Category Archives: heritage

What the internet of things can learn from Minecraft and Lemmings

20/03/20153D and game editors, heritageinternet of things, MinecraftEMC

Rough idea stage: A Minecraft of things with sensor data and heritage or urban datasets, to teach children system design with realtime data fed into the virtual world via minecraft!

Gigaom

Once we have a home full of connected devices do we really want to individually manage all of them? Mike Kuniavsky, a principal in the Innovation Services Group at PARC, explains in this weeks podcast how we’re going to have to think differently about programming devices for the internet of things. Devices will need to know what they contain and how those elements might contribute to a certain scenario in the home.

For example when you want to watch a movie, you shouldn’t have to program 6 different devices in your home to tell them what they should do when you toggle on your movie setting, your devices should have some sense of what they are capable of and how to enter a set mode. As he did in his chat in February at our San Francisco Internet of Things meetup, Kuniavsky, likened this device behavior to video games like…

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reviews of Critical Gaming book before it is even published

18/03/20153D and game editors, Announcements, Book, Digital Humanities, heritage, publication, virtual heritage3D, archaeology, Ashgate, Critical gaming, digital humanities, Ear Zow Digital, heritage, history, virtual worldEMC

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

abstract: Motion Control For Remote Archaeological Presentations

10/03/2015Architecture, Conference, heritage3D, Aarhus, archaeology, denmark, digital heritage, gesture, kinect, Notion control, teleconferencing, urban design, visualizationEMC

My abstract for 21 May talk at the Digital Heritage 3D representation conference at Moesgaard Museum Aarhus Denmark

Title: Motion Control For Remote Archaeological Presentations

Displaying research data between archaeologists or to the general public is usually through linear presentations, timed or stepped through by a presenter. Through the use of motion tracking and gestures being tracked by a camera sensor, presenters can provide a more engaging experience to their audience, as they won’t have to rely on prepared static media, timing, or a mouse. While low-cost camera tracking allow participants to have their gestures, movements, and group behaviour fed into the virtual environment, either directly (the presenter is streamed) or indirectly (a character represents the presenter).

Using an 8 metre wide curved display (Figure 1) that can feature several on-screen panes at once, the audience can view the presenter next to a digital environment, with slides or movies or other presentation media triggered by the presenter’s hand or arm pointing at specific objects (Figure 2). An alternative is for a character inside the digital environment mirroring the body gestures of the presenter; where the virtual character points will trigger slides or other media that relates to the highlighted 3D objects in the digital scene.

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank iVEC summer intern Samuel Warnock for kicking off the prototype development for me and Zigfu for allowing us access to their SDK.