I’m writing a short book, “3D Visualization as Critical Heritage”. I’ll post questions on earzow.com as I work through chapters: 3D As Argument; Culturally Significant Presence; Immersive Literacy; The Vanishing Virtual; The Heritage Multiverse. Chapter titles are draft but hopefully I will stick to them. The book will be in the Critical Heritage series at https://www.cambridge.org/core/publications/elements/critical-heritage-studie
Sorry I don’t have funds for open access publication.
In February I will have 2 PhD projects open for candidates to apply at this new (merged) Adelaide University- Filter “History, Heritage and Archaeology”
https://adelaideuni.edu.au/research/research-degrees/research-projects/
Radical Co-Design for Filtered Affective Digital Heritage via AR and WebXR
This project explores how technology like Augmented Reality (AR) and WebXR can enhance visitor engagement with Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM), particularly dark tourism sites such as prisons, through game design and storytelling. The project focuses on Adelaide Gaol, one of Australia’s oldest colonial buildings. By involving volunteer communities and former prisoners’ families in the radical co-design process, the research aims to develop AR-based experiences that convey personal narratives that can be filtered and tailored to visitors. Key research questions explore utilising radical co-design for dark tourism sites, whether escape-room style game design enhances engagement and how effectively content can be personalised. The project will use low-cost, open-access tools throughout, and will generate new insights applicable across the GLAM and tourism sectors.
Game Prototyping for Museums and Galleries
This project will examine the development and design of game prototypes for use in museums and galleries with content specialists to create interactive, augmented, or immersive exhibitions and/or the evaluation of these exhibitions and works. A number of methods may be considered and investigated, including Figma, ShapesXR, Blueprints, physical game demos, and other methods. Possible outcomes of the project include non-traditional research outputs as well as contributions to theoretical disciplinary knowledge.
Digital Heritage Congress is the big meta-conference of the digital heritage/virtual heritage field. I have been to the first one in Marseille (2013) and reviewed for others.
https://digitalheritage2025.unisi.it/call-for-paper
I thought it was going to be in Thailand in December 2025, so best not to ask me any details but go to the website!
I gave an online talk on the above to Hiroshima University today.
I have 4 excellent questions from the students to research and hopefully answer:
Our book chapter Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums [GLAM]-focused Games and Gamification is free to access until 21 October 2024. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S0065-283020240000054006/full/html
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.
I have uploaded the author version of my chapter entitled “Reflective Experiences with Immersive Heritage” for
1st Edition
Edited By Agiatis Benardou, Anna Maria Droumpouki Copyright 2023
The explosion in the development and communication of digital humanities has seen fascinating digital visualisation projects. Some focus on slavery and massacre, such as the Monroe and Florence Work Today website, (Monroe & Florence Work Unknown), a database and mapping platform of lynching in America, Slave voyages visualized by SLADE magazine (Kahn and Bouie 2015) and in Australia the Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia 1788-1930 map, Australia. (Allam and Evershed 2019; Ryan 2019). Some focus on outright horror, others use digital technology to convey contestation and issues of ambiguity. Despite the growth and spread of these 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 showstopping instant experiences, but existing, durable examples of virtual heritage (virtual reality applied to cultural heritage) are relatively rare, and examples of difficult heritage far rarer. To review and address this gap, I will summarize dilemmas in present research on immersion, presence and immersivity; cover recent developments in virtual, augmented and mixed reality technology. Then, inspired by UNESCO charters, indigenous manifestos and ethical design principles in digital humanities, (Hepworth and Church 2018), I will attempt to formulate a theoretical framework with criteria and guidelines to help immersive environment designers address the depiction or evocation of difficult pasts.
There are intern (unpaid, sorry) projects available at IVE UniSA (and at University of Auckland).
I’m excited to announce the launch of the 2024 virtual intern program for the Empathic Computing Laboratory and IVE AR/VR research centre.
We have 21 great projects in AR/VR/XR, brain computing interfaces, AI, etc that you can do without leaving home.
Apply now and get the chance to work and publish with some of the best researchers in the world. See https://lnkd.in/g-WFSeJ
by Mark Billinghurst
I have 2 projects listed (at the end of the PDF):
VIP Project List- March 2024
Review software (preferably open access and low cost) that can offer interactive and interesting ways to combine 3D models and panoramic backgrounds. Ideally the 3D model or aspects of the panorama can communicate with the viewer and / or with each other. Ideally the software can be modified and works across a variety of platforms. To give you an idea of recent related work, this paper examines software for historic architecture “Outside Inn: Exploring the Heritage of a Historic Hotel through 360-Panoramas” MDPI Heritage 2023, presentations using 3D: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/6/5/232
Student Skills and Background:
● Essential:
○ Experience with 3D media, panoramas and html scripting
● Desirable:
○ JavaScript
Expected Deliverables:
● Project leading to an academic publication and working proof of concept
Project Duration: 3 – 6 months IVE collaborators: Ear Zow Digital
Develop a simple and clear visual workflow or software wizard to provide non-programmers from the museum sector a way to visualize how their historic collections can be interacted with via AR phone-based software, ideally software that does not require downloading specialised apps (for example, works in the browser). It is ideally useful for android or apple phone-based operating systems, and allows for interactivity. The aim is to use this tool or schema in workshops with museum (GLAM) people to help them develop AR-based games even if they don’t have programming or interaction design experience. A way to gather data on how the tool or examples could be used would be an added benefit.
Student Skills and Background:
● Essential:
○ Skills in diagrams or mockups
● Desirable:
● A workflow, a demo, and material for possible academic paper for a conference or a journal.
Project Duration: 3 – 6 months IVE collaborators: Ear Zow Digital
The above may take awhile to load but yes, my first book (based on most of my PhD, but not the stats) can now be read on the Internet Archive.
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.
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.
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
#CFP did I mention Dr Juan Hiriart and I are organizing an archaeogames session? @CAA2024AKL in Auckland New Zealand, 8-12 April? No?
Paper deadline: 19 October.
Venue: Built on the embers of my old condemned student flat.
URL: https://2024.caaconference.org/sessions/#S12
Keywords: #caa #archaeology #games #reuse #auckland #newzealand
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.
Project stipend is $32,500 a year and the project supervisors are Associate Professor Ear Zow Digital, Dr. Susanah Emery and Dr. Michele Jarldorn.
I think that should be enough for awhile…
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
12.00 Drs Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller & Katrina Grant (ANU) Lo-fi Games in GLAM
12.30 Dr Susannah Emery, George Martin & Sophia Booij (UniSA) “Escaping the classroom” – engaging students with history
1.00 LUNCH
2.00 Natalie Carfora & Claudia von der Borch (MOD. Museum) Designing Museum Experiences: Learnings from George Alexander Foundation Fellowships
2.30 Peter Tullin (Remix) The changing landscape for the cultural and creative industries
3.00 Sam Haren (Sandpit) Bringing Intimacy Back to Digital Interactions
3.30 AFTERNOON TEA (provided)
4.00 Dr Juan Hiriart (the University of Salford UK (virtual)) Co-designing indigenous games: South America and beyond
Above image: Gallery & Museum AR-game workshop, Finland 2021 (copyright Erik Champion).
This event was supported by a Creative UniSA grant and with the help of the Department for Industry, Innovation and Science (South Australia).
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.
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.
Editors: Erik Champion, Juan Hiriart
Publisher: De Gruyter, Video Games and the Humanities series
Champion, E., & Hiriart, J. (Eds.). (2023: accepted). Assassin’s Creed in the Classroom: History’s Playground or a Stab in the Dark? De Gruyter: Video games and the Humanities series.
It looks like the “Assassin’s Creed in the Classroom: History’s Playground or a Stab in the Dark?” edited book is close to the contract stage, and hopefully will be published by the end of the year…what sort of cover image do you suggest? For De Gruyter’s “Video Games and the Humanities” series (must suit their theme colour):
I am honoured to be invited to the workshop “Real Space-Virtual Space. Aesthetics, Architecture and Immersive Environments”, scheduled on 19 – 21 June 2023 at Università degli Studi di Milano and Triennale Milano.
Website https://an-icon.unimi.it/ (this workshop is not online yet, I believe).
Location: the University of Milan and Triennale Milano
AN-ICON INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP 19th – 21st June 2023: Real Space-Virtual Space: Aesthetics, Architecture, And Immersive Environments. Organized by the project ERC “AN-ICON” University of Milan.
Screen Tourism and Affective Landscapes: The Real, the Virtual, and the Cinematic (Routledge, 2022).*
Edited By Ear Zow Digital, Christina Lee, Jane Stadler and Robert Moses Peaslee
This book explores ways in which screen-based storyworlds transfix, transform, and transport us imaginatively, physically, and virtually to the places they depict or film. Topics include fantasy quests in computer games, celebrity walking tours, dark tourism sites, Hobbiton as theme park, surf movies, and social gangs of Disneyland.
How physical, virtual, and imagined locations create a sense of place through their immediate experience or visitation is undergoing a revolution in technology, travel modes, and tourism behaviour. This edited collection explores the rapidly evolving field of screen tourism and the affective impact of landscape, with provocative questions and investigations of social groups, fan culture, new technology, and the wider changing trends in screen tourism. We provide critical examples of affective landscapes across a wide range of mediums (from the big screen to the small screen) and locations.
This book will appeal to students and scholars in film and tourism, as well as geography, design, media and communication studies, game studies, and digital humanities.
*Webpage says 2023 but routledge told me 2022 but routledge said 2022.
I believe my latest book (well second edition) is out today, “Playing with the Past: Into the Future” (in the Human–Computer Interaction Series) https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-10932-4 but it just takes to me to my own university library link so I’ll have to take my own word for it!
Since the turn of this century (and even earlier), a plethora of projects have arisen to promise us bold new interactive adventures and immersive travel into the past with digital environments (using mixed, virtual or augmented reality, as well as computer games). In Playing with the Past: Into the Future Erik Champion surveys past attempts to communicate history and heritage through virtual environments and suggests new technology and creative ideas for more engaging and educational games and virtual learning environments.
This second edition builds on and updates the first edition with new game discussions, surveys, design frameworks, and theories on how cultural heritage could be experienced in digital worlds, via museums, mobile phones, or the Metaverse. Recent games and learning environments are reviewed, with provocative discussion of new and emerging promises and challenges.
Playing with the past: INTO The Future (2023)
Ear Zow Digital