Category Archives: Digital Humanities

cfp soon: Living Digital Heritage

Academic, cfp, Conference, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, serious games, virtual heritage, , ,

Macquarie University in Sydney, NSW, Australia, plan to hold the above conference 5-7 November 2021 in Sydney Australia (and remotely). I imagine the CFP will be out soon, website is at:

https://www.mq.edu.au/research/research-centres-groups-and-facilities/resilient-societies/centres/cache/news-and-events4/living-digital-heritage-conference-october-2020

The Macquarie University Simulation Hub

“Integrating the Past into the Present and Future”

Modern, innovative data collection and digital visualisation capabilities are able to capture ancient artefacts and structures, contexts, and traditions faster and in greater detail than ever before. Their sophistication and multi-dimensionality promise engagement with the past at many levels offering opportunities for deeper analyses and experiences to increasingly broader audiences.

This conference will be organised and hosted by the Centre for Ancient Cultural Heritage and Environment (CACHE). CACHE is a multi-disciplinary research centre focused on research on cross-cultural interaction in ancient cultures from Western Europe to China. Concentrating not only on the history of the societies concerned, but on the languages used, with a special focus on the close study of physical artefacts from antiquity. CACHE engenders transdisciplinary research into ancient knowledge by gathering leading MQ researchers across several disciplines (archaeological science, ancient history and literature, bioarchaeology, biology, environmental sciences) and departments (Human Sciences, International Studies, Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Ancient History, Geography and Planning). CACHE particularly welcomes contributions reflecting the Indigenous Australian context – submissions concerned with Indigenous issues are especially relevant to the symposium and will be warmly welcomed.

Visiting Fellowship to Finland

Academic, Announcements, game, job, , , ,

Received a Visiting Fellow invite to the University of Jyväskylä, Finland (member of the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies), very honoured.

I am just wondering if

  • The Australian government will let me leave.
  • Some of this can be done remotely as stretching the funding to cover all the costs (and 2 weeks compulsory hotel stay in quarantine on my return) will be difficult.
  • I can visit colleagues in Europe over the September-October period.
  • There are new and specific Covid-era visa requirements in Finland.

“Rethinking Virtual Places” can be ordered in September

Academic, Announcements, archaeology, Architecture, augmented reality, Book, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, game, publication, serious games, Virtual Reality, visualisation, , ,

Out in November, purchasable in September. Contact IUP for reviewer copies “Rethinking Virtual Places” (in the IUP Spatial Humanities series) https://iupress.org/9780253058355/rethinking-virtual-places

3D and game editors, Academic, Architecture, board game, Conference, Digital Humanities, game, heritage, publication, virtual heritage, visualisation, workshop, , , , ,

“Workshopping Board Games for Space, Place, and Culture” revised chapter, authored with Juan Hiriart, for “Playing Place” (edited by Medina Lasansky and Chad Randl, MIT Press) sent off today. Each chapter has a 1000 word limit, I believe. Took me some time to trim this! Great to work with Juan on a chapter, I think our different strengths blend well. When (or if?) the book appears on MIT Press I will add another post, the list of authors and topics looks really good, possibly essential reading if you are into boardgames, or are not, but want to know why so many people are …

Workshopping Board Games for Space, Place, and Culture

Conveying built heritage values and historical knowledge through boardgame design may seem an odd decision. Communicating space, place, and culture through play is a challenge let alone through a medium inherently incapable of evoking the direct experience of inhabitation and architecture as a spatial art. Boardgames are engaging, social, quick to make, and fast to learn, intuitive or nuanced. From the complex to the spontaneous, boardgames can be effective, visceral tools for cultural immersion, challenging cultural assumptions and preconceptions, encouraging discussion and collaboration between players, provoking insight and enjoyment with simple props or intricate rules.

The following explains our experience hosting participative design workshops with historians, archaeologists, and heritage professionals. In small groups of three to four people, participants determine the design decisions, discussing and solving problems that often arise in an iterative process where historical research, game design, and play-testing both blend and butt heads.

2021: my year in print

Academic, Book, book chapter, Conference, Digital Humanities, Journal, Open Access, Proceedings, publication

What have I been doing this year? Playing a lot of piano, badly. But also (and I hope to add 2 journal articles and a book project and a serious game design project to this mix):

Invitations:

  • Invited CI, ARC LIEF Grant LE210100021. $440,000. “Australian Cultural Data Engine for Research, Industry and Government.” Joining as a Chief Investigator, 26 April 2021. Led by Prof Rachel Fensham, Melbourne.
  • Invited CI, Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) platforms grant: Time-Layered Cultural Map of Australia 2.0 $100,000. 25/11/2020. https://ardc.edu.au/news/new-data-projects-will-help-transform-australian-research/
  • Invited reviewer, Springer-Nature.
  • Invited onto the European Science Foundation College of Expert Reviewers.
  • Invited to speak to New South Wales Local Studies Librarians group, “Virtual heritage: tools, projects, hopes and challenges,” Zoom, 23 March 2021.
  • Invited guest lecturer and tutor, Data Science Visualisation, Science & Engineering, Curtin University.
  • Invited to Professor of Design interview panel, SUSTech, China, by Dean Thomas Kvan.
  • Invited advisor for Swedish-Finnish grant application: PLATYPUS Engaging diverse publics through participatory play in heritage institutions, led by Uppsala University.
  • Opening speaker, invited, webinar on smart tourism. ASEAN Australia Smart Cities Webinar Series Part 7: Promoting Smart Tourism Recovery via Virtual Reality. ZOOM webinar 2 March 2021. Organiser: Asian Development Bank.
  • Invited to speak at University of Aberdeen Academic Forum and New South Wales Local Studies Librarians group-Zoom (date?).
  • Interviewed for Canvas8 magazine. Quine, O. (2021). Are Britons ready for virtual holidays? canvas8. Retrieved from https://www.canvas8.com/content/2021/03/23/britons-virtual-holidays.html
  • Interviewed by UNSW students on the subject of virtual tourism.
  • Invited to co-chair the EuroMed2020 conference www.euromed2020.eu, Springer-Nature LNCS. Co-chairs include Professor Marinos Ioannides, ERA and UNESCO of Chair Digital Cultural Heritage, Mrs Eleanor Fink, USA, former Getty Digital Techs Director and inventor of Object-ID standard, Professor Lorenzo Cantoni from Switzerland, UNESCO Chair in ICT.

2021 PUBLICATIONS

Conference Proceedings (as Book):

  • Ioannides, M., Fink, E., Cantoni, L., & Champion, E. (Eds.) (2021). Digital Heritage. Progress in Cultural Heritage: Documentation, Preservation, and Protection. 8th International Conference, EuroMed 2020, Virtual Event, November 2–5, 2020, Revised Selected Papers. DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-73043-7. ISBN 978-3-030-73043-7.

Published articles

  • Rahaman, H., Johnston, M., & Champion, E. (2021). Audio-augmented arboreality: wildflowers and language. Digital Creativity, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14626268.2020.186853
  • Champion, E. (2020). Culturally Significant Presence in Single-player Computer Games. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 13(4). DOI: 10.1145/3414831. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3414831
  • NB AWARD: in 2021 this paper won Virtual Archaeology Review Journal’s 2020 Paper of the Year. “Survey of 3D digital heritage repositories and platforms”, by Erik Champion and Hafizur Rahaman. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2020.13226

Published Fully Referred Conference Papers

  • Champion, E., Kerr, R., McMeekin, D., & Rahaman, H. (2020, 2-5 November 2020). Time-Layered Gamic Interaction with a Virtual Museum Template. Paper presented at the EuroMed 2020 Conference, Online/Cyprus. Revised Selected Papers. Springer-Nature. Published in 2021.

2021 Conference and Journal Reviewer

  • Invited committee member, Australian Museums & Galleries Association (AMaGA) National Conference (Perth). 
  • Invited onto Program Board of Culture & Computing 2021 Conference, Springer ( HCI International). 
  • Invited reviewer, Springer-Nature Scientific Reports.
  • Invited reviewer, the Journal of Open Archaeology (De Gruyter).
  • Invited reviewer, CAA2021.

2021-22 PUBLICATIONS IN PRESS

Books in press

  • Champion, E. (2021: November). Rethinking Virtual Places. Indiana University Press, Spatial Humanities series.
  • Champion, E. (Ed). (2021: May). Virtual Heritage: A Guide. Ubiquity Press, London.
  • Champion, E. (Ed). (2022: pending). Screen Tourism and Affective Landscapes.
  • Champion, E., & Hiriart, J. (Eds.). (2022: in press). Assassin’s Creed in the Classroom, Museum, and Gallery: De Gruyter: Video games and the Humanities series, 18 chapters, 25 international authors.

Book Chapters in press

  • Champion, E., Nurmikko-Fuller, T., & Grant, K. (2022: invited). Chapter 12 Alchemy and Archives, Swords, Spells, and Castles: Medieval-modding Skyrim. In R. Houghton (Ed.), Games for Teaching, Impact, and Research UK: De Gruyter. 
  • Champion, E., & Hiriart, J. (2022). Workshopping Board Games for Space Place and Culture. In M. Lasansky & C. Randl (Eds.), Playing Place: Board Games, Architecture, Space, and Heritage. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: MIT Press.
  • Champion, E. (2022). Reflective Experiences with Immersive Heritage: A Theoretical Design-Based Framework. In A. Benardou & A. M. Droumpouki (Eds.), Difficult Pasts and Immersive Experiences. London, UK: Routledge.
  • Champion, E. (2022). Not Quite Virtual: Techné between Text and World. In B. Mauer & A. Salter (Eds.), Reimagining the Humanities. Anderson, South Carolina, USA: Parlor Press.
  • Champion, E. (2021: pending). Biodiversity and Cultural Diversity: Virtual opportunities. In E. Wandl-Vogt (Ed.),Biodiversity in connection with Linguistic and Cultural Diversity. Vienna, Austria.
  • Champion, E. (2021: pending). Workshopping Game Prototypes for History and Heritage. In Digital Humanities book, Politecnico di Torino, Italy. Aracne Publishing Company. Chapter.

Conference activities to take place

  • Wright, H., et al., 2021. S12: Digital Infrastructures and New (and Evolving) Technologies in Archaeology (Roundtable). CAA2021: Digital Crossroads. Cyprus/Online. https://2021.caaconference.org/sessions/ 14-18 June.

Alchemy and Archives, Swords, Spells, and Castles: Medieval-modding Skyrim

3D and game editors, archaeology, book chapter, Digital Humanities

This is our proposed draft chapter (7500-9000 words) for a book on medieval modding within a game (Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim).

Ear Zow Digital, Australian National University, University of Western Australia

Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller, Australian National University

Katrina Grant, Australian National University

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, through its rich modding possibilities, has great potential as a teaching and learning tool. The world of Skyrim, although “pseudo-medieval”,[1] can, through the use of mods, aim for a level of historical accuracy comparable to many scholarly digital 3D reconstruction projects. These types of projects are now widely accepted as a vehicle for a new way of thinking about old topics, and as a valuable prompt for engaging students. The advantage of using Skyrim is that the historically informed mods can be combined with sophisticated game mechanics to immerse and inspire students as procedural, contestable, and reconfigurable simulations. Through playful exploration, students can investigate the game world and engage with both the historically-informed and fantastical elements. But they can also become designers, and investigate historical developments through the creation of new assets, modified game mechanics, and social storytelling. Designing simulations is a further learning experience and Skyrim’s Creation Kit is thus also a pedagogical tool.

In this chapter we will explore ways in which Skyrim can be used and modified to explain, through play, three related aspects of medieval society: culture, architecture, and landscape. We will then discuss the modding capability of Skyrim, and conclude with some suggestions for how future Elder Scrolls games and game mods could be leveraged as a teaching and learning tool.

[1] von Lünen, Alexander, Katherine J Lewis, Benjamin Litherland, and Pat Cullum. 2019. Historia Ludens: The Playing Historian. Vol. 30. New York, USA: Routledge.

From Digital Literacy to Immersive Literacy: Learning Experiences with XR Frameworks For Serious Game Workshops

3D and game editors, augmented reality, Digital Humanities, Virtual Reality, visualisation

The below is an essay for a digital learning futures class. If the paper receives good feedback and interest I may try to develop it for a journal (or subsection of a book I am planning on critical virtual reality).

Abstract

This essay suggests a modification of theoretical digital literacy frameworks to ensure they are suitable for designing educational (serious) games for the GLAM sector (using libraries as my initial focus). While not a librarian, I train people to create game prototypes for more engaging ways of communicating history, heritage, and digital collections (often found in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums-the GLAM sector).

I wish to develop a framework for game design to better assess what is learnt by end-users (game prototype participants) and game prototype designers (in this case, librarians). My concept of immersive digital literacies is discussed and applied to a review of software tools for the development of serious game prototypes.

Free access: paper on AR-ph app talking flower guide

Announcements, augmented reality, Digital Humanities, UNESCO Chair

Limited free paper on AR that speaks native names of flora back to you, “Audio-augmented arboreality: wildflowers and language”, published in Digital Creativity, Volume 32 Issue 1. First 50 copies are free.

Audio-augmented arboreality: wildflowers and language (2021). Digital Creativity: Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 22-37.tandfonline.com

(Image by Dr Hafizur Rahaman).

Books on the way (I think)..

3D and game editors, Academic, Announcements, Digital Humanities, Open Access, publication, virtual heritage

Books to be on the way

  1. Champion, E. (2021: in press). Rethinking Virtual Places. Indiana University Press, Spatial Humanities series. In a week they should be sending me the first proof.
  2. Champion, E. (Ed). (2021: in press). Virtual Heritage: A Guide. Ubiquity Press, London. All the chapters have been sent to the publisher and they go to print very quickly, in my experience. Open Access.
  3. Lee, C. & Champion, E. (Ed). (2022: pending). Screen Tourism and Affective Landscapes. This is still under consideration but some authors have already sent complete chapters so I think it is just a case of helping out my overloaded co-editor. Oh and overcoming field trips stopped by Covid.
  4. Champion, E., & Hiriart, J. (Eds.). (2022 (needs to be submited to academic review)). Assassin’s Creed in the Classroom, Museum, and Gallery: De Gruyter: Video games and the Humanities series. This is to be submitted but have very enthusiastic editor and series editors to help us complete it. For some reason I will particularly look forward to the reviews. 25 authors, 19 chapters, about 90,000 words and no grayscale image limits. We may have abstracts available in foreign languages. Ubisoft people may help us out as well, they have been very supportive so far.

Virtual Heritage: A Guide

Academic, Book, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, game, Open Access, publication, serious games, virtual heritage

I am not sure this will be the final title but just finished (I hope) my editing for the following open access 10 chapter book: Virtual Heritage: A Guide, Ubiquity Press 2021.

Table of contents:

 ForewordStuart Jeffrey
 Virtual Heritage: from Archives to JoysticksEar Zow Digital
1Speculating the Past: 3D Reconstruction in ArchaeologyR. P. Barratt
2Photogrammetry: What, How and WhereHafizur Rahaman
3Animating the PastMichael Carter
4Mapping Ancient Heritage With Digital ToolsAnna Foka, David McMeekin, Kyriaki Konstantinidou, Nasrin Mostofian, Elton Barker, Cenk Demiroglu, Ethan Chiew, Brady Kiesling
5Hybrid Interactions in Museums: Why Materiality Still MattersLuigina Ciolfi
6Video Games as concepts and experiences of the pastAris Politopoulos, Angus Mol
7Mixed Reality: A Bridge or a Fusion between Two Worlds?Mafkereseb Bekele
8Getting it Right and Getting it Wrong in Digital Archaeological EthicsL. Meghan Dennis
9Evaluation in Virtual HeritagePanayiotis Koutsabasis
10Preserving Authenticity in Virtual Heritage Ear Zow Digital

Audio-augmented arboreality: wildflowers and language

Announcements, augmented reality, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, visualisation,

New article

Hafizur Rahaman, Michelle Johnston & Erik Champion (2021). Audio-augmented arboreality: wildflowers and language, Digital Creativity, DOI: 10.1080/14626268.2020.1868536 free for first 50 people:

Before colonization, there were over 250 languages spoken in Australia. Today only thirteen Indigenous languages are still being taught to children). Language has an important part to play in cultural maintenance and ‘closing the gap’ in terms of First Peoples’ cultural heritage, identity, and sense of belonging. In this work, we aim to develop an engaging and easy way to teach and learn the local Indigenous names of wildflowers using a mobile device. This paper presents the development of a phone application that runs on a local machine, recognizes local wildflowers through its camera, and plays associated sounds and displays associated text in the Noongar language. The prototype mobile application has been developed with MobileNets model on the TensorFlow platform. The dataset is derived from Google searches, while the sound files are generated from label text by running an apple script. UI and interactivity have been developed by using Vuforia and the Unity game engine. Finally, the Android Studio is used to deploy the app. At this point in time, the prototype can only recognize ten local flowers, with 85%∼99% of accuracy. We are working with a larger dataset towards developing the full application.

Article popularity

archaeology, Digital Humanities, Journal, Open Access, publication, respositories, virtual heritage

I am impressed that the Virtual Archaeology Review Journal (@VARjournal) has a stats page with % comparing views to downloads and abstracts listed (and a 3D -model- filter!) It can help authors check their abstract is on target (i.e. catchy). Our (with Dr Hafizur Rahaman @hafi2018) 2020 article Survey of 3D digital heritage repositories and platforms was 6th most downloaded article (3rd for 2020). NB had trouble viewing, had to refresh several times.

CHAMPION, Erik; RAHAMAN, Hafizur. Survey of 3D digital heritage repositories and platforms. Virtual Archaeology Review, [S.l.], v. 11, n. 23, p. 1-15, July 2020. ISSN 1989-9947. Available at: <https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/var/article/view/13226>. Date accessed: 04 Jan. 2021. doi:https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2020.13226.

New ARC LIEF Grant!

Academic, Announcements, digital heritage, Digital Humanities,

LE210100021 — The University of Melbourne

Australian Cultural Data Engine for Research, Industry and Government. The project aims to develop an Australian Cultural Data Engine (ACD-Engine), which will be an open software engineering facility that interacts with leading existing cultural databases in architecture, visual and performing arts, humanities, and heritage to build a bridge to information and social sciences. The ACD-Engine will unify and expand these disparate and previously unconnected systems to allow advanced analysis techniques to be performed. It will deliver innovative and searchable formats that ensure interoperability, improved search, interactive design and interpretation aids that will benefit the policy and planning for national and international alignments between researchers, industry and government.

  • Administering Organisation: The University of Melbourne
  • Scheme Name: Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities
  • Lead Investigator: Prof Rachel Fensham
  • Current Funding: $440,000.00
  • Announced Funding: $440,000.00
  • Funding Commencement Year: 2021
  • Status: Not yet accepted (but we were told 23 Dec, after universities closed for the year).
  • Primary FoR: 1904 – Performing Arts and Creative Writing

New book cover

3D and game editors, Academic, Announcements, archaeology, Architecture, augmented reality, Book, design, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, game, heritage, publication, serious games, virtual heritage, Virtual Reality, visualisation

Was one of two book covers possible and I think due to some email confusion they didn’t choose my preferred cover but I really appreciate permission by Dr Anthony Masinton to use his rendered image. The publisher of Rethinking Virtual Places will be Indiana University Press, via their Spatial Humanities Series.

TLC 2.0 wins ARDC platform grant

Academic, Announcements, Digital Humanities, infrastructure

New data platforms will help transform Australian research

November 25, 2020 Categorised: News

“The Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) is excited to announce a new investment of $9.7 million, with $15.5 million in co-investments from collaborating organisations, in 16 new platform projects.”

Time-Layered Cultural Map of Australia
https://ardc.edu.au/news/new-data-projects-will-help-transform-australian-research/

Time-Layered Cultural Map of Australia 2.0 (https://doi.org/10.47486/PL069): The Time-Layered Cultural Map of Australia platform (TLCMap) is a software ecosystem meeting the digital mapping needs of humanities and social science researchers. The current TLCMap is unique in offering the means to visualise and interrogate historical and cultural data organised through spatio-temporal coordinates. The TLC Map 2.0 project will enhance the current platform through improved connectivity to relevant external platforms and archives and to national place-name authorities. It will also add new features in the handling of spatial and temporal data.

I presented our contribution to TLC 1.0 this month at EuroMed 2020. Slides are here:

upcoming virtual public talk, Uppsala

Announcements, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, virtual heritage,

25 November 2020 (virtual invited talk to Uppsala University Sweden)

Virtual Humanities

From virtual museums to virtual worlds, the word “virtual” is both a popular and a vague term. Although popularised by computer science and science fiction, the field of virtuality is also of interest to the humanities, and especially to historians and heritage experts. Yet there are few courses in the area, and few accessible examples of successful virtual humanities projects. Why? And what can be done?

 public seminar series for the research network Digital Humanities Uppsala:

25 November 2020 10.15-12 Swedish time (GMT+1)

The seminar will be held on Zoom. Link: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/66954058750

virtual museum kitset/template paper

Academic, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, serious games, visualisation,

My slides for the below EuroMed2020 paper presentation yesterday are on slideshare. We were told the publications will be available at latest in January 2021.

Time-Layered Gamic Interaction with a Virtual Museum Template

Erik Champion, Rebecca Kerr, Hafizur Rahaman and David McMeekin

Abstract. This paper discusses a simplified workflow and interactive learning opportunities for exporting map and location data using a free tool, Recogito into a Unity game environment with a simple virtual museum room template. The aim was to create simple interactive virtual museums for humanities scholars and students with a minimum of programming or gaming experience, while still allowing for interesting time-related tasks. The virtual environment template was created for the Oculus Quest and controllers but can be easily adapted to other head-mounted displays or run on a normal desktop computer. Although this is an experimental design, it is part of a project to increase the use of time-layered cultural data and related mapping technology by humanities researchers.

game-induced cultural tourism slides available

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

My presentation slides for virtual The Interactive Pasts Conference Online 2 (TIPC2), (held 5-6 November, notionally, at Leiden) are on slideshare.

The twitch stream for the conference is at https://www.twitch.tv/valuefnd (my talk from yesterday is on there somewhere).

Swords Sandals and Selfies in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey: The Cultural Tourism Package You’d Kill For

Schedule November 5 Session 2: 12:00 – 13:30

This paper explores Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey as a way to explore idyllic historic landscapes and heritage sites with some degree of questing and simulated danger. It applies Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey in two ways, as discovery tour option mode and as a metaphor to explore in more general and speculative terms how questing and historical dilemmas and conflicts could be incorporated into both fan tourism and cultural/historical tourism  (Politopoulos, Mol, Boom, & Ariese, 2019).

Keza MacDonald views Assassin’s Creed as a virtual museum, Ubisoft regards it as the recovery of lost worlds: “ “We give access to a world that was lost” said Jean Guesdon (MacDonald, 2018). “Discovery Tour will allow a lot of our players to revisit this world with their kids, or even their parents.”

Origins’ Discovery Tour mode “promises” educational enlightenment (Thier, 2018; Walker, 2018); Odyssey’s additional Story Creator Mode (Zagalo, 2020) adds personalized quests. Beyond the polaroid fun of sharing landscape selfies with other players and ancient history voyeurs across the Internet, there is also the prospect of “Video game–induced tourism:  a new frontier for destination marketers” (Dubois & Gibbs, 2018). Plus physical location VR games. Game company Ubisoft created escape game VR and virtual tours inside physical exhibitions such as Assassin’s Creed VR – Temple of Anubis (Gamasutra Staff, 2019). Is there a market for historical playgrounds as virtual tourism?

New Paper for EuroMed2020 Virtual Conference

Academic, Conference, digital heritage, Digital Humanities, virtual heritage, Virtual Reality, visualisation,

The paper “Time-Layered Gamic Interaction with a Virtual Museum Template” by Erik Champion, Rebecca Kerr, Hafizur Rahaman and David McMeekin will be presented virtually at EuroMed 2020 Conference next week. The project is part of the ARC funded project Time Layered Culture Map (tlc). Registration is free.

Abstract. This paper discusses a simplified workflow and interactive learning opportunities for exporting map and location data using a free tool, Recogito into a Unity game environment with a simple virtual museum room template. The aim was to create simple interactive virtual museums for humanities scholars and students with a minimum of programming or gaming experience, while still allowing for interesting time-related tasks. The virtual environment template was created for the Oculus Quest and controllers but can be easily adapted to other head-mounted displays or run on a normal desktop computer. Although this is an experimental design, it is part of a project to increase the use of time-layered cultural data and related mapping technology by humanities researchers.