Conference: 2013 Canberra Centenary: ‘Imagined pasts…, imagined futures’ URL: http://www.aicomos.com/2013-canberra-centenary/ Venue: Museum of Australian Democracy in Old Parliament House, Canberra, 1-3 Nov 2013 TITLE: Can the past be shared in Virtual Reality? There is an interesting divide between historians and the public that must be debated, how to best use virtual heritage, and digital media in general, to learn and share historical knowledge and interpretation. Heritage and history do not have to be a series of slides; space-time-intention can now be depicted and reconfigured. Teaching history and heritage through digitally simulated ‘learning by doing’ is an incredibly understudied research area and is of vital importance to a richer understanding of heritage as lived. However, the actual spatial implications of siting learning tasks in a virtual environment are still largely un-researched. Evaluation of virtual environments has been relatively context-free, designed for user freedom and forward looking creativity. It is still much more difficult to create a virtual place that brings the past alive without destroying it. There has been an explosion in virtual heritage conferences this century. In the last year alone, there have been calls for digital cultural heritage or virtual heritage by Graphite, VSMM, New Heritage Forum, VRST, VAST, DIME, Archäologie & Computer, and DACH, just to name a few. An outside observer may believe that such academic interest, coupled with recent advances in virtual reality (VR), specifically in virtual environment technology and evaluation, would prepare one for designing a successful virtual heritage environment. Game designers may also be led to believe that games using historical characters, events or settings, may be readily adaptable to virtual heritage. This paper will advance key contextual issues that question both assumptions. Beacham, R., Denard, H., & Niccolucci, F. (2006). London charter for the computer-based visualization of cultural heritage. Retrieved from http://www.londoncharter.org/introduction.html Fredrik, D. (2012). Rhetoric, Embodiment, Play: Game Design as Critical Practice in the Art History of Pompeii. Meaningful Play 2012 conference paper. Retrieved fromhttp://meaningfulplay.msu.edu/proceedings2012/mp2012_submission_178.pdf

1. Erik Champion

2. Can the Past be Shared in
Virtual Reality?
Learn and share historical knowledge + interpretation?
Heritage and history do not have to be a series of slides;
space-time-intention can now be depicted and reconfigured.
Teaching history and heritage through „learning by doing‟
Evaluation of virtual environments relatively context-free
It is still much more difficult to create a virtual place that
brings the past alive without destroying it.

3. Games are the future?
Explosion in virtual heritage conferences..
1. Could academic interest +recent advances in virtual
reality (VR) prepare one for designing a successful
VHE?
2. Games using historical characters, events or
settings, may be readily adaptable to virtual
heritage?
3. Issues of Presentation Interaction &
Participation..

4. Presentation
http://www.cineca.it/en

5. Interaction
Creative Game Tools

6. Participation
Game Design in Teams
Minecraft Library
Involving Strangers
Hackathon Lithuania

7. Social Judgment..
is sadly missing in Virtual Worlds..
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2013/10/social-media/south-carolina-state-librarylaunches-social-media-library-and-archive/

8. Digital Heritage 2013
Marseille
N

9. Navigating Real /Virtual Sites

10. Nokia 808 pureview
SLR quality 41mp sensor

11. Scanning Futures
(D. Pouliquen, Autodesk)
 2012: Nokia 808 pureview phone as powerful as SLR,.
40+megapixels
 2014: Pelican imaging ultra thin camera array for phones
 We can capture 2 billion pts in 2012, 20+billion in 2014 pt cloud
 Create online high textured 3D from
photos, http://recap.autodesk.com/signin.aspx (Krishna)
 www.occipital.com super easy 360 panoramas or capture 3D
 CYARK in India

13. Jean-Pierre Jessel
IRIT, Université Paul Sabatier
Mobile games:
not “a better
learning but a
better global
game
experience”

14. Fraunhofer IDG
CHESS
project-Markerless tracking

15. Eduventure, Rhine Castle

16. OLD VR is
dead
.. long live VR
• Augmented is now mixed
reality
• Vision is just one of many
• Active stereo non glasses
around corner
• Game engines are VR engines
• Collaborative gameplay
• Interactive storytelling
• Learning about cultural
heritage is designing heritage
interactivity

18. Wild Reindeer Exhibit Gagarin Interactive
Iceland

19. Assets will be available
IMG_1480.jpg
http://www.cineca.it/en

20. http://www.cineca.it/e

21. CINECA APA re-use game
http://www.cineca.it/en

22. Learning via Game Design
Fort Worth Game, Duke
University
Fort Worth Game, Duke
University

23. Serious Games in CH
 Gaius Day, Augmented Reality on site
 Roma Nova Petridis 2012
 Canada: A People‟s History Game OR building Detroit
 On site historical (Schrier 2006)reliving the revolution
 Eduventure I: (Ferdinand 2005) Rhine valley
history, played in real Marksburg castle, on
tablet, webcam ARToolkitPlus
 Virtuso Arts history (Wagner 2007), sort a collection of
artworks or monuments
 ThIATRO art history (Froschauer et al, VSMM 2012)
 Escaladieu (IRIT 2010) Abbey in Pyranees, 3D AR
 Studierstube ES game handheld AR platform
 Strategy eg Battle of Waterloo (BBC)

24. Professional:
Serious games interactive






Challenge: ..the belief that it is
exciting to learn about history.
The game integrates learning
and playing in a way that
engages pupils and gives them a
concrete feel for the historical
time and setting
Solution: The game can be
compared to a journey through
time and space
Platform: Mac/PC, single
player, browser
Technology: 3D Unity game
engine
Playtime: Per game 60 minutes
Target group: 9-14 years old
http://playinghistory.eu/front
Thanks to Pernille for the info

25. My background
 PhD
 Teaching game design interaction design and
multimedia interface design, now cultural
visualisation
 Supervision
 Digital Humanities (CHCTA Europe)
 Now, looking for students and projects, may host
conference

28. Interaction design issues
1. Fact versus Fiction
2. Unrealistic expectations
3. Increasing interaction
interferes with increasing
knowledge of history
4. Joysticks of Doom: The
Indiana Jones Dilemma
5. „Cultural Presence‟
missing
Journey to the West

29. Problem: Inhabitants‟
point of view
 Can users learn via interaction the meanings and
values of others, do we need to interact as the
original inhabitants did?
 How can we find out how they interacted?
 Can the limited and constraining nature of current
technology help interaction become more
meaningful, educational and enjoyable (Handron &
Jacobson, 2010)?
 How do we even know when meaningful learning is
reached?

30. Different Linguistic Worlds
Palenque model: a Mayan sees backpacker in the
jungle; backpacker sees the Mayan in a museum

31. Games for history/heritage
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Play and and answer questions
Play and classroom discuss authenticity
Role-play with games, puppets, or narrators
Mod cities, empires events based on theories
Film events etc. using machinima tools
Combine images or panoramas with other media
Design past artefacts, events, rituals or customs
Create VEs using games and game mods or using VR
What is the Cultural Significance and Contextual
Fragility?

32. Alternatives to Violence


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
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





Reflexivity: A reflective space, where players are encouraged to relax and consider
the consequences of their actions
Performativity: The player, if in a class situation, could be asked to perform or
orate and present their experience of the VE
Role-playing Virtue Ethics: Take on characters in role playing games and see how
their characters change in relation to perceived development of virtue ethics..
Consequentialism: Players could be allowed to be violent, but the consequences of
their actions could affect their future gameplay. through the game.
Alternative Strategies: Violence could be offered as a strategy, but it could be
offered as a long-term destructive strategy.
Creative Uses For Weapons: used as tools to construct.
NPC distaste and disparagement: they discourage violence.
Biofeedback: Performance based on calmness
Expressive and embodied modes of interaction
Emphasis on non-violent competition
Players become morally accountable for their actions

33. Integrate Text+Model
http://gap.alexandriaarchive.org/gapvis/index.html#index

35. Cinematic biofeedback

36. Games: Pros and cons
Factors
Weaknesses
Strengths
Interaction
Agency destroys historic causality. Simplistic
interaction, may be difficult for older
audiences.
Helps teach interaction design.
Engagement
Educational games: worst of both worlds?
Well-known & popular.
Learning
How to promote heritage & knowledge transfer.
Learn by trial and error.
Leveling allow for skills learnt
Technical
issues
Often contains many bugs. Often platform
specific.
Speed, lighting, avatar design,
peripheries, networking
Support
Support by the actual company can be slow,
and they may avoid listing intended future
features.
Community support (internet
forums).
Game
development
Non proprietary formats, changing game
engine code may require extremely good
levels of programming.
Education discounts available,
some games are easily
“modded”.
Access/ cost
Expensive software development kits and
commercial licenses. Expensive as classroom
set.
Take them home, personalize
modify and share them.
Institutional

37. What I need from you
 Fresh brains
 What will or won‟t work in the field?
 Conference suggestions
 Collaborative projects in any and all of the above..

39. Contact details
Erik Champion
Professor of Cultural Visualisation,
School of Media Culture & Creative
Arts, Faculty of Humanities,
Curtin University,
Perth AUSTRALIA
E: erik.champion@curtin.edu.au
W: http://erikchampion.wordpress.com
Li Wang and Erik Champion

40. References
Beacham, R., Denard, H., & Niccolucci, F. (2006). London charter for
the computer-based visualization of cultural heritage. Retrieved
from http://www.londoncharter.org/introduction.html
Fredrik, D. (2012). Rhetoric, Embodiment, Play: Game Design as
Critical Practice in the Art History of Pompeii. Meaningful Play 2012
conference paper. Retrieved from
http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu/proceedings2012/mp2012_submission_
178.pdf
Riedek J. et al., 2011. State of the art of serious games for business
and industry, 17th International Conference on Concurrent Enterprising
(ICE). Online at
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6041266&url=ht
tp%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnum
ber%3D6041266