In “Chapter 19: Digital Humanities and Visible and Invisible Infrastructures” by Gimena del Rio Riande, the chapter declared on page 249:
They recall how already by 2014, following Karen Knorr- Cetina in 2001 (“Objectual Practice”), Erik Champion (“Researchers as Infrastructure”) had anticipated the emergence of DH infrastructures as dynamic ecosystems. These works could give anyone the impression that technology is always one and identical, that its users speak the same language, that institutions are run in the same way globally, and that we all have the same degree of digital literacy.”
My point about scholaly ecosystems was that students, teachers and users are vital parts of these digital ecosystems if they are to be ecosystems (not just a range of products). The audience has to be actively involved (“give the impression”) for the good of both parties. Given this, (and the writer probably does not know I am from one of the least populated and remotest countries in the world with non-European heritage), there is no way an objective and prescient reader of my works could be led to believe or try to persuade anyone that I promote a homogenous and universal digital infrastructure.
I do however believe in interoperability, shared transactional frameworks and some form of freemium system as a balance between public access and shareholder rights.
I am not sure why fake polemic battles are needed.
Reference:
del Rio Riande, Gimena (2022). Digital Humanities and Visble and Invisible Infrastructures. In Global Debates in the Digital Humanities. (USA): University of Minnesota Press.
Athough I am increasingly concerned with the logistics and environmental cost of longdistance travel I have agreed to visit Belgium for the last week of February for research administration reasons. I arrive a day early and heritage researchers were kind enough to offer to meet me at the University of Antwerp, I may give a lecture or feedback on staff and student papers. I’ve never had the opportunity to visit beyond Brussels (and Ghent remains on my wish list) so to get a chance to visit Antwerp and talk digital heritage is rather wonderful. Happy to talk to any like minded souls on some of the potential challenges and issues.
Last November I was invited to give game design workshops (and talks) in Norway and Iceland (and talks in England and Wales) in October and then I visited Norfolk Island in December. Hopefully for a future research grant application. Very exciting way to finish 2023.
Champion, E., & Emery, S. (2024). Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums [GLAM]-focussed Games and Gamification. In J. Nichols & B. Mehra (Eds.), Data Curation and Information Systems Design from Australasia: Implications for Cataloguing of Vernacular Knowledge in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (Vol. 54, pp. 67-83). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-283020240000054006.
Engaging with digital heritage requires understanding not only to comprehend what is simulated but also the reasons leading to its creation and curation, and how to ensure both the digital media and the significance of the cultural heritage it portrays are passed on effectively, meaningfully, and appropriately. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization defines ‘digital heritage’ to comprise of computer-based materials of enduring value some of which require active preservation strategies to maintain them for years to come.
With the proliferation of digital technologies and digital media, computer games have increasingly been seen as not only depicters of cultural heritage and platforms for virtual heritage scholarship and dissemination but also as digital cultural artefacts worthy of preservation. In this chapter, we examine how games (both digital and non-digital) can communicate cultural heritage in a galleries, libraries, archives, and museums [GLAM] setting. We also consider how they can and have been used to explore, communicate, and preserve heritage and, in particular, Indigenous heritage. Despite their apparently transient and ephemeral nature, especially compared to conventional media such as books, we argue computer games can be incorporated into active preservation approaches to digital heritage. Indeed, they may be of value to cultural heritage that needs to be not only viewed but also viscerally experienced or otherwise performed.
Assassin’s Creed‹ in the Classroom History’s Playground or a Stab in the Dark? HAS been published by De Gruyter, on 18 December. Thanks to my co-editor Dr Juan Hiriart, and our authors.
The eCHOing project is inviting you to a lunch lecture, join us for an exciting event that explores the fascinating world of visitor experiences in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums). Photo: gunnerus.no NTNU UB
TUESDAY17 OCTOBER Hands-on Game Design Workshop, TRONDHEIM NORWAY, 09:30-14:30
Join us for an exciting event that explores the fascinating world of visitor experiences in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums).
Whether you’re a student curator, librarian, archivist, or museum enthusiast, this event is a must-attend to stay ahead in the ever-evolving GLAM landscape.
In this half-day workshop Erik Champion will help small groups of 4 brainstorm (“ideate”) ideas to create engaging games using a simplified working definition of computer games, and with the help of physical items. Although these game ideas could eventually become digital games, escape rooms, augmented or mixed reality projects, this introductory workshop will concentrate on creating and testing physical (analogue) demos and simple prototypes. Although Erik’s focus has been on history and heritage games, this workshop will be open to other types of games, but particularly on those where players can learn beyond the game, and where the game is a series of engaging challenges. You may bring your own idea for a game, or develop a game idea on the day in a group. No programming necessary.
Work in interdisciplinary groups with real life problems
Be an agent of change as your ideas will help professionals reach a wider audience for their cultural institutions!
Learn the fundamentals of serious games and why so many fail.
Discover how paper prototyping in groups can help you quickly create engaging game ideas.
Short bio for NTNU workshop
Erik Champion tutors game jam projects in South Australia at UniSA, and has hosted game design workshops in Australia, Italy, Poland, the United States, Qatar, and Finland, and co-hosted remotely a game design workshop with school children in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with Dr Juan Hiriart. He is currently working on research projects with Tencent Games and Ubisoft. He wrote Playing With The Past: Into The Future (Springer 2022), and edited the open access book Virtual Heritage: A Guide (Routledge, 2021) and has written books on the intersection between video games and cultural heritage. He has honorary appointments at Curtin, UWA, and ANU and was recently a visiting professor at the University of Jyvāskylā, Finland, a partner of the Centre of Excellence in Game Studies (https://coe-gamecult.org/).
Skills required: none.
The eCHOing project is an EU-funded programme that aims to foster collaboration through open innovation between universities and 29 cultural institutions in five European countries. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to gain valuable insights from our invited gaming guru and writer of the book PLAYING WITH THE PAST.
WEDNESDAY18 October MediaCity, Salford University, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, UK, 15:00-19.00
This talk will examine how key challenges in digital heritage involving 3D models could be brought to life and re-opened to interpretation by game design, and how game-like interaction could also help increase the richness and immersive qualities of XR (extended reality) and virtual tourism. Can 3D models, the scholarly information surrounding them, and the involvement of the public be brought closer together? And can we harness the speed and complexity of new technologies to ensure both the data and our understanding of that data can be recorded, interpreted, and shared more fairly, openly, and democratically?
Reflective Experiences with Immersive Heritage (Difficult Digital Heritage)
Despite the growth and spread of digital humanities visualisation projects, parallel and accessible examples in immersive virtual heritage are harder to find. Over the last three decades, immersive technologies (especially as “new” media) have embraced digital heritage to create spectacular experiences, but existing and durable examples of virtual heritage (virtual reality applied to cultural heritage) are relatively rare, while examples of difficult heritage far rarer. In this talk I will summarize relevant dilemmas in presence research, and recent developments in virtual heritage, reflect on some difficult lessons learnt, and offer some recommendations as to how we could address the depiction or evocation of difficult pasts in the near future.
BIO
Erik Champion is an Enterprise Fellow at UniSA, Emeritus Professor at Curtin University, Honorary Research Fellow at UWA, and Honorary Research Professor at ANU. He has published books and papers on serious games and game mods, virtual heritage, virtual world phenomenology, digital humanities infrastructures, and architectural history.
I am delighted to share a call for a new StoryLab Research Fellow in Creative Technologies and Immersive Storytelling and would be grateful if you could share it with your networks and colleagues who you think might be interested in applying.
This is a full time fixed-term 24-months contract. Deadline for applications: 16th October 2023.
I am looking for a new member of StoryLab who will work on a range of digital and/or immersive experience (XR) practice-led projects, and will develop new research that contributes to StoryLab’s research themes (Human Creativity, Design and Technology; Identity, Culture and Heritage; and Sustainable and Resilient Communities).
Partnering with the Adelaide Gaol, we are looking for a PhD student to explore a project that looks at tourism of places with challenging histories in respectful and personalised ways using Augmented Reality.
You need to be eligible to complete a PhD to apply and you can find the eligibility requirements link at the bottom of the UniSA Project Page.
I’m sorry I have not been updating this blog very frequently.
I spent a week in Sydney (at my expense but for a good cause): ICOMOS. I am a member of ICIP ICOMOS but to be honest I don’t seem to be very involved or I don’t know (currently) what is happening. They had their meeting as I was travelling to ICOMOS General Assembly, we co-chairs of the Scientific Symposium had to meet at 7.30 every day and Tuesday and Thursday was a full on Digital Heritage program that I have mixed feelings about.
The concerns I have about Digital Heritage seem shared by the others, but I only had 15 minutes to talk and they decided (because of others, and the screen having to reset) that there were no Q&A for my session. I think in future I will work with more specialist audiences at smaller events, I don’t think my involvement at these bigger conferences is very effective, it will be more relevant for others.
During our day break (the session was split into Tuesday and Thursday with a visit in between to the Blue Mountains, (I don’t know why, but perhaps it wasn’t such an issue after all) I visited the Australian National Maritime Museum and had a brief conversation with the submarine HMAS Vampire volunteer, an ex-submariner about when things go wrong (footnote: he was lucky the sub only had practice torpedos, they return to the nearest acoustic object if they can’t find their target, a lesson he learnt all too well). It was fascinating listening to him.
Free event at the University of Melbourne next Thursday, yes I will be there! Australian Cultural Data Futures, Thursday, 24 August 2023, 9:00 am to 4:30 pm, University of Melbourne.
I will talk about 360 panoramas and 3D, the article from this research is available online via the Heritage Journal or via an online encyclopedia
GLAM Games: Gaps and Glimmers in the Visitor Experience
Bradley Forum Level 5 Hawke Building 50-55 North Terrace, Adelaide
25 September from 9.30. Book a free ticket at Eventbrite.
GLAM Games: Gaps and Glimmers in the Visitor Experience
Join us for an exciting event that explores the fascinating world of visitor experiences in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums).
Discover the gaps and glimmers in the visitor journey as we delve into the latest trends and strategies to enhance engagement and create memorable experiences.
Date: Mon Sep 25 2023 Time: 09:30 AM ACST Location: Bradley Forum, Level 5, Hawke Building, UniSA City West Campus, 55 North Terrace, Adelaide, SA
Immerse yourself in a day filled with insightful discussions, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities with industry experts and like-minded professionals.
Whether you’re a curator, librarian, archivist, or museum enthusiast, this event is a must-attend to stay ahead in the ever-evolving GLAM landscape.
Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to gain valuable insights and exchange ideas with fellow GLAM enthusiasts. Register now to secure your spot!
SCHEDULE:
9.30 Intro & talk Associate Professor Erik Champion (UniSA) Learning Through Play
10.00 Peter Tattersall (Head of Visitor Engagement, National Maritime Museum (Sydney)) What are you playing at? Contested histories, video games, classrooms, and museums
10.30 MORNING TEA (provided)
11.00 Dr Melissa Rogerson (University of Melbourne) Avoiding “analogue” – combining physical components with technologies to make new playful experiences
11.30 Dr Bernardo Pereira (ANU) Insights from a Computer Science Escape Room Experience
Playing Place: Board Games, Popular Culture, Space
will be released tomorrow by MIT Press.
Dr Juan Hiriart and I have a chapter in it:
Workshopping Board Games for Space Place and Culture.
Full reference:
E. Champion and J. Hiriart. Workshopping Board Games for Space Place and Culture. In: Playing Place: Board Games, Popular Culture, Space, edited by C. Randl and D. M. Lasansky. MIT Press 2023. ISBN: 9780262047838.
Just recently confirmed three internal (UniSA) seed grants:
a small “Strengthening International Research Reputation Grant Scheme” grant to visit the UK after Norway (& Iceland are calling) was confirmed last week and also involves visiting Norfolk Island for a potential further grant;
and now a third one(“Augmenting Creative Partnerships”) to host guests and other speakers on GLAM games at Bradley Forum, University of South Australia City West Campus Monday 25 September in Adelaide South Australia.
Flights now confirmed: I have been invited to NTNU (Trondheim Norway, in conjunction with the echoing.eu project) 16-17 October and then I hope to visit and talk in the UK 18 or 19 October at the University of Salford on games (especially Assassin’s Creed and the upcoming book with Dr. Juan Hiriart), and over 23-25 October UWE Bristol (book launch of Screen Tourism and Affective Landscapes), and Cardiff University (dark and difficult digital heritage).
This research project investigates the potential of 360-panorama tours to improve the situated and contextual interpretation, virtual visitation, and spatial understanding of recorded or simulated built heritage sites. Our chosen case study was the Subiaco Hotel, a significant heritage building designed by Summerhayes Architecture, which we documented using 360-degree photographs and linked with other media to create an interactive 360-panorama tour. Today, 360-degree panorama tours such as Google Street View enable the virtual exploration of heritage sites and historic buildings. They demonstrate limited interaction and immersion across a range of platforms and devices, without the requirement of expensive virtual reality headsets, but typically do not integrate other media to leverage spatially richer ways to communicate the historical developments of architectural interiors and exteriors. The primary goals of this study were to establish a comprehensive step-by-step workflow for creating an interactive tour of a significant heritage site, demonstrate how other media such as text, videos, and 3D models can be linked, gather feedback from cultural heritage professionals, and offer future research directions and development guidelines. Apart from detailing an optimized workflow for developing interactive 360-degree virtual tours for heritage buildings, we also offer guidelines for optimal panoramic tour creation and implementation.
CITE: Rahaman, H.; Champion, E.; McMeekin, D. Outside Inn: Exploring the Heritage of a Historic Hotel through 360-Panoramas. Heritage2023, 6, 4380-4410. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage6050232
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