collecting Institutions.

This is an opportunity to participate in best-practice around research excellence in the humanities. Our program includes pre-meetings and workshops on Wednesday 8th November, a Public Lecture from Rebe Taylor on the evening of Wednesday 8th; two days of speakers and panel sessions exploring best practice in collaborating across sectors, the question of research infrastructure for the humanities and the relationship between collaboration and impact. Full program to be circulated soon.

For more information see the ACHRC website or go here to register or contact Tully Barnett for more information.

Cultural Presence in 2002

I presented this paper at the Presence 2002 conference in Porto, Portugal. Bits were conveyed in Playing With The Past, but the initial ideas have been taken up and applied by others beyond my original concerns. A new or more extensive theory is required, especially with the development of augmented and mixed reality, biosensors, camera tracking, and new Head Mounted Displays.

But the new article will probably not appear for about a year, I am not certain where it should or could be published!

Anyway, the 2002 paper is attached.

The problem with player-focused virtual heritage

In February 2016, Mathew Tyler-Jones wrote (about my Critical Gaming book):

There’s only one point I take issue with. Drawing from this blog, he says:

Playing in a digitally simulated world can leave the feeling that the virtual world’s entire causal mechanics rotate around the player

…as thought that’s a Bad Thing. Which I guess it might be if you are primarily seeking immersion or presence, as the VR guys call it. But in fact I’m coming to the conclusion that that feeling (which I’ve dubbed in a couple of presentations “the Apotheosis Moment”) is something special about games, which in a way, I’m trying to recreate in physical cultural heritage environments.

Yes I think it is a problem for virtual heritage, and especially for agent-based virtual heritage (VH with bots/AI)..why should a world, especially a past world re-visited to explain past cultural significance, revolve around a current-world player?

So how does this relate to BDI agents? (Belief Desire Intention Agents)..

A virtual heritage project should convey

  • cultural significance
  • cultural loss
  • the issue of recovering/re-interpreting the past
  • intangible heritage (not only the materiality of 3D objects)
  • sociability and community related to cultural values
  • the relative values of culture, society and what was treasured

In many if not most past societies, this trumps the value of the individual (perhaps unless you were the Supreme leader..)

And in AI ,well AI based on BDI, the above are not usually directly considered.

I would add specific components should be:

  1. agent-aware feelings of community and strangeness (belonging and exclusion)
  2. relative values of tangible and intangible cultural processes, products and assets
  3. specifically situated embodiment (especially important for ritual and helping with both #1 and #3).

These are just brief notes to ponder on in more detail at a later time (but before the end of November!)

 

 

 

 

Intangible and Invisible, Canberra 20.10.2017

Intangible and Invisible, Canberra 2017

Recognising intangible cultural heritage in place

Friday 20 October, 1.30pm-4.15pm
Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, Canberra

The Australia ICOMOS National Scientific Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage invites you to join us for the launch of our new Practice Note and for our Workshop which will explore some of the challenges in making intangible cultural heritage more visible in place-based heritage practice. Register below: $20 (to cover costs).

The workshop will be followed by our NSC-ICH Annual General Meeting (4.15-4.50pm). Then join us and the Lake Burley Griffin Guardians Inc for drinks and a guided walk at West Basin on the north side of Lake Burley Griffin to look at some of the heritage values and threats to those values.

After the walk we look forward to seeing NSC-ICH members for dinner.

Register now

Information on visiting the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.

And stay tuned for details of the program and speakers!

Source: Intangible and Invisible, Canberra 2017

Digital Humanities 2017 tech talk

I was one of 3 presenters to give a talk at the below (today)

https://www.meetup.com/monthlytechtalk/events/243187376/

2017 Tech Talk in October: Data Computing in Humanities

Digital Humanities

Researchers in humanities are increasingly using computational approaches to analyse data objects such as text, painting, film and other artefacts. Example applications include text analysis, investigation of cultural changes, detection of origin of species and many more. In this October event, three speakers will show us a glimpse of this area by introducing their fascinating projects or application.

Venue was live meeting hubs in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Brisbane..Vote on topics for future tech talks! https://poll.ly/#/2JYgEl3G

This month’s speakers:

– Dr. Julia Miller (Australia National University) – PARADISEC: Visualising the past, present, and future of digital archiving

Dr. Julia Miller is the Senior Data Manager for the Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language and runs the ANU unit of The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC). She received a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Washington, investigating acoustic properties of tone in the endangered Athabaskan language of Dane-zaa.

– Prof. Erik Champion (Curtin University), Computing, 3D Models and Intangible Heritage

Professor Erik Champion is UNESCO Chair of Cultural Visualisation and Heritage at Curtin University and Visualisation theme leader at the Curtin Institute of Computation (http://computation.curtin.edu.au). He researches issues in the area of virtual heritage as well as game design, interactive media, and architectural computing. Before joining Curtin University, he was Project leader of DIGHUMLAB in Denmark, a consortium of four Danish universities, hosted at Aarhus University. His publications include Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage (Routledge, 2015), Playing with the Past (Springer, 2011), and he edited Game Mods: Design, Theory and Criticism (ETC Press, 2012). His next book (out in October) is Cultural Heritage Infrastructures in Digital Humanities, (Routledge, 2017), with co-editors Agiati Benardou, Costis Dallas and Lorna Hughes.

– Prof. Hugh Craig (University of Newcastle), Three Shakespeare questions you can only answer through Computation

Abstract:

Many scholars react to the idea that quantitative analysis has anything to offer in literary studies with indignation. Yet computational stylistics has been quietly solving Shakespearean problems for some years now, starting with questions of who wrote what, and recently broadening to wider questions of style. In this talk I will discuss three questions I argue have been answered by computation, and could only be answered by computation — whether or not Shakespeare collaborated with his rival Christopher Marlowe in playwriting, how up to date or otherwise his dialogue was, and whether his vocabulary was indeed prodigiously large.

Bio:

Prof. Hugh Craig works at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where he directs the Centre for 21st Century Humanities and the Centre for Literary and Linguistic Computing. He has been publishing in computational stylistics since 1991. With Arthur F. Kinney, he edited Shakespeare, Computers, and the Mystery of Authorship (2009). Many of the new findings about Shakespeare authorship in this book are now enshrined in the New Oxford Shakespeare, which came out last year. He has publications with colleagues from bioinformatics and speech pathology, and on language and ageing and nineteenth century journalism, as well as on literary writings of the Shakespearean period. Style, Computers, and Early Modern Drama: Beyond Authorship, co-authored with Brett Greatley-Hirsch, is due to appear in late 2017.

Cybermaps in 3D heritage

A journal asked that I respond to a paper that briefly mentions the above. Notes to self include these general questions that I seldom find answers to in virtual heritage papers and not mentioned in my response (the journal has a strict word limit):

  1. Interpretation: It is very hard to extrapolate from VH papers how various interpretations are fostered.
  2. Beginnings: Where do you place a visitor in a virtual site?
  3. Dynamic alterity: How should or could they navigate time, space and interpretation?
  4. Art Versus Scientific Imagination: How should they separate artistic from current reality from interpreted virtuality? What if the artistry is impressive but speculative?
  5. Projects: Where can the projects (that apparently relate to the questions posed in the text), be experienced or otherwise accessed? How will they be preserved?
  6. Interactive Navigation: How do we navigate time, space, interpretation, and task/goal?
  7.  Authenticity, accuracy and artistry: How does one balance all three?

Updated UK/France/QATAR itinerary

Still being planned (Newcastle is still a tbc):

The 3 talks:

UCL Qatar: (tbc), 20 or 21 November 2017:

Talk, workshop and debate on Historical narratives and digital spaces (place tbc)

Salford, 29 November 2017:

Rethinking Virtual Places

This talk will cover my recent thoughts on what is a virtual place and a virtual world, and why we seem to have shifting, even varying notions of virtual reality. For example, what are virtual environments and virtual museums? Do they open our minds up to the possibility of digital space and virtual culture? In my opinion, they typically fail to do so, virtual museums lack contestation and imagined defensive capacity, they are not cultural worlds.  Many philosophers and cultural studies thinkers have given us some hints as to cultural places, but not to virtual cultural places. And architects are also not as well placed as one might think, to design, critique and review virtual places.  Nor is it clear to many how we learn through virtual placeAugmented reality will begin to dominate virtual reality, and consumer-friendly component-based VR technology has great promise, but new and emerging devices displays and peripherals may have long-term detrimental cognitive, physical and social effects.

Research Digital Cultural Heritage conference, University of Manchester, 30 November-1 December 2017:

Inside Out: Avatars, Agents, Cultural Agents

If conveying cultural significance is a central aim of virtual heritage projects, can they convey cultural significance effectively without an understanding of the contextual role of cultural knowledge? In this talk I will argue this is very difficult, but even populating virtual environments with others (human-guided or computer-scripted), there are still vital, missing ingredients.

In virtual heritage projects with enough computational power and sophistication to feature intelligent agents, they are primarily used as guides (Bogdanovych et al. 2009). They lead players to important landmarks, or perhaps act as historical guides (revealing past events, conveying situationally appropriate behavior). Intelligent agents are usually designed for limited forms of conversation and typically help convey social presence rather than cultural presence. For an enhanced “sense of inhabited place”, engaging narrative- related elements, or embodiment, a cultural agent recognizes, adds to, or transmits physically embedded and embodied aspects of culture. They could provide a sense of cultural presence, becoming Aware-Of-Not-Quite-Being-‘There’.

Cultural agents would not be mere conversational agents if they were able to:

  1. Automatically select correct cultural behaviors given specific events or situations.
  2. Recognize in/correct cultural behaviors given specific events, locations, or situations.
  3. Transmit cultural knowledge.
  4. Modify, create, or command artifacts that become cultural knowledge.

To fulfil the above criteria, cultural agents would be culturally constrained. Not just socially constrained; their actions and beliefs would be dependent on role, space, and time. They could understand and point out right from wrong in terms of culturally specific behavior and understand the history and possibly also the future trajectory of specific cultural movements. In this talk I will discuss three scenarios for cultural agents, their relationship to roles and rituals, and two more missing ingredients. The result? A more situated, reflexive appreciation of cultural significance via virtual heritage.

 

“power of archives” food for thought.

We regularly hear about the ‘power of the archive’ and know about the importance of the archive for accountability and identity within our societies. But do we ever actually stop to think about the term ‘power of the archive’? What is the nature of this power? Do archives have inherent power? Or is it those…

via Considering “The Power of the Archive” — Identity & Archives

Crafting the past-resources and chapter

http://www.digit2017.com/discover/

See esp http://www.digit2017.com/discover/crafting-the-past/resources-crafting-the-past/

I met Jeff Saunders last year at the Interactive pasts conference, he and Stephen Reid presented this

 Jeff Sanders & Stephen Reid (Dig It! 2015)

Crafting the Past

Last year, Dig It! 2015, a year-long celebration of Scottish archaeology, reached out to new audiences. One of the most popular initiatives came from a partnership with a games-based learning specialist known as ImmersiveMinds. The resulting and ongoing project, called ‘Crafting the Past’, uses Minecraft to bring archaeology to life by recreating real sites on a one-to-one scale, including a Pictish hillfort, 18th-century palladian mansion and Roman fortlet. Players take part in digital archaeological digs, explore heritage sites and even redevelop ruined buildings. Crafting the Past has support from the gaming community thanks to Multiplay, as well the archaeology community, with special thanks to the AOC Archaeology Group and a range of heritage organisations. This presentation will explore the lessons learned throughout the development, launch and management of this project and how unique partnerships can break down barriers in unexpected ways.

Their chapter (with Julianne McGraw) is free online

https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past

  1. Crafting the Past: Unlocking new audiences
    Julianne McGraw, Stephen Reid & Jeff Sanders

Thank you for sharing

Though I have been critical of https://www.academia.edu/ I can also see good, and I greatly appreciate the feature where people can comment on why they want to download an author’s paper.

When an author is writing for different audiences or for a new one, comments explaining where and why a publication has been helpful is encouraging and useful feedback. For new academics, these comments can be used for promotion and so on, but even us older academics can appreciate a few words of feedback and even constructive criticism!

Choosing Conference Hosts

Did you ever have to choose between prospective conference hosts? I don’t remember ever seeing criteria for choosing potential conference hosts but a few times I have been asked to choose or rank applications and from memory I try to mark them against criteria like the one below. Happy change or replace this if someone has a better system well laid out somewhere. Oh and I have not weighted the criteria against each other but that could be done with some contextual information.

  1. Venue capacity and character (size of plenary room, facilities, exhibition capacity, access to transport)
  2. Organizational competence
  3. Local heritage, tours and ambience
  4. Daily costs and access to venue, city and country (for majority of attendees)
  5. Western/non-western/ethnic balance
  6. Links to related institutes/institutional support
  7. Ability to bring in students, communities, related events and organizations
  8. Local expertise in heritage
  9. Ability to bring in keynote speakers and sponsors

Planned European trip 2017

Last trip of the year planned (still to be confirmed, approved, of course)..

 

 

 

Conference paper: Inside Out: Avatars, Agents, Cultural Agents

Paper accepted for Researching Digital Cultural Heritage – International Conference, Manchester UK, Dates: 30/11-1/12/2017 twitter #digheritage17

Keywords:Digitally enabled collaborative, participatory and reflexive approaches in cultural heritage design, research and practice.

If conveying cultural significance is a central aim of virtual heritage projects, can they convey cultural significance effectively without an understanding of the contextual role of cultural knowledge? In this talk I will argue this is very difficult, but even populating virtual environments with others (human-guided or computer-scripted), there are still vital, missing ingredients.

In virtual heritage projects with enough computational power and sophistication to feature intelligent agents, they are primarily used as guides (Bogdanovych et al. 2009). They lead players to important landmarks, or perhaps act as historical guides (revealing past events, conveying situationally appropriate behaviour). Intelligent agents are usually designed for limited forms of conversation and typically help convey social presence rather than cultural presence. For an enhanced “sense of inhabited place”, engaging narrative- related elements, or embodiment, a cultural agent recognizes, adds to, or transmits physically embedded and embodied aspects of culture. They could provide a sense of cultural presence, becoming Aware-Of-Not-Quite-Being-‘There’.

Cultural agents would not be mere conversational agents if they were able to:

  1. Automatically select correct cultural behaviours given specific events or situations.
  2. Recognize in/correct cultural behaviours given specific events, locations, or situations.
  3. Transmit cultural knowledge.
  4. Modify, create, or command artefacts that become cultural knowledge.

To fulfil the above criteria, cultural agents would be culturally constrained. Not just socially constrained; their actions and beliefs would be dependent on role, space, and time. They could understand and point out right from wrong in terms of culturally specific behaviour and understand the history and possibly also the future trajectory of specific cultural movements. In this talk I will discuss three scenarios for cultural agents, their relationship to roles and rituals, and two more missing ingredients. The result? A more situated, reflexive appreciation of cultural significance via virtual heritage.

The latest book that isn’t (yet)

The book that isn’t, I just drafted and sent for internal academic/publisher review a book on virtual places. So it may be modified, it may not get finally published (not sure what happens, I signed a contract) but I cannot resist listing some of the issues it tries to cover, hope they are issues for you too..

Continue reading The latest book that isn’t (yet)

“Learning GIS with Game of Thrones” free book

gvSIG blog

Have you decided to learn to work with a Geographic Information System and you don’t know how to start? Now that the premiere of the new season of Game of Thrones series will be in a few days, we recommend you do it using the book that we have just published: “Learning GIS with Game of Thrones“.

This book compiles a series of post with practical exercises that have been published in the gvSIG project blog previously. The objective is that anyone, without previous knowledge and through a series of practical exercises, learn to handle a GIS in an entertaining and funny way.

Everything necessary to follow the course is available free of charge, including gvSIG Desktop software – a free GIS used in more than 160 countries – as well as the data (download links are available in the book) and this tutorial, distributed…

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