Tag Archives: history

Recent news and update

I am working on a new grant, on a 22+ year old idea that was never implemented!

And I have mentioned the grants below, if not the chapters published this month, but just as a roundup (and I have to do this for my current university) here is a summary.

2024      ARC Discovery DP250104625: Champion, E., Kotarba, A., Greenop, K., & Gibbs, M. (2025). A Gamified 3D Cultural Heritage Platform for Archaeology and Architecture. Australia. $520,686. 3 years.

  • A Gamified 3D Cultural Heritage Platform for Archaeology and Architecture. Few research infrastructures support engaging and useful 3D heritage content for both archaeology and architecture. A user-focused, experiential immersive environment with AI content creation will be developed and evaluated. Audience and international expert feedback will create a flexible feature list. Workshops with museums and galleries will test the prototype’s usefulness for communication and preservation. The system will allow groups to explore 3D models in conjectural and imaginative contexts and pose counterfactual arguments. The project will also consider how to convey levels of authenticity and uncertainty. Outputs will be a website with open-source tools and data, publications, a conference and a demonstration as an exhibition.
  • National Interest Test Statement:Examples of 3D heritage content showcasing archaeology and architecture are rare, limiting opportunities for the Australian public to engage with culture and history. To address this gap, the project will develop a gamified 3D cultural heritage platform to make archaeological and architectural heritage accessible and interactive. Technologies including artificial intelligence and 3D interactive modelling will create immersive, educational experiences that engage the public with historical narratives. This platform will deliver multiple benefits. Economically, the cultural tourism sector will be enhanced by enriching visitor engagement with innovative storytelling and exhibition tools. Socially, Australia’s national identity and civic pride will be strengthened by making cultural heritage more accessible and engaging. Environmentally, the digitalisation approach will protect archaeological sites and built heritage, preserving these critical and non-renewable assets for future generations. The project will collaborate with cultural and educational institutions to maximise outcomes beyond academia, promoting the platform’s use in public education programs and exhibitions. Targeted workshops and a website with open-source tools will facilitate its adoption, contributing significantly to national and cultural discourse. Aligning with broader national interests, this project positions the platform as a pioneer in digital cultural preservation and educational innovation.

2024      ARC LIEF Grant LE250100051: “The Australian Emulation Network Phase 2 – Extending the Reach.” Awarded to Prof Melanie Swalwell; Prof Sarah Teasley; Dr Helen Stuckey; Dr Stephanie Harkin; Prof Sean Cubitt; Dr Kirsten Day; A/Prof Peter Raisbeck; A/Prof Erik Champion; Prof Simon Biggs; Dr Margaret Borschke; A/Prof Elizabeth Tait; Dr Caroline Wilson-Barnao; Dr Kim Machan; Dr Ashley Robertson; Mr Adam Bell. $544,947. 2 years.

  • The Australian Emulation Network Phase 2 – Extending the Reach. This project aims to extend the reach of the Australian Emulation Network, conserving born digital artefacts and making them accessible for research purposes. High value collections from university archives and the GLAM sector requiring legacy computer environments will be targeted. The project expects to generate new knowledge across media arts, design, and architecture. Expected outcomes include stabilising and providing researchers with emulated access to born digital cultural artefacts, sharing legacy computer environments across the network, and expanding the Australian software preservation Community of Practice, building skills in preserving and emulating digital cultural artefacts across an expanded set of domains and institutions.
  • National Interest Test Statement:The project aims to extend national emulation infrastructure, more than doubling the size of the existing Australian Emulation Network by adding 22 new institutional nodes. This addresses the national challenge of preserving and accessing Australia’s born digital heritage. Born digital heritage faces several forms of obsolescence. Consequently, much born digital material has not been collected, is inaccessible because of its reliance on legacy computing environments, and at risk of loss. The project will provide the tools and skillsets required so that professionals in the university and Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museum (GLAM) sectors have confidence in collecting, preserving and emulating complex digital artefacts. Securing digital heritage materials and making these available to the researchers who need access to them promises to deliver new knowledge in the inter-related fields of digital art, design, and creative practice, delivering research with social and cultural benefits. Making emulation infrastructure available to more national and state institutions will improve access to digital collections in keeping with the national cultural policy, and ensure that the benefits extend well beyond academia to the wider public. This investment will ensure a sustainable, resilient network that can address the needs of diverse collections across the nation, including in regional areas.

BOOK CHAPTERS

Champion, E. (2024). Caught Between a Rock and a Ludic Place: Geography for Non-geographers via Games. In: Morawski, M., Wolff-Seidel, S. (eds) Gaming and Geography. Key Challenges in Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42260-7_3

Champion, E. (2025: in press). On his roles as Professor and Research Fellow. In V. Hui, R. Scavnicky, & T. Estrina (Eds.), Architecture and Videogames: Intersecting Worlds. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Architecture-and-Videogames-Intersecting-Worlds/Hui-Scavnicky-Estrina/p/book/9781032528854  

Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums [GLAM]-focussed Games and Gamification

New book chapter out! Sorry, not open access.

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.

Assassin’s Creed in the Classroom

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.

https://degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783111250724/html

Erik Champion and Juan Hiriart
Introduction: History’s Playground or a Stab in the Dark?

Marc-André Éthier and David Lefrançois
Chapter 1: Historical Video Games and Teaching Practices

Chu Xu, Robin Sharma and Adam K. Dubé
Chapter 2: Discovery Tour Curriculum Guides to Improve Teachers’ Adoption of Serious Gaming

Ylva Grufstedt and Robert Houghton
Chapter 3: Christian Vikings Storming Templar Castles: Anachronism as a Teaching Tool

Julien A. Bazile
Chapter 4: Ludoforming the Past: Mediation of Play and Mediation of History through Videogame Design

Nathan Looije
Chapter 5: Exploring History through Depictions of Historical Characters in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Juan Hiriart
Chapter 6: Empathy and Historical Learning in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Discovery Tour

Kevin Péloquin and Marc-André Éthier
Chapter 7: The Discovery Tour as a Mediated Tool for Teaching and Learning History

Angela Schwarz
Chapter 8: Discovering the Past as a Virtual Foreign Country: Assassin’s Creed as Historical Tourism

Hamish Cameron
Chapter 9: Classical Creations in a Modern Medium: Using Story Creator Mode in a University Assignment

Kira Jones
Chapter 10: Assassin’s Creed @ The Carlos: Merging Games and Gallery in the Museum

Manuel Sánchez García and Rafael de Lacour
Chapter 11: From the Sketchbook to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: An Experiment in Architectural Education

Ear Zow Digital
Chapter 12: Assassin’s Creed As Immersive and Interactive Architectural History

Assassin’s Creed in the Classroom: History’s Playground or A Stab in the Dark?

The book contract is signed, the chapter authors are completing their chapters, and we have a book cover image from Ubisoft (not this one, this is a screenshot from AC Origins Discovery Tour), I just need to update my own chapter and references.

Assassin’s Creed in the Classroom: History’s Playground or A Stab in the Dark?

Editors: Erik Champion, Juan Hiriart

Publisher: De Gruyter, Video Games and the Humanities series

Section 1: History Through Play

  • Historical Video Games and Teaching Practices,  Marc-André Éthier, David Lefrancois
  • Discovery Tour Curriculum Guides To Improve Teachers’ Adoption of Serious Gaming, Chu Xu, Robin Sharma, Adam K. Dubé
  • Christian Vikings storming Templar Castles: Anachronism as a Teaching Tool, Ylva Grufstedt, Robert Houghton
  • Ludoforming The Past: Mediation Of Play And Mediation Of History Through Videogame Design, Julien Bazil

Section 2: Cultural History, Tours And Tourism

  • Studying Greek Culture Through Historical Characters In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Nathan Looije
  • Empathy and Historical Learning in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Discovery Tour, Juan Hiriart
  • Ubisoft’s Ancient Greece Discovery Tour as a Pedagogical Tool for a School Trip, Kevin Péloquin, Marc-André Éthier
  • Discovering The Past As A Virtual Foreign Country: Assassin’s Creed As Historical Tourism, Angela Schwarz

Section 3: Narration, Creation, and Exhibition

  • Classical Creations in a Modern Medium: Using Story Creator Mode in a University Assignment, Hamish Cameron
  • Assassin’s Creed @ the Carlos: Merging Videogames and Education in the Gallery, Kira Jones
  • From the Sketchbook to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: An Experiment in Architectural Education, Manuel Sanchez Garcia,  Rafael de Lacour
  • Assassin’s Creed As Immersive and Interactive Architectural History, Erik Champion

Book chapter to write for 2021

With Dr Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller and Dr Katrina Grant (both at ANU), I have decided to write a chapter on serious games for medieval(!) purposes for an edited book by Dr Robert Houghton (publisher still to be confirmed) on medieval games.. but this is not due until March 2021. Still, does this sound potentially interesting?

Chapter 12 by Erik Champion, Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller, and Katrina Grant explores the ways in which Skyrim can be used and modified by undergraduate and postgraduate students to explain, through play, three related aspects of medieval society: the distinctive, related and unique characteristics of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, the art, craft and preservation of calligraphy, literature, inscription and lore; and the importance of the medieval landscape in art history.

 

 

Free workshop: Linked Open Data Workshop: from Books to HoloLens

This workshop, an introduction to Linked Open Data, will have two presenters:

1 Enriching Historical Narratives with Structured Data 2-4PM

Historians create linked open data all the time, they just don’t know it. Much of their research is focused on documenting the relationships between people, places, events, and sources. But these rich data structures are squeezed out of publications. The LODBooks project is an attempt to put the data back into historical narratives.

Presented by Associate Professor Tim Sherratt, University of Canberra.

2 Linked Open Data on the HoloLens 4-5PM

Bring your own geolocational data or use the data provided to see how geodata can be used in the Microsoft HoloLens.

Presented by PhD candidate, Mafkereseb Bekele, Curtin University.

Complimentary tea and coffee will be provided during the workshop, thanks to the generous support of Curtin University Library. Associate Professor Tim Sherratt is here thanks to the generous support of a Pelagios working group grant that is funding the 27 July Symposium “Landscape Data Art & Models as Linked Open Data” in the HIVE.

Eventbrite URL here.

Digra 2017 Workshop: Playtesting

This workshop proposal has only been provisionally accepted for Digra2017 international games conference in Melbourne Australia, on 3 July 2017, we need to convince the organisers on how it will run.

What do you suggest? It should be more generic, more hands on? More focused or more open and free-ranging? We’d love our CAA2017 participants to attend, but we’d also be more than happy if those who can’t attend Georgia Atlanta in March can attend this start of July, in Melbourne Australia (not Melbourne Florida!)

Playtesting, Prototyping & Pitching History & Heritage Games

This half-day workshop brings together history and heritage experts, interested game designers, and designers of game prototyping tools. The approach is to playtest each idea presented and provide an avenue for feedback by audience, organisers, and other presenters. It will follow on from a game mechanics workshop run at CAA2017 in Atlanta in March but will aim to extend and polish game prototypes.

Keywords

Playtesting, pitching, prototyping, archaeology, heritage, history, archaeogaming, serious games.

INTRODUCTION

In March 2017 in Georgia Atlanta for the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (http://caaconference.org/) conference, the two workshop organizers will run a session (Mechanics, Mods and Mashups: Games of the Past for the Future Designed by Archaeologists) on the initial topic, how to playtest pitch and present archaeology games. At DiGRA, with some of the initial presenters but also with new presenters, we will focus on how to pitch and prototype to and with game developers and potential clients, as well as how to perform game scenarios to reach new potential audiences and markets. The general field of research has become known as archaeogaming (Reinhard 2013), which “can include, but is in no means limited to: the physical excavation of video-game hardware, the use of archaeological methods within game worlds, the creation of video-games for or about archaeological practices and outcomes or the critical study of how archaeology is represented in video-games.(Wikipedia contributors 2016). There may be specific issues that distinguish heritage (Champion 2015) and history (Chapman 2016) games but there are also common themes, authenticity, accuracy, imagination and how interaction helps learning.

As it is for DiGRA, we are also interested in theoretical papers that examine and suggest answers for issues in converting history, heritage and general archaeology projects into potential games.

Relation to DiGRA themes: Game cultures; games and other cultural forms; communication in game worlds; games criticism; gaming in non-leisure settings; game studies in other domains; hybrid and non-digital games; history of games; game design.

The major objectives and expected outcomes of the workshop

Improved prototypes, enhanced critical discussion and feedback of prototypes, and potential open access book.

Justification for the workshop informed by current trends and research

Despite the increasing range of courses (Schreiber 2009), books (Fullerton 2014) and presentations (Lewis-Evans 2012) on game design prototyping, there is still a paucity of available game design prototype tools (Manker 2012) (Neil 2016, 2015) and a lack of venues for archaeogaming developers and related experts to present, pitch, playtest and perform their game prototypes (Ardito, Desolda, and Lanzilotti 2013, Unver and Taylor 2012, Ardito et al. 2009).

The format and activities planned for the workshop

Presentation and playtesting of games, feedback from audience and one of the other presenters.

Potential tools: Gameplay cards, game prototyping tools, scenes or videos from a 3D editor or game editor (Unity, Unreal, Blender), board games as prototypes, playing cards, physical artifacts that are role-played by the presenter, illustrations, slideshows, game editors (like the SIMS: https://www.thesims.com/en_GB) used to make films (Machinima), roleplaying videos, flowcharts, interactive fiction (like https://twinery.org/). We will provide a fuller list of tools and examples to potential attendees before the workshop.

The duration (half- or full-day) of the workshop

Half-day for 6 presenters.

The anticipated number of participants

Participants: 26 maximum (ideally) where 6 present. We require half an hour a presenter so three hours for 6 presenters, 6 hours a whole day if we want to go to 12 presenters. Ideally the non-presenting audience is not too large, preferably up to 20.

How participants will be recruited and selected

Via an online website we will create, and mailing to digital archaeology and heritage and serious games groups.

Publication plans arising from the workshop activities

We will approach a creative publisher (Liquid Books, University of Michigan Press or other) to provide an online or printable output of the demonstrations and the audience feedback.

Citations and References

Ardito, Carmelo, Paolo Buono, Maria Francesca Costabile, Rosa Lanzilotti, and Antonio Piccinno. 2009. “Enabling Interactive Exploration of Cultural Heritage: An Experience of Designing Systems for Mobile Devices.” Knowledge, Technology & Policy 22 (1):79-86. doi: 10.1007/s12130-009-9079-7.

Ardito, Carmelo, Giuseppe Desolda, and Rosa Lanzilotti. 2013. “Playing on large displays to foster children’s interest in archaeology.” DMS.

Champion, E. 2015. Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage.

Chapman, A. 2016. Digital Games as History: How Videogames Represent the Past and Offer Access to Historical Practice.

Fullerton, Tracy. 2014. Game design workshop: a playcentric approach to creating innovative games: CRC press.

Lewis-Evans, Ben. 2012. “Introduction to Game Prototyping & research.” Slideshare, Last Modified 16 December 2012, accessed 24 January. http://www.slideshare.net/Gortag/game-prototyping-and-research.

Manker, Jon. 2012. “Designscape–A suggested game design prototyping process tool.” Eludamos. Journal for computer game culture 6 (1):85-98.

Neil, Katharine. 2015. “Game Design Tools: Can They Improve Game Design Practice?” PhD PhD, Signal and Image processing. Conservatoire national des arts et metiers, CNAM.

Neil, Katharine. 2016. How we design games now and why. Gamasutra. Accessed 24 January 2017.

Reinhard, A. 2013. “What is Archaeogaming?” archaeogaming, 24 January. https://archaeogaming.com/2013/06/09/what-is-archaeogaming/.

Schreiber, Ian. 2009. ““I just found this blog, what do I do?”.” Game Design Concepts – An experiment in game design and teaching, 9 September 2009. https://gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/level-2-game-design-iteration-and-rapid-prototyping/.

Unver, Ertu, and Andrew Taylor. 2012. “Virtual Stonehenge Reconstruction.” In Progress in Cultural Heritage Preservation: 4th International Conference, EuroMed 2012, Limassol, Cyprus, October 29 – November 3, 2012. Proceedings, edited by Marinos Ioannides, Dieter Fritsch, Johanna Leissner, Rob Davies, Fabio Remondino and Rossella Caffo, 449-460. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Wikipedia contributors. 2016. “Archaeogaming.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 24 January. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archaeogaming&oldid=729472193.

reviews of Critical Gaming book before it is even published

It was a very nice surprise to discover the 3 reviews on Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage at
http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781472422910
I tried for a more conversational style that sprang from simple ideas as starting points so I was very happy to hear from people that it  has helped them in their projects and grant applications-even if only as a primer.
I am indebted to the reviewers!
-Erik

Reviews: ‘If anyone doubts that games, gamification, and play do not provide a serious and essential path to creativity and knowledge-production about the past, then Erik Champion’s book will surely change their minds. The book is a must for teachers, historians, archaeologists, and museum and cultural heritage professionals interested in critically using games and virtual reality as tools for teaching and research.’
Ruth Tringham, University of California, Berkeley, USA

‘Champion’s newest work represents a treasure trove of ideas for both scholars and practitioners in the field of digital heritage. Digital media designers will find a plethora of design ideas while researchers will encounter as many useful evaluation suggestions, both with the goal of creating virtual environments that convey a sense of cultural presence and facilitate cultural learning.’
Natalie Underberg-Goode, University of Central Florida, USA

‘By emphasizing the new cultural role of serious games, game-based learning, and virtual heritage in making scholarly arguments, this book demonstrates the relevance of visualization, interaction and game design in a contemporary humanities discourse. It will be of great use to scholars and educators who want to include new digital methods in their research and courses while it will provide indispensable digital literacy, references, and case studies to 21st century students in humanities and heritage-related fields.’
Nicola Lercari, University of California, Merced, USA

Games & Culture November 2011; 6 (6) Special Issue on History and Heritage in Games and Virtual Worlds

URL: http://gac.sagepub.com/content/6/6.author-index
Guest editors: Erik Champion and Jefferey Jacobson

  • Alison Gazzard and Alan Peacock, Repetition and Ritual Logic in Video Games
    Games and Culture November 2011 6: 499-512, doi:10.1177/1555412011431359
  • Shannon Kennedy-Clark and Kate Thompson, What Do Students Learn When Collaboratively Using A Computer Game in the Study of Historical Disease Epidemics, and Why?
    Games and Culture November 2011 6: 513-537, first published on December 7, 2011 doi:10.1177/1555412011431361
  • Lori C. Walters,Darin E. Hughes, and Charles E. Hughes,Interconnections: Revisiting the Future
    Games and Culture November 2011 6: 538-559, doi:10.1177/1555412011431360

There is hopefully an editorial / introduction (by Dr Jeffrey Jacobson, Director of http://publicVR.org, and myself) in the November 2011 6(6) issue.
And Jeffrey’s name should have appeared first, sorry Jeffrey!

CFP: History and heritage in games and virtual worlds: Special Issue of Games and Culture

Title: History and heritage in games and virtual worlds: Special Issue of Games and Culture (SAGE).

The virtual worlds of modern games provide a unique way for us to interact with our memories, interpretations, beliefs, and traditions. This can be the digital simulation and interpretation cultural heritage in the real world, or the equally real social legacies of online communities. We invite you to tackle the complex issues of making these histories come alive in this special issue of Games and Culture.

Submissions can include (but are not limited to):
• Critiques of games and online worlds that involve historical situations or heritage sites.
• Guidelines and arguments as to the design and experience of games and virtual worlds for history and heritage
• Interviews (both physical-world and in-world) with designers of the above games and virtual worlds.
• Critiques or evaluations of sandbox games and virtual environments regarding history and heritage.
• Reports on accidental or planned historical or cultural events, artifacts and rituals that take place in games and virtual worlds.
• Explorations on how to best utilize the unique interactive, technical and psychological aspects of games and virtual worlds for the purpose of historical or heritage-based learning.

This special issue of Games and Culture has two overarching goals:

• To provide case studies involving the design, use and evaluation of history and heritage-based games and virtual worlds.
• To outline the key theoretical debates pertaining to the issues raised by the design, use and evaluation of these games and virtual worlds.
Authors are encouraged to include a critical perspective, including discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of their own methods.

EDITORS
Erik Champion and Jeffrey Jacobson

SUBMISSION
A one-page abstract describing the scope of your manuscript should be sent to invirtualworlds@gmail.com by September 10, 2010. Please include proposed topic, an overview of chosen methods and tools, and what games or virtual worlds you will explore in your manuscript.

Abstracts accepted for this special issue will be asked to submit manuscripts electronically to Games and Culture at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/games by January 7, 2010. Submissions must be Microsoft Word or Word Perfect file format, conform to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Sixth Edition) style guidelines, and indicate in the cover letter that you wish to be considered for this special issue. Manuscripts may not exceed 9000 words, one or two images may be included.

KEY DATES
Abstracts Due: Friday 10 September 2010

Abstract Judgments Due to Authors: Friday 8 October 2010
Full Papers Due: Friday 7 January 2011
Decision Letters and Revision Suggestions For Papers By: Monday 21 February 2011
Final Drafts Due: Monday 4 April 2011
Final Decision/Revision Response Due To Authors: Monday 16 May 2011
Final Manuscript Due: Monday 13 June 2011
Copyedited and Typeset Proofs Completed By: August 1 2011

Publication Date: October 2011 16.4 issue

For any inquiries please email Erik or Jeffrey via invirtualworlds@gmail.com