The Research Symposium on “New Knowledge Environments in the Digital Humanities” will be held at the HIVE, Curtin University, Tuesday 13 December 2016. This symposium will bring together presentations from Western Australian researchers and invited interstate and international speakers.
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Erik Champion is Professor and UNESCO Chair of Cultural Visualisation and Heritage at Curtin University and the theme leader for Visualisation at the Curtin Institute of Computation (http://computation.curtin.edu.au). He researches issues in the area of virtual heritage as well as game design, interactive media, and architectural computing. Prior to joining Curtin University he was Project leader of DIGHUMLAB in Denmark, a consortium of four Danish universities, hosted at Aarhus University. Here he also worked with EU research infrastructures and projects, acting as the “Research and Public Engagement” co-leader for http://dariah.eu/. His publications include Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage (Routledge, 2015), Playing with the Past (Springer, 2011), and he edited Game Mods: Design, Theory and Criticism (ETC Press, 2012). His next book project (in press) is Cultural Heritage Digital Tools and Infrastructures, (Routledge, 2017), with co-editors Agiati Benardou, Costis Dallas and Lorna Hughes and a monograph on designing virtual places, for the Spatial Humanities Series, Indiana University Press.
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Petra Helmholz was born in Germany and educated there (Hannover, Berlin, Halberstadt), and in Australia (Melbourne). She is a Senior Lecturer in the field of Photogrammetry with the Department of Spatial Sciences at Curtin University (WASM), Perth and a specialist in Close Range Photogrammetry, Image Analysis and Photogrammetric 3D Reconstruction. Her interests includes automatic detection of feature classes in images, camera calibration and applying 3D reconstruction to a number of interdisciplinary projects related to underwater environments, health and heritage mapping. Based on the last interest she became part of the HSK Korman and HMAS Sydney II project in 2014.
David Belton is a Research Fellow in the Department of Spatial Sciences (WASM) at Curtin University, who specialises in 3D point cloud processing. He has holds BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science, and completed his PhD in automated processing and classification of point clouds in 2008 at Curtin University. His primary area is in 3D laser scanning and photogrammetry, which included topics such as automated classification and feature extraction, calibration, geometric adjustment and validation, and point cloud processing techniques applications such as modelling, deformation, heritage recording and extraction of salient information. During his time he has contributed to over 30 peer-review publications in these fields.
Professor Haida Linag received her PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from ANU. After a few postdocs in astronomy she became a research fellow in the Scientific Department at the National Gallery, London, changing her research focus from observing the sky to imaging paintings. Following this she moved to Nottingham Trent University, UK, where she started her own group and is now the head of the Imaging & Sensing for Archaeology, Art History & Conservation (ISAAC) research group. Her work explores using non-invasive imaging techniques used in astronomy and medical imaging in the context of art conservation. In this capacity her lab developed several imaging systems for optical coherence tomography, multi-/hyper-spectral imaging and lightfastness testing of heritage objects. Her many external collaborations include for example the National Gallery, London; Dunhuang Academy, China (Mogao Caves); Foundation Beyeler, Switzerland; Smithsonian Institute, USA; as well as industry, universities and research institutes worldwide.
Artur Lugmayr is A/Prof. at Curtin University, Australia, where he teaches and supervises students in visualization technologies, interactive media, media management, and digital humanities. Artur was Professor for digital media management at the Tampere Univ. of Technology (TUT), Finland 2009-2014 establishing the Entertainment and Media Management Lab. and the New Ambient Multimedia Lab. 2004-2009. Artur holds a Dr.-Techn. degree (Information Technology, TUT), and is pursuing his Dr.-Arts studies at Aalto Univ., Helsinki, Finland in motion pictures. He was visiting scientist in Singapore, Brisbane, Austria, Ghana; since 2000 raised/involved in 1.7+ MEUR funding (excl. 2014/2015 applications); 170+ publications; 24+ invited keynotes; and 27+ invited guest lectures. More about me on www.artur-lugmayr.com .
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Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage (Digital Research in the Arts and Humanities), Routledge, London and New York, 2015, 232 pages. Hardback: 9781472422903 pub: 2015-09-11. URL: Routledge or Amazon Brief description: This book explains how designing, playing and modifying computer games, and understanding the theory behind them, can strengthen the area of digital humanities. This book aims to help digital humanities scholars understand both the issues and also advantages of game design, as well as encouraging them to extend the field of computer game studies, particularly in their teaching and research in the field of virtual heritage. By looking at re-occurring issues in the design, playtesting and interface of serious games and game-based learning for cultural heritage and interactive history, this book highlights the importance of visualisation and self-learning in game studies and how this can intersect with digital humanities. It also asks whether such theoretical concepts can be applied to practical learning situations. It will be of particular interest to those who wish to investigate how games and virtual environments can be used in teaching and research to critique issues and topics in the humanities, particularly in virtual heritage and interactive history.
The talk will present a broad multi-disciplinary examination of early temple architecture through digital reconstruction and reflect on its impact on the history and theory of Asian architecture. The authors will examine the archetypes of Early Brahmanic, Hindu and Buddhist temple architecture from their origins in north western India to their subsequent spread and adaptation eastwards into Southeast Asia. The compositional connections between their building traditions, especially the common themes and mutual influences in the early architecture of Java, Cambodia and Champa will be presented through digital reconstruction and recovery of three dimensional temple forms. The impact of digital datasets of early Indian antecedents, new technologies for the acquisition of built heritage and new methods for comparative analysis of built form geometry will be examined.
This presentation will examine the critical and creative activities undertaken in hacker and maker communities, as well as in the related GLAM sector, in contrast to the achievements and challenges of digital heritage infrastructures, especially digital heritage using virtual reality and 3D digital models. Emerging research opportunities to integrate the engagement and outreach of the former with the technical developments of the latter will be outlined.
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New sensors and data capturing techniques have developed rapidly in recent years, as has their applications to recording and analysing cultural and heritage sites. They have not only enabled the measurements of such sites, but also the complete reconstruction and recording of them which provides for greater communication and presentation of their significance and context within history and society. These sensors and techniques are also being deployed and utilised in environments that have been traditionally too difficult to capture. The talk will also review some of the other potential technologies that are being applied to the documentation of cultural and heritage sites including research challenges. Several practical examples will be demonstrated through projects within the Department of Spatial Sciences in collaboration with other institutes and organisations. These ranges from the HMAS Sydney and Kormoran project to old mining infrastructure, historical town sites and much more.
The UNESCO world heritage site, Mogao caves near Dunhuang, is a Buddhist temple site along the ancient Silk Road with a history that extends over 1000 years from the 4th C to the 14th C. The 45,000 square metres of wall paintings in 492 caves are an immense resource for the study of the history of art, architecture, religion, technology, politics and cultural exchange along the Silk Road. The wall paintings are vulnerable and therefore any scientific examinations conducted should preferably be non-invasive and non-contact. In this talk, we show an example of a systematic in situ study of the wall paintings using a range of non-invasive optical imaging and spectroscopic instruments. The range of instruments used include a microfade spectrometer to ascertain the stability of the paint to light before imaging, a remote 3D spectral imaging system (PRISMS) developed in our group for large scale survey at distances of tens of metres making it convenient to examine ceiling paintings, a hand-held X-ray Fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) and a mobile Raman spectrometer to complement the large scale pigment identification using PRISMS. In addition, an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) system was brought to this remote site for the first time. OCT is an imaging device capable of non-contact imaging of 3D subsurface microstructure of the paintings. This talk demonstrates through the work in cave 465 how a combination of these non-invasive imaging and spectroscopic methods can yield a wealth of information for conservation and art history.
We not only live in an era, where new emerging technologies, such as e.g. digital interactive media, Web 2.0, Big Data, or cloud computation disrupt existing business models – we also live in an era where we live more and more in a digital, virtual society. As McLuhan stated, each new emerging technology extends our human capabilities, as well as it effects society and social behavior. New computing technologies, methods, tools, and in particular digital media enable the extension of human capabilities beyond the possibilities analogue media environments permitted. Social relations transform towards virtual cultures existing in cyberspace through online chats, messaging, or social media – or they exist by transforming our being into a fully virtual space as e.g. Second Life illustrates. We transformed ourselves into a networked and knowledge based society, where digital media technologies are in the center of forming our perception and social relations in the world. This talk goes through some visionary ideas, and presents some practical applications in the domain of digital humanities, and is based on the following publication: Lugmayr, A. & Teras, M., 2015. Immersive Interactive Technologies in Digital Humanities: A Review and Basic Concepts. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Immersive Media Experiences. ImmersiveME ’15. Brisbane, Australia: ACM, pp. 31–36. Available here. Lugmayr, A. & Bender, S., 2016b. Free UX Testing Tool: The LudoVico UX Machine for Physiological Sensor Data Recording, Analysis, and Visualization for User Experience Design Experiments. In Proceedings of the SEACHI 2016 on Smart Cities for Better Living with HCI and UX. SEACHI 2016. San Jose, CA, USA: ACM, pp. 36–41. Available here. Lugmayr, A., Sutinen, E., et al., 2016. Serious storytelling – a first definition and review. Multimedia Tools and Applications, pp.1–27. Available here. Lugmayr, A., Greenfeld, A., et al., 2016. Cultural Visualisation of a Cultural Photographic Collection in 3D Environments – Development of “PAV 3D” (Photographic Archive Visualisation). In G. Wallner et al., eds. Entertainment Computing - ICEC 2016: 15th IFIP TC 14 International Conference, Vienna, Austria, September 28-30, 2016, Proceedings. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 272–277. Available here.
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My research employs the methodologies of architectural drawing, modeling and analysis, backed by historical knowledge and methodology to undertake experimental reconstructions of lost buildings and urban environments—'forensic architecture'. Traditionally, architectural history and theory have concerned themselves with the existing—projects that exist as standing buildings, or as more-or-less well documented unbuilt or demolished buildings. These form the 'landmarks' of our architectural history. Thus, for example, Hagia Sophia and the Pantheon form key 'moments' in this history, not least because they physically exist, and have been extensively documented, so that if they disappeared in a calamity they would still exist as part of the historical record and the canon of architecture as 'Great Moments'. Such projects appear 'permanent'—despite the actual transformations that time has made to them. Surviving unbuilt projects similarly convey a finite character that hides the transformations that inevitably would occur if the project had been built, while record photographs and drawings generally depict the monument at one point in time. But what of monuments and urban configurations which have disappeared, both physically, and from the record? Can they still be considered within the framework of architecture? Perhaps, they might have served as models, exerting enormous influence on later architecture. Thus, we have the historic example of San Marco in Venice, whereas we have lost the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, which its builders emulated. In such cases, frequently the only evidence can be supplied by archaeology and by ancient textual descriptions, from which scholars must interpret and hypothesise. For such tasks, the methodology of architecture- the understanding of structure, space and spatial narrative—the movement through environments—can often be an effective tool. Thus, architectural methods have been used within or in collaboration with other disciplines in research projects, notably with historians and archaeologists in studying the ways in which urban environments and architectural ensembles (evidence of material culture) have developed and transformed. Furthermore, current digital technologies can be used both to extract evidence from historical representations, and to simulate the temporal environment created by spatial sequences through which rituals might proceed.