Category Archives: Academic

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.

Hacking Simulations and Simulacra in e-VR

Academic, augmented reality, game, serious games, Virtual Reality

Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the territory – PRECESSION OF SIMULACRA – it is the map that engenders the territory and if we were to revive the fable today, it would be the territory whose shreds are slowly rotting across the map. It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges subsist here and there, in the deserts which are no longer those of the Empire, but our own.

The desert of the real itself.

“ The Precession of Simulacra” from Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Michigan, USA: University of Michigan Press, 1994.

Aim of Essay

Update and Relate Simulations and Simulcra to the current era of Hacking and Virtual Reality.

1 Theoretical Frameworks

  • Simulacra and Simulation (primary text), link briefly to Dreyfus’ On the Internet (distance learning), and Jenkins’ Convergence Culture (hopeful solutions but also issues with walled garden social media/VR).
  • Establish key Baudrillard terms and judge their impact and usefulness.

2 Mediated reality

  • Explain links between the Matrix films, social issues, information, entertainment, and VR, under the heading “Synchronicity between film, fiction, philosophy and fact.”

3 Baudrillard’s theory-Video Games, Cybersecurity, hacking and VR

  • Focus on hacking, hacking versus cracking, and hacking versus crafting and tinkering.
  • Give examples of VR, social media companies and VR, personal and sensory data issues) and biofeedback interfaces/affective computing), and hacking issues.

4 Digital mediation, simulacra and simulation, digital artifacts in education

  • Expand on the relevance to digital humanities, teaching and learning (and research), especially in Australia (and perhaps Oceania).
  • Contextualize in terms of distance learning during the era of COVID and lockdowns.
  • Expand upon the implications for educating current and upcoming generations.

5 VR Hacking-digital paradigm, education and computer hacking

  • Does the theory/framework hold up? Can it adjust, must it be adopted wholeheartedly, is it more of a warning than a framework, has it remained relevant?
  • Implications.
  • Future possibilities, threats, strategies in education.
  • Tie all above together, explain originality.

Learning outcomes

  1. Analyse and discuss a range of theoretical frameworks for understanding our mediated ‘reality’ and the digital paradigm, and in particular the work of Jean Baudrillard.
  2. Apply the reading of Baudrillard’s propositions regarding our mediated reality to the analysis of the Matrix Trilogy to identify the degree of synchronicity between film, fiction, philosophy and fact.
  3. Critically review the value of Baudrillard’s theoretical frames for understanding video games, cyber security events in general, and computer hacking in particular.
  4. Critically evaluate the implications of Baudrillard’s propositions around digital mediation, simulacra and simulation for the use of digital artifacts in education.
  5. Communicate effectively to present a coherent and independent exposition of knowledge and ideas within and across a range of discipline areas related to the digital paradigm, education and computer hacking.

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.

Paper and Proceedings Published

Academic, Announcements, infrastructure, Journal, virtual heritage, Virtual Reality, visualisation

EuroMed2020 conference proceedings have been published by Springer.

Ioannides, M., Fink, E., Cantoni, L., Champion, E. (Eds.). Digital Heritage. Progress in Cultural Heritage: Documentation, Preservation, and Protection. 8th International Conference, EuroMed 2020, Virtual Event, November 2–5, 2020, Revised Selected Papers. Springer.

Our paper: Champion, E., Kerr, R., McMeekin, D., & Rahaman, H. (2020, 29 October-3 November). Time-Layered Gamic Interaction with a Virtual Museum Template. Paper presented at the EuroMed 2020 Conference, Nicosia, Cyprus (online).

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.

Assassin’s Creed in the Classroom Book Project

3D and game editors, Academic, Book, book chapter, publication

I have started an 18 chapter 25 author edited book project with De Gruyter (Video Games and the Humanities series) and Dr Juan Hiriart as co-editor. I hope to publish it in 2022. Confirmed authors are from Canada, USA, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. The aim is to explain how the Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed Series can and has and could be used in the classroom, museum, or gallery (or as escape space). De Gruyter and Ubisoft historians  have been very encouraging. I’d love contributions from the Caribbean or Middle East but very happy with what we have going forward.

There is some possibility of related online learning materials being made available.

Assassin’s Creed in the Classroom, Museum and Gallery

Alternative title:  Assassin’s Creed: History’s Playground or a Stab in the Dark?

NB This is not the final chapter order.

  1. Ubisoft’s Archaeology And History-Making: From The Inside
  2. Using The Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tours In The Classroom: A Tutorial
  3. Creation Of Teacher Curriculum Guides For The Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour Games To Improve Teachers’ TPCK And TAM
  4. Gaming The Classroom: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey As A Learning Tool For First Year Undergraduates
  5. Understanding Problems Of Historical Writing Through Historical Videogame Design  
  6. Preparing High School Students For An Academic Trip To Greek Archaeological Sites By Using The Ubisoft Discovery Tour On Ancient Greece    
  7. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey And Its Use In The Context Of The Archaeological Museum In Muenster (Germany)  
  8. Viking Life: Using Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Settlements To Teach Social History And Everyday Life In School Classrooms          
  9. Living Through The Animus: Conceptualizing Playful Time Travel In The Classroom     
  10. Christian Vikings Storming Templar Castles: Anachronism As A Teaching Tool 
  11. The Discovery Tour And Historical Characters In Ancient Greece
  12. An Unholy Alliance? Ubisoft And The Future Of Archaeological (Re)Animation
  13. Classical Creations In A Modern Medium
  14. Discovering The Past As A Virtual Foreign Country: Assassin’s Creed As Historical Tourism
  15. Assassin’s Creed @ The Carlos: Merging Videogames And Education At The Michael C. Carlos Museum
  16. Learning The Past By Walking Through Biomes
  17. Historical Video Games And Teachers Practices In French-Speaking Secondary Schools In The Montreal Metropolitan Area      
  18. Religion Is History: Teaching Religion To Postsecular Audiences         

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

Virtual Archaeology Review’s Paper of the Year

3D and game editors, Academic, Announcements, archaeology, digital heritage, heritage, infrastructure, Journal, Open Access, publication, respositories, virtual heritage, Virtual Reality, visualisation

Virtual Archaeology Review declared my and Dr Rahaman’s 2020 paper “Survey of #3D digital heritage repositories and platforms” their paper of the year.

https://twitter.com/VARjournal/status/1348357190801780738

some Virtual Heritage journals

Academic, Journal

I’ve been asked advice on virtual heritage-related journals.

I’d suggest (and this is not a comprehensive list):

I am no longer a fulltime professional academic (and not on the editorial boards of the above) so caveat emptor.

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.

New Journal Article!

Academic, Announcements, digital heritage, heritage, publication, serious games, virtual heritage

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

Cultural presence is a term used to explain and evaluate cultural learning in virtual heritage projects but is less frequently used for video games. Given the increasing importance of video games to cultural heritage, this article investigates explanations of cultural presence that could be communicated by games, especially concerning UNESCO and ICOMOS definitions of cultural significance. The aim is to determine if cultural presence can be communicated via video games and across a range of game genres.

Observations derived from game prototyping workshops for history and heritage aided the development of a teachable list of desirable game elements. To distinguish itself from the vagueness surrounding theories of cultural presence, a theory of culturally significant presence is proposed. Culturally significant presence requires three components: culturally significant artifacts and practices; an overarching framework of a singular, identifiable cultural viewpoint; and awareness by the participant of both the culturally significant and the overarching cultural framework and perspective (which gives sites, artifacts, and practices their cultural significance and relational value).

As awareness of cultural presence requires time for reflection, single-player games were chosen that were not completely dependent on time-based challenges. Another criterion was cultural heritage content: They must simulate aspects of heritage and history, communicate a specific cultural framework, or explore and reconstruct a past culture. Four games were chosen that simulate a culture, explain archaeological methods, portray indigenous intangible heritage, or explain historical-based ecosystems of the past based on educational guidelines. The games are Assassin’s Creed: Origins; Heaven’s Vault; Never Alone; and a Ph.D. project: Saxon. Their genres could be described as first-person shooter/open world/virtual tour; dialogue-based puzzle game; 2D platform game; and turn-based strategy game.

The aim is not to evaluate the entire range of interactive virtual environments and games, but to examine the applicability and relevance of this new theory and to ascertain whether the four games provided useful feedback on the concept and usefulness of culturally significant presence. A more clearly demarcated theory may not only help focus evaluation studies but also encourage game developers to modify or allow modification of commercial games for classroom teaching of digital heritage.

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

Assassin’s Creed in the Classroom

3D and game editors, Academic, Book, book chapter, game, serious games, visualisation, ,

Have sent out a proposal to people who use the above game series in the classroom and/or write about it. Have spoken to Ubisoft about this so possibly can work with historians and archaeologists working with Ubisoft as well.

Authors: Will be an ongoing negotiation process, from abstract/title to publisher and external reviews (depending on the publisher).

Audience: Would be useful if it can be used in a classroom (perhaps university-level undergraduate) but with some thoughtful articles.

Content: How Assassin’s Creed evolved in terms of history and simulation, how it is seen (inside and outside Ubisoft) in terms of its potential in education, heritage and tourism. Indeed a book I am co-editing has a chapter on Assassin’s Creed and screen tourism and I have been tasked to write it! But for this project, I would be very happy to get a conversation going between game designers, consultants, historians, academics and game design teachers.

Focus: How could Assassin’s Creed change or create more flexibility for use and reuse and input from these sectors? How do the scholars and designers see new ways of using games to learn about aspects of history that would be of interest to Ubisoft in particular and game companies in general?

Language: I think I should find a co-editor and possibly French-speaking, would it make sense to have French language chapters and or a French version?

Publisher: I don’t have funds for open access publisher fees but ideally it would be (at least in part) free on the web so it could easily be picked up by classrooms. Update: have received some interest already.

Timing: We are looking at a mid to late 2021 final submission by authors so the book might have to appear in 2022.

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?