looks like I am teaching again, at very, very short notice.
Will be on the lookout for interesting digital humanities and GLAM datasets that are fairly robust, not too big or small, and would make for interesting visualisation data sets.
Will post some links here when I compile them later this week.
I was intending to propose the following book proposal to a major publisher. I think, with recent events, I will wait until the end of 2020 before I revisit the project/proposal, but any feedback would be useful (too simplistic, not relevant, missing important key ideas etc)..
Below is an abridged extract:
At various conferences over the years, in game studies, virtual worlds, or philosophy of place, I am continually reminded how easily philosophy has been haphazardly inserted into presentations by game, VR, and media studies scholars. But I have also been surprised at the low level of engagement in VR concepts (in terms of computer science and user experience design) by philosophers.
For example, the famous philosopher Hubert Dreyfus conflated the Internet with the World Wide Web in his book On the Internet. The public may not see a distinction between an international organization of servers, and the software that links the webpages that runs on these servers but it is a crucial distinction to make when you are building and deploying VR. However, Professor Dreyfus also made a philosophical and historical error: using Kierkegaard’s and Nietzsche’s criticisms of the 19th century press to extrapolate that they would have hated the Internet (Dreyfus probably meant webpages, not the Internet).
The Internet is now merging, in fits and starts, with VR. There are massive gaps between the popular concept of VR, the development of VR “in the trenches” and the contextual soundness of the philosophers who talk to the public about VR. And very little literature bridging these communities at an accessible and useful level for university students.
This book aims to clarify conflicting interpretations of virtual reality (VR) in a way that would allow beginning scholars to quickly find key philosophers or methods and apply them appropriately to conceptual problems in the development and evaluation of VR projects. It is not a manual to design VR environments, nor a treatise on philosophy to philosophers, but a guide to explaining how even traditional philosophical questions can be re-examined using current and future VR technologies.
The Phenomenology of Real and Virtual Places
In preprint, not proofed and not correctly paginated version, is available.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of book chapters published by Routledge in Phenomenology of Real and Virtual Places, in 2018, the proofed, official version is available for purchase online: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315106267 OR https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315106267
Or you can download the chapters from this link: The Phenomenology of Real and Virtual Places
At the end of August 2020 my contract with Curtin University will expire, with the pandemic and budget issues, unless I take up a little sessional teaching (and possibly adjunct research as CI on existing Australian Research Council grants) I will sever connection with Curtin. Faculty policy has made it near impossible to take up management or other roles here by contract researchers.
I have a short-term invited and funded visiting scientist (professor) position at the University of Padova (Padua) Italy, via host Professor Andrea Giordano, but due to current Australian border closure, this may have to be online or postponed.
I have two books to edit or submit and some journal articles and 4 PhD students to transfer (plus some very promising research grant applications), but otherwise will be seeking a more robust appointment. Sadly, with the Australian government annoucements on the funding of humanities degrees, this may have to be overseas.
Thanks to all those helpful colleagues I have met while here over the last seven years. I’d also like to thank University of Western Australia and Australian National University for offering me the following:
I am now an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Social Sciences, FABLE, University of Western Australia and can be an associate supervisor for one of these PhD scholarships:
http://www.scholarships.uwa.edu.au/search?sc_view=1&id=7561&sub=1
Dean’s Excellence in FABLE PhD Scholarships
The Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education (FABLE) is offering a limited number of prestigious postgraduate research scholarships to academically outstanding international and domestic students wishing to undertake a research doctorate degree (PhD) in FABLE.
All Dean’s Excellence in FABLE PhD Scholars will receive a scholarship package which includes: a living allowance of $33,000 per annum; overseas student single health cover (for international students) and tuition fees.
Available in the International Scholarships Round for commencement in 2021.
Payment type: Tuition Fee Scholarship, Fortnightly Stipend and Health Insurance
Value: $33000
Value unit: Per annum
Basis of award: Academic Achievement
Eligibility: To be considered for the Dean’s Excellence in FABLE PhD Scholarships, applicants must satisfy the following criteria:
1. International applicants must meet the eligibility requirements for an International ResearchTraining Program Scholarship
2. Domestic applicants must meet the eligibility requirements for a Domestic Research Training Program Scholarship
Please note that these scholarships are available to commencing PhD students only. Current PhD students are not eligible to apply.
Nationality: Australian Citizen, Australian Permanent Resident, New Zealand Citizen, Australian Humanitarian Visa, International
Study area: Humanities, Law, Music, Social and Cultural Studies, Accounting, Economics, Education (Early Childhood), Education (Primary), Education (Secondary), Finance, Management, Marketing, Arts, Architecture Landscape and Visual Arts
Commencement date: 11/01/2021
Applications open: 01/07/2020
Applications close: 31/08/2020
Tenable At: University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia
I mentioned this before (it went through 3 years of reviews) but the (updated) Rethinking Virtual Places book (97,000 words, approx 30 images) will be published by Indiana University Press in The Spatial Humanities series. Probably in 2021.
| 1-A Potted History of Virtual Reality |
| 2-Dead, Dying, Failed Worlds |
| 3-Architecture: Places Without People |
| 4-Theories of Place & Cyberspace |
| 5-Rats & Goosebumps-Mind, Body & Embodiment |
| 6-Games are not Interactive Places |
| 7-Do Serious Gamers Learn From Place? |
| 8-Cultural Places |
| 9-Evaluating Sense of Place, Virtual Places & Virtual Worlds |
| 10-Place-Making Interfaces & Platforms |
| 11-Conclusion |
I’ve been thinking of asking historians, art historians and archaeologists, if they would like to contribute to a new edited book, primarily (or only) on Assassin’s Creed. How do they or could they use it for teaching and research. What new features would they love to see? Could we get some of the professional historians who advised on the series to write their thoughts, advice, and experiences? Perhaps even one of the game designers who worked on the series?
What would be a good title?
References
Thanks for the feedback on
Champion, E. (Ed.) (2019). The Phenomenology of Real and Virtual Places. London, UK: Routledge.
I’ve found only one text that discusses the interconnection of communication and virtual reality exclusively – Biocca and Levy’s edited collection, Communication in the Age of Virtual Reality. Originally published in 1995, one might think that the text contains outdated information, which may be true for some of the chapters. However, many of the text’s chapters are highly relevant and applicable to present research in the field. I often find citations to chapters of the text (particularly those authored by Biocca) in articles published in Frontiers.
Biocca and Levy’s collection seems to have a specific focus on individual user experience within a virtual environment(s), describing the notion of presence, assemblages for sensorimotor augmentation, and interfaces design and experience. The introduction of the text begins with a bold claim: “Virtual reality is not a technology; it is a destination.” (4). Each chapter of the text…
View original post 1,520 more words
I was asked on ABC radio today if there is an online directory of all the great VR projects (travel, tourism etc). Either that or a way for searching for VR projects by specific formats, directly.
I don’t know of any but there should be-would make a great archival research project as well (reason: challenging!). Should I talk to Google?
The Digital Humanities in the Nordic Countries 2020 conference was postponed but papers published online:
Arthur, Paul Longley, Erik Champion, Hugh Craig, Ning Gu, Mark Harvey, Victoria Haskins, Andrew May, Bill Pascoe, Alana Piper, Lyndall Ryan, Rosalind Smith, and Deb Verhoeven. “Time-Layered Cultural Map of Australia.” Paper presented at the Digital Humanities in the Nordic Countries (DHN2020) Conference, Riga, Latvia, 2020, URL: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2612/short2.pdf
CDHRE-ANU Centre for Digital Humanities Research today offered me a 5 year honorary professorship. I’d just like to thank them for their support (and thanks to my referees). It is a formal process but not at all painful.
PS No I am not authorised to speak on behalf of ANU. But I get library membership and maybe office space when I visit (The Australian National University in Canberra is a mere 3,718 km from Perth by car). I have been to CDHR and they are great people with verve, it will be a pleasure to collaborate and to promote CDHR.
Oh and Canberra has platypuses in Lake Burley Griffin. Seriously, I think I saw some on my last trip. Maybe it was a puggle.
Dr Hafizur Rahaman and I will have an article on virtual /digital 3D heritage repositories published/in press at open-access journal Virtual Archaeology Review – they have interesting articles in press I recommend the journal.
The article is called Survey of 3D Digital Heritage Repositories and Platforms, update: an early version is online:
Champion, E., & Rahaman, H. (2020). Survey of 3D Digital Heritage Repositories and Platforms. The Virtual Archaeology Review (VAR), 11(23). https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2020.13226
Despite the increasing number of three-dimensional (3D) model portals and online repositories catering for digital heritage scholars, students and interested members of the general public, there are very few recent academic publications that offer a critical analysis when reviewing the relative potential of these portals and online repositories. Solid reviews of the features and functions they offer are insufficient; there is also a lack of explanations as to how these assets and their related functionality can further the digital heritage (and virtual heritage) field, and help in the preservation, maintenance, and promotion of real-world 3D heritage sites and assets. What features do they offer? How could their feature list better cater for the needs of the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) sector?
This article’s priority is to examine the useful features of 8 institutional and 11 commercial repositories designed specifically to host 3D digital models. The available features of their associated 3D viewers, where applicable, are also analysed, connecting recommendations for future-proofing with the need to address current gaps and weaknesses in the scholarly field of 3D digital heritage. Many projects do not address the requirements stipulated by charters, such as access, reusability, and preservation. The lack of preservation strategies and examples highlights the oxymoronic nature of virtual heritage (oxymoronic in the sense that the virtual heritage projects themselves are seldom preserved). To study these concerns, six criteria for gauging the usefulness of the 3D repositories to host 3D digital models and related digital assets are suggested. The authors also provide 13 features that would be useful additions for their 3D viewers.
Hello, with eight authors for eight chapters I am proposing a concise guide on virtual heritage to publishers. I believe I have been allowed UNESCO chair/Curtin funding to pay publishing open access fees (so the book can be free as online PDFs) and hopefully reasonably priced to purchase.
I believer we now have two recommendations for external reviewers but we still need to get all author chapter abstracts ready and the proposal to the publisher for approval. Each chapter will be a taut 3500 words with 1-3 images.
Given the book is aimed at graduate or senior undergraduate students who may not be familiar with an overview or specific topics of virtual heritage, what title is best?
Virtual Heritage in Focus?
Virtual Heritage: A Concise Guide?
Also, are we missing an important chapter/theme subject?
Foreword: Classrooms and Projects
Preamble
Glossary
Below are the 3 Australian Research Council grants I am currently a Chief Investigator on. The information is publicly available on the ARC website.
Time-layered cultural map of Australia. The Time-layered cultural map (TLCMap) of Australia is an online research platform that will deliver researcher driven national-scale infrastructure for the humanities, focused on mapping, time series, and data integration. The TLCMap will expand the use of Australian cultural and historical data for research through sharply defined and powerful discovery mechanisms, enabling researchers to visualise hidden geographic and historical patterns and trends, and to build online resources which present to a wider public the rich layers of cultural data in Australian locations. TLCMap is not a singular project or software application with a defined research outcome, but infrastructure linking geo-spatial maps of Australian cultural and historical information, adapted to time series and will be a significant contribution to humanities research in Australia. For researchers, it will transform access to data and to visualisation tools and open new perspectives on Australian culture and history. For the public, it will enable increased accessibility to historical and cultural data through visualisations made available online and in print.
The Digitisation Centre of Western Australia (Phase 1). All five Western Australian Universities, the WA State Library and the WA Museum will collaborate to establish a world-class archival quality Digitisation Centre. There is no existing facility of this kind in WA. During this 12 month project all digitisation equipment will be acquired, installed and used to digitise a diverse range of cultural objects so as to ensure its ability to address the full spectrum of research needs. The Digitisation Centre will form a major piece of national research infrastructure with a prominent international profile and significance. The Centre will have the capacity to digitise all significant Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) research collections held by participating institutions within a decade.
Photogrammetric Reconstruction for Underwater Virtual Heritage Experiences. This project aims to enable significant underwater cultural heritage sites such as shipwrecks to be recreated in immersive underwater virtual heritage experiences. Photogrammetric 3D reconstruction techniques will be used to generate complex digital 3D models of shipwreck sites from hundreds of thousands of underwater images. This will allow vivid experiences to be created which explain the stories of these wrecks. The project will conduct audience engagement studies to recommend the most appropriate methods to implement underwater virtual heritage experiences for Australian audiences. The sites which will be used as test datasets are some of the most significant Australian shipwreck sites, including HMAS Sydney (II) and HMAS AE1.
Mr Ikrom Nishanbaev has won best paper award!
A Cloud Architecture for Processing and Visualization of 3D Geo-located Cultural Heritage Models (https://doi.org/10.5220/0009341500510061) (won the best student paper award at 6th International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management 2020 – http://www.gistam.org/PreviousAwards.aspx)
He is supervised by myself and Dr David McMeekin, Curtin University. He joins Mafkereseb Bekele, our other PhD student, who won a young CAADRIA award last year. Ikrom is featured in the current banner for this website, explaining mixed reality and 3D walkable mixed reality maps (actually Mafi’s projects).
Ikrom’s research is more to do with the semantic web, linked open data, GIS and 3D models. You can see his PhD publications below:
I just received an article submission back with major revisions required. For a computing related journal. I actually appreciated the comments but that is not the point of the post. What struck me was a comment that my article was a bit philosophical / theoretical for an applied computing-related journal.
Deciding what is or should be computational is actually a very deep decision.
I wonder how many of the people who work with computers (especially virtual reality) have read this article, written a mere 75 years ago..
“Consider a future device … in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.“
-”Vannevar Bush, July 1945 Issue, The Atlantic
Featured image is from https://www.defense.gov/observe/photo-gallery/igphoto/2001104527/
According to Routledge’s online article “Publishing Open Access Books: Chapters” I am allowed to archive a preprint copy on my own site or the site of my institute (but not the published version). Please remember there may be slight variations to the published chapter. My thanks to Associate Professor Anna Foka, (Humlab and Uppsala University) for being such a wonderful co-author and collaborator.
To cite the article (in APA format):
Champion, E., & Foka, A. (2020). Art History, Heritage Games, and Virtual Reality. In K. J. Brown (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Digital Humanities and Art History, (pp. 238-253). Oxford, UK: Routledge.
DOI is: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429505188
Preprint chapter:
The four years is not up yet but UNESCO asks for a report on the last day of May (the UNESCO Chair of Cultural Visualisation and Heritage finishes 31 August).
These figures may change tomorrow slightly but so far, as summary:
Pending:
There are all sorts of interesting VR suits and gloves (or simpler assistive devices), olfactory and haptic-based devices (and even location-based audio augmented reality using headphones) now promising all sorts of sensations with potential links to tourism but also in particular to cultural heritage tourism (virtual heritage).
I’d be very happy to test out some of these extra experiential possibilities with historical and heritage-focused contexts.
It is perhaps a little ironic that a small but important goal for consumer-level VR is not handsfree control but hands-included VR (oculus) or by using more adept controllers (valve index).
Ear Zow Digital