hardware, software, simple coding

3D and game editors, design, Virtual Reality, visualisation, , , , , , ,

Time for a quick update on recent tech offerings

Rough Outline on Architected Place

Academic, Book, Conference, design, virtual heritage, Virtual Reality, ,

I am finishing a chapter (Chapter 3: ‘Architected’ Places) for my own book on Virtual Places, but the structural arc has escaped me until now. It will be polemical and controversial so I need to rewrite it to show that I realize this, there will be gaps and generalizations.

The basic premises are:

  1. Architectural theory is essentialist.
  2. Architectural tools are instrumentalist, architects don’t work on or near the site, as they need specialist tools connected to databases not to experiences.
  3. Architectural media is loath to include people and architectural spaces don’t work as places without people (Marseilles, by Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion, architectural masterpieces tend to be pavilions).
  4. Architects are not trained in user experience design and evaluation.
  5. Nor are architects trained in interactive media, their tools (see argument 2) are instrumentalist and passive.
  6. Traditional architectural craft is embodied, sited, takes time and records care. This is less and less the case.
  7. So applying theories of architecture, or practices of architectural design to interactive digital media in order to create virtual places, may well leave some gaps. How to resolve these in the design of virtual places? Corruption? Fancy theory? Post modernism? No, through embodiment, multimodality, role-play (and thematic affordances), allowing user-infill, environmental change to affect the design environment, and digital personalized patinas, materials that show the effect of time, wear and care.

 

Conferences for 2017-2018

Conference
*START*DUECONFERENCETHEMELOCATION
22-Oct-1712-Jul-17UISTACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology-postersQuebec City, Canada
31-Oct-1715-Jun-17VSMM201723rd Int’l Conference on Virtual Systems and MultimediaDublin Ireland
08-Nov-17?ChacmoolThe Future of Archaeology: How Technology Can Influence a DisciplineCalgary Canada
08-Nov-1730-Jun-17VRSTVirtual Reality Software and TechnologyGothenburg Sweden
28-Nov-1716-Jun-17ozchi17OzCHI 2017 – Human-NatureBrisbane Australia
01-Dec-1721-Jul-17DCH2017Digital Cultural HeritageManchester UK
04-Dec-1731-Jul-17dha4th Digital Humanities: Data First!Innsbruck Austria
05-Dec-1710-Jul-17GALA 2017Games and Learning Alliance conferenceLisbon Portugal
07-Dec-1701-Jun-17PostcolonialPost colonial memoryAmsterdam Netherlands
18-Dec-1725-Aug-17TAG UKTheorectical Archaeology GroupCardiff Wales
17-Mar-1829-Sep-17CRDHCurrent Research in Digital HistoryArlington, VA
19-Mar-18?CAA2018Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in ArchaeologyTübingen, Germany
21-Apr-1812-Sep-17CHI2018Computer Human InteractionMontreal, Canada
24-Apr-18?CAA2019Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in ArchaeologyKraków, Poland
02-May-18?Best PracticesBest Practices in World Heritage: ArcheologyMenorca Spain
09-Jun-18?DISDesigning Interactive SystemsHong Kong
19-Jun-18?IDC2018ACM Interaction Design and ChildrenTrondheim, Norway
24-Jun-18?DH2018Digital Humanities 2018Mexico City, Mexico
12-Aug-18?SIGGRAPH18SIGGRAPHVancouver Canada
01-Sep-1831-Mar-172018achsHeritage Across Borders (sessions)Hangzhou China
19-Sep-1801-Feb-18eCAADe2018computing for a better tomorrowLodz Poland
14-Oct-18??ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and TechnologyBerlin Germany
 
START*DUE*CONFERENCETHEMELOCATION
08-Nov-1730-Jun-17VRSTVirtual Reality Software and TechnologyGothenburg Sweden
05-Dec-1710-Jul-17GALA 2017Games and Learning Alliance conferenceLisbon Portugal
22-Oct-1712-Jul-17UISTACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology-postersQuebec City, Canada
01-Dec-1721-Jul-17DCH2017Digital Cultural HeritageManchester UK
04-Dec-1731-Jul-17dha4th Digital Humanities: Data First!Innsbruck Austria
18-Dec-1725-Aug-17TAG UKTheorectical Archaeology GroupCardiff Wales
21-Apr-1812-Sep-17CHI2018Computer Human InteractionMontreal, Canada
17-Mar-1829-Sep-17CRDHCurrent Research in Digital HistoryArlington, VA
19-Sep-1801-Feb-18eCAADe2018computing for a better tomorrowLodz Poland

new project 2: 3D and GIS

digital heritage, virtual heritage, Virtual Reality, visualisation, , ,

The following was a successful grant, funded by the Curtin Institute of Computation.

Title: Leveraging Low-Cost and Free Linked Open Data and Hybrid GIS/3D For Cultural Heritage Visualisation (6 months)

The program/research plan:

The two ECRs with the help of the two Curtin Professors will investigate the use of an application, possibly the Pelagios Framework (http://commons.pelagios.org/), an online portal that can combine maps, charts, documents, pictures and dynamic data, to create interactive visualisations and predictive cartographic analysis tools.

Figure 1: Pelagios

This pilot study will explore whether the application can accept, display and dynamically link to 3D models and their subcomponents, using GIS Data so that maps and 3D models can be displayed and interacted with online. This specific application theoretically accepts simple 3D stl models but three.js and web3D models have not been investigated. Existing related examples: see http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/arc/mayagis.html

The two ECRS will derive a 3D model with GIS related data and design an online Pelagios Commons framework (or similar) for viewing a 3D model of a heritage site, preferably in Australia, that controls place elements in a side-located text document or an online map or chart and vice versa.

http://pleiades.stoa.org/ shows some of the possibilities of Linked Open Data, but not how 3D can interact with a LOD GIS platform.

Proposed engagement of external and community groups

  1. Firstly, we will collaborate with the following non-CIC staff at Curtin to develop the Curtin University workshop.
  2. Secondly we will invite members to test the prototype and provide feedback and potentially collaboration and grant opportunities.
  3. We will test the prototype with archaeologists, heritage specialists or architects in another Australian city. The longer-term aim is to engage them in applying for a linkage to design a more permanent and larger collection and online portal for a more highly featured, user-friendly and robust design.

For an interesting potentially related interface please see http://www.impa.br/opencms/en/

new project 1: HMD Augmented Reality Heritage Trail study

augmented reality, digital heritage, heritage, tracking, virtual heritage, Virtual Reality, visualisation, workshop, , , , ,

The following was a successful grant, funded by the Curtin Institute of Computation.

The program/research plan:

In 2016 the Chief Investigator (CI) organized a one day talk and workshop on cultural heritage visualization, (“GLAM-VR”, Curtin HIVE, http://slides.com/erikchampion/glamvr16-26-08-2016 ) and helped facilitate a related makerspace event (“Cultural Makathon at Curtin Library Makerspace”, URL: http://slides.com/erikchampion/deck-4#/fullscreen#/ ). All groups of students finished their projects apart from one single individual group encountering trouble designing inside a 3D game engine. For the Augmented Reality 2016 makerspace tutorials, there was similar difficulty in finding suitable tutorial material. Unfortunately, there are few tutorials and examples for augmented reality and 3D game engines for hackathon or makathon events. There is even less material for cultural heritage augmented reality tours. And there is no academic feature list survey and comparison of recent augmented reality headsets for cultural heritage tours, where one walks along a heritage trail using the augmented reality headset (HMD) for augmented information.

This 2017 pilot study will aim to resolve this issue by providing an exemplar, online resources, a white paper and

  1. The two ECRS will develop a simple digital 3D environment prototype which reveals cultural heritage assets, artefacts and landmarks when viewed inside a portable head-mounted display (HMD) or augmented reality HMD.
  2. We will compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of the above HMDs, run an evaluation on test subjects of preferred display, time required to navigate and to wayfind, and record participants’ task performance and memory recall.
  3. We will create a white paper for this, including suggested workflows and appropriate tools.
  4. From the above findings we will provide an online available training course for developing Augmented Reality cultural heritage tours for head Mounted Displays.
  5. There will be a pilot workshop at CURTIN LIBRARY MAKERSPACE

#HeritageEveryware Scanning the digital heritage horizon at Glasgow School Of Art

Conference

Dialling The Past

It sounds paradoxical but one of the world’s leading hubs of digital heritage learning, research and innovation is based in an art school, and it had to be in Glasgow…

A fusion of cultural heritage and technological expertise, history and data, human stories and computational power, it’s the “idea of dueling polarities within one entity” made concrete (and virtual) in an unexpected setting.

Whether its staff and students would agree with or dismiss the idea of the ‘Caledonian antisyzgy‘ is moot, but I can’t resist seeing a correlation between this new formation and that reading of the Scots cultural psyche coined by G. Gregory Smith in 1919…

“That it is defined by duality. Passionate heart versus rational head, Highlands and Lowlands, Scottish and British identity, Scots and English language, realism and fantasy.” [ref]

Debatably then, this brief dérive into Scottish literary history goes some way to…

View original post 2,971 more words

CFP: VSMM2017, Dublin, extended deadline

cfp, Conference, , ,

VSMM2017 – Deadline postponed!
Abstracts and workshop proposals deadline for the 23rd International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM2017), has been postponed from June 2nd to June 15th 2017.
The conference will be held October 30th – November 2nd 2017 in Ireland at University College Dublin, with Special Workshops and Cultural Tours on November 3rd – 5th in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Thur 15 Jun 2017 – Deadline for Abstracts/Workshop Proposals
Fri 28 Jul 2017 – Notification of Acceptance to Authors/Presenters
Fri 1 Sep 2017 – Registration Opens
Mon 15 Sep 2017 – Camera-ready Papers Due
Fri 13 Oct 2017 – Registration Closes
Tue 31 Oct – Thur 2 Nov – VSMM2017 Conference in Dublin
Fri 3 Nov – Sun 5 Nov – VSMM2017 Workshops & Cultural Tours in Belfast

Website: http://vsmm.org/vsmm2017/

3D Digital Heritage, Berlin program

Academic, archaeology, Architecture, Conference, Digital Humanities, , , ,

I am speaking at 3D Heritage Exploring Virtual Research Space for Art, 19 -20 June 2017, Berlin. Program here

Address:Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Humboldt Graduate School,Luisenstr 56, 10117, Berlin

A Scholarly Ecosystem for 3D Digital Heritage Simulations
Ear Zow Digital

Major impediments to the development of high quality and effective virtual heritage projects has been technological constraints or insufficient audience evaluation methods. That said, this talk proposes that a more fundamental issue has been with the design, circulation and use of the digital models themselves as components of scholarly arguments or as vehicles to communicate hypotheses to the wider public.

In Australia, we have proposed to UNESCO that we run a project to survey, collate and develop tools for heritage sites and related built environments, focusing initially on Australia. The aim is to consolidate and disseminate 3D models and virtual environments of world heritage sites, host virtual heritage examples, tutorials, tools and technologies so heritage groups and classrooms could learn to develop and maintain 3D models and virtual environments, and act as advisor on policy formulation for the use, evaluation and application of these 3D digital environments and digital models for use in the classroom and for general visualisation projects.

The resulting UNESCO Chair project will implement and advise on 3D models of World Heritage Sites, how 3D models can be employed in teaching and research, investigate ways to host both the digital models and related paradata and publications, and transfer formats (for desktop use, mobile computing etc.), ideally with UNESCO, and we will leverage research facilities at Curtin and at partner institutes and research facilities like the HIVE (Figure 1).

The primary goal is to help educate the public in the area of world heritage sites via interactive collaborative digital media, with an emphasis on free and open source software, and a secondary goal is to examine virtual heritage and related digital simulations as components of scholarly arguments. The UNESCO Chair’s project team will also critique, integrate and extend existing and new infrastructure to support this learning material and the overall integration of scholarly publications, publicly available media and online directories and repositories of digital 3D simulations of world heritage sites and related artefacts as a scholarly ecosystem.

 

Augmented Reality software

augmented reality

In short:

And perhaps a few other options (https://artoolkit.org/ and http://www.mixare.org/) I will update this post with later.

The software field changes so quickly even Wikipedia has trouble: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_augmented_reality_software

Alternatives

Other references

Book series in Digital Humanities and Digital Heritage

archaeology, Digital Humanities, Open Access, press, publication, virtual heritage, , , , , , ,

Digital Heritage/Archaeology

Digital Humanities

See also https://adho.org/publications which lists

Books and Book Series

NB Is UWM also a Digital (book series) publisher? http://dc.uwm.edu/arthist_mobilizingthepast/1/

CFP: GALA Conference Lisbon 5-7 Dec 2017

Conference

GALA conference 2017

The Games and Learning Alliance conference (GALA 2017) is an international conference dedicated to the science and application of serious games. This year, it will take place at Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon (Portugal) on December 5 -7.

GALA 2017 is organized by the Serious Games Society, building a scientific community at international level for shaping future research in the field. The goal is to share the state of the art of research and market, analysing the most significant trends and discussing visions on the future of serious games. The conference will also include tutorials and the annual Serious Games Awards. The proceedings will be published in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series and the best papers in a special issue of the International Journal of Serious Games, as the previous years.

Possible topics listed at: https://conf.seriousgamessociety.org/call-for-papers/

Important dates:

Papers (10 pages) submission deadline: July 10, 2017

Notification date for Papers: September 8, 2017

Camera Ready Papers and Registration Due: October 2, 2017

CFP DADA 2017 International Conference on Digital Architecture, Nanjing China: “Digital Culture”

Conference

2017 International Conference on Digital Technologies in Architectural Education and Research 9-10 September 2017 Nanjing China

Summary

The DADA 2017 International Conference on Digital Architecture organized by the Digital Architecture Design Association in China, and the 2017 International Conference on Digital Technologies in Architectural Education and Research organized by the Education Committee of Digital Technologies in Architecture of the National Committee for Architecture Disciplines in Higher Educational Institutions will be held from September 9 to 10, 2017 at Nanjing

University, Nanjing, China. The theme of the conference is “Digital Culture”. The whole event will include forums, exhibitions and workshops. Teachers and students, architects and industrial practitioners are welcome to attend.

Topics

  1. Research on digital architecture and CAAD
  2. Education of digital technologies in architecture
  3. Practice of digital architecture

Abstract Submission

The abstract should objectively, clearly, and concisely describe the research background, purpose, methodology, result and conclusion.

Format: Chinese (400-600 words) / English (300-400 words) Related images (1-2) Deadline: 25 April 2017

URL https://caad2017.nju.edu.cn/

Email: caad2017 OR fax 025-83595673

Contact Tong Ziyu tzy@nju.edu.cn

Address: Hankou Road 22, Nanjing, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Nanjing University 210093

Some links to Cultural Heritage Research Tools and Evaluation

Conference

http://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/digital-media/choosing-the-right-yardstick-what-research-tools-to-use-when-in-the-digital-development-process

And for those interested in Cultural Heritage evaluation

P Koutsabasis 2017, Empirical Evaluations of Interactive Systems in Cultural Heritage: A Review

http://www.igi-global.com/article/empirical-evaluations-of-interactive-systems-in-cultural-heritage/178596

or https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314013084_Empirical_Evaluations_of_Interactive_Systems_in_Cultural_Heritage_A_Review

Event: 3D applied to historical sciences

Conference

La 3D appliquée aux sciences historiques États des lieux, pratiques et outils pour l’acquisition, la modélisation et la présentation de modèles tridimensionnels (3D applied to historical sciences, State of the art, practices and tools for acquiring, modelling and presenting tri-dimensional models).

On the occasion of Prof.H. Maschner’s (USF CVAST, Tampa, USA) and Prof. M. Callieri’s (Visual-Computing Lab, CNR, Pisa, Italy) visits, the laboratories from the french CNRS ArScAn and Trajectoires, and the Université Paris 1 Pantheon- Sorbonne, wished to hold two days of study about 3D data, its practices and tools for acquisition, modelling and presentation of tri-dimensional models in the field of historical sciences.
Interventions will have a length of around 50min and will share a common structure:
– a short presentation of the team of research
– a long presentation of the projects, finished or still undergoing, with an emphasis on the scientific context and questions, the methodology, the technologies chosen, the solutions found and, last but not least, the difficulties encountered.
Based on these interventions, we will discuss the various practices and uses that can be done with these methodologies and the data which are produced by it.

Interventions will be done in French or in English.

URL: https://iscpif.fr/upcomingevents/journees-detude-sur-la-3d-appliquee-aux-sciences-historiques/

Date: 24 & 25 April 2017, Salle de conférence de l’ISC (Institute of Complex Systems) http://www.iscpif.fr/, Paris, France.

I have been asked to teleconference in, looks interesting!

3D Digital Heritage – Exploring Virtual Research Space for Art History

Conference

19-20th June, 2017, Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Humboldt Graduate School, Luisenstr 56, 10117 Berlin

URL: https://www.herder-institut.de/veranstaltungen-ausstellungen/fachtagungen/2017/3d-digital-heritage-exploring-virtual-research-space-for-art-history.html (English) or http://www.kunstgeschichte.hu-berlin.de/veranstaltungen/3d-digital-heritage-exploring-virtual-research-space-for-art-history/

On the 19th I have been invited to keynote along with Frédéric Kaplan:

19 June 17:15 Keynotes and discussion

  • Erik Champion (Curtin, Australia): A Scholarly Ecosystem for 3D Digital Heritage Simulations
  • Frédéric Kaplan (Lausanne, Switzerland): A 4D World: The Time Machine Flagship

then a day of 3D digital reconstruction talks, in English then in German.

#CFP Games For Change, New York 31 July – 2 August 2017

Conference

Calls due 24 March http://festival.gamesforchange.org/#submit

Early-bird pricing is available for a limited time. Discounts are available for students, educators, nonprofits, and independent game studios.

Explore the positive power of digital games and virtual technologies in three days of keynotes, panels, and workshops.

Explore groundbreaking new games across three tracks of programming

Back by popular demand, the G4C Festival offers three expertly curated tracks of panels, talks and workshops around emerging sectors in the impact games field.

1. Neurogaming & Health Exploring how games can improve health, fitness, cognitive skills, and mindfulness through interactive experiences and new technologies.

2. Civics & Social Impact Highlighting games that help players engage with contemporary issues on matters of social justice, human development, environment and responsible citizenship.

3. Games for Learning Summit-Sharing new projects and research that evidence the power of game-based learning to transform education in and out of school.

INTRODUCING:

VR for Change Summit

On August 2, join us to explore how virtual technologies offer radical new ways to create social impact.

Talk Ideas and Proposals (Deadline: March 24)

We invite you to submit ideas for talks, panels, demos, and workshops for the 2017 Festival. Session topics should fall within the three tracks of Festival programming or the VR for Change Summit.

Games for Change Awards (Deadline: March 24)

Each year, we celebrate the year’s best impact games with the G4C Awards. If you have launched or will launch a game between January 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017, we encourage you to apply! Categories include: Most Significant Impact, Most Innovative, Best Game Play, Best Learning Game, and Game of the Year.

#CFP: VSMM2017 30/10-2/11/2017, Dublin

Conference

We are glad to announce that the 23rd Int’l Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia will be held October 30th – November 2nd 2017 in Ireland at University College Dublin, with Special Workshops and Cultural Tours on November 3rd – 5th in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

For over 2 decades, VSMM has been the premier world forum for cross-disciplinary research on multimedia, VR, AR, 3D acquisition, visualization and interaction technologies, and their myriad applications. Known for its broad multidisciplinary approach, VSMM has become a unique bridge between technology and the arts, history, science and engineering.

Held annually since 1995, VSMM2017 will mark the 23rd international gathering of the VSMM Society. VSMM’s Proceedings are available in IEEE’s digital library, Xplore.

IMPORTANT DATES

1 Mar 2017 Call for Papers, Posters, & Workshops

Fri 2 Jun 2017 Deadline for Abstracts/Workshop Proposals

Fri 28 Jul 2017 Notification of Acceptance to Authors/Presenters

Fri 1 Sep 2017 Registration Opens

Mon 15 Sep 2017 Camera-ready Papers Due

Fri 13 Oct 2017 Registration Closes

Tue 31 Oct VSMM2017 Launches in Dublin

3 – 5 Nov Workshops & Cultural Tours, Belfast

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/40e5ea0b2a965056983e93436/files/710ba1f0-5d33-4531-8752-940ac5fd6c89/VSMM2017_CfP.pdf

The Rickman Effect in VR

virtual heritage, Virtual Reality, ,

I have been in an interesting twitter conversation on the Swayze effect in Virtual Reality (see https://www.oculus.com/story-studio/blog/the-swayze-effect/)

Very thought-provoking article and it is a real problem, engagement in VR, but Swayze as ghost actually cares, the VR audience doesn’t..

So I suggest to redefine the Swayze Effect: where one wants to interact in VR but cannot, and to use the term Rickman Effect where one cannot or can only slightly interact but one has no great desire to. Alan Rickman’s character in the movie Truly Madly Deeply is a ghost who returns for his partner, but permanently feels cold and spends most of his time on the sofa aimlessly watching TV. See this youtube clip of Alan Rickman in the movie for more of a visual explanation.