This paper reviews a number of cultural heritage games that have been developed by faculty at the Center for Media, Arts, Games, Interaction & Creativity (MAGIC) at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Fundamental to designing engaging cultural heritage games is that of integrating material culture, social history and intangible cultural heritage. There is not much existing guidance on how to successfully create engaging heritage games and in this paper we outline some of the main issues and conclude with a few ideas that might help move the field forward.
The paper draws on the i-Treasures EU project which adopts cutting-edge sensors and ICT technologies to sustain Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) learning and transmission. It highlights how some of the main educational challenges that are characteristic of this peculiar field have been addressed in the project by relying on consolidated Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) practices and related tools. In particular, it focuses on pedagogical planning as a means to sustain the design, deployment and sharing of educational interventions, which are suitable and effective from the viewpoint of contents, structure and learning /teaching methodologies.
The use of photogrammetric techniques for the geometric documentation of monuments and archaeological sites is widely known and applied. The basic techniques are: (a) the stereo-restitution, which provides the advantage of 3D observation and accurate digitization but requires specific photogrammetric knowledge and equipment, and (b) the orthophoto, an easy to use raster product that enables the 2D digitization, which is, however, not sufficient for monuments that consist of complex surfaces. The concept of stereo-orthoimage was firstly introduced at the end of the 1960s for cartographic and cadastral applications, combining the advantages of both the orthophoto and 3D observation. This paper analyses the algorithms used for the generation of stereo-orthoimages, presents a developed plugin for the free open-source Geographic Information System QGIS that implements the stereo-orthoimage technique and examines the use of this technique for the restitution and digitization of complex surfaces of monuments for their large scale geometric documentation. The QGIS plugin, named OrthoStereoMate (OSM), has been developed in the Python programming language and will become freely available to the official python plugin repository for QGIS users.
Digital museums and arts galleries have become popular in museum education and management. Museum and arts galleries website is one of the most effective and efficient ways. Google, a corporation specializing in Internet-related services and projects, not only puts high-resolution arts images online, but also uses augmented-reality in digital art gallery. The Google Art Project, Google's production, provides users a platform in appreciating and learning arts. With the virtual reality, recently after Google Art Project, more and more countries released their own museum and arts gallery websites, like British Paining in BBC, and FINNA in Finland. Pedagogical function in these websites is one of the most important functions. In this paper, we use Google Art Project and FINNA as the case studies to investigate what kinds of pedagogical functions exist in these websites. Finally, this paper will give the recommendation to digital museums and websites development, especially the pedagogical functions development, in the future.
The Semantic Web introduces new exigencies for Cultural Heritage (CH) data managing and sharing, and such requests have to be considered for structuring the databases and Geographical Information System applications purposed to CH preservation strategies. Data semantics should be explicit, and formally specified by standard ontologies, and some proposals regarding CH are available by now. However, Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is related to the community that produced it, so it's more multifaceted and complex to be defined in a standardized way than material assets. This study is oriented to the integration of standardized or existing ontologies to define a convenient schema for managing ICH data; the general aim is to analyze the territorial distribution of ICH carried by some material artifacts to investigate their mutual relationships and values. We defined a conceptual model by integrating CIDOC-CRM ontology with some more specific and geometric entities derived from a spatial data standard, such as CityGML, for representing some ICH features in a GIS environment (Geographical Information System).
This research analyses and reviews new and existing applications of novel technologies in heritage settings. This essay reviews current trends in heritage technologies and highlights their potential in safeguarding and transmitting intangible cultural heritage. True safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage is in creating meaningful transmission experiences. Modes of transmission have become tired, static and fail to pair with modes of learning. The term ‘meaningful transmission experience’ describes situations where heritage communications are optimized using established learning modes to enhance novel technologies. This research by no means covers all applications of safeguarding and the transmission of intangible cultural heritage, but instead concentrates on the intangible aspects of built heritage. The future of intangible cultural heritage lies in communicating heritage effectively. It is my recommendation that coupling novel technologies with established learning styles will enrich user experience. Further, this will enable intangible cultural heritage to remain current with society.
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a cost-effective technique that can be used to survey large archaeological areas and landscapes compared to traditional methods. Since UAVs are capable of surveying archaeological areas from above, datasets derived on this platform can be used to generate accurate orthophotos, digital surface models (DSMs) and a variety of datasets that can be used to document and identify archaeological areas. This paper provides a detailed methodology for the application of UAVs using a commercial high resolution camera and details postprocessing techniques applied to generate an accurate ortho-photo and DTM to be used to survey the archaeological site and its landscape. A total of 331 images generated from a UAV survey of a portion of the site of Kourion in Cyprus are used to illustrate methods of site documentation and archaeological survey for large archaeological and cultural heritage sites.
For the last few decades, technological developments have fostered improvements in the process of digitizing audiovisual heritage. Besides the archiving of the audiovisual heritage content, it is also important to provide access to this specific content in order to pass on cultural heritage to future generations. However, in literature little is known about the needs and wants of end-users on audiovisual heritage archives. Within this paper we will assess the value of the Living Lab approach to map the needs of end-users and to facilitate user contributions. This will be done by a case study analysis of VIAA (the Flemish Institute of Archiving) that wants to unlock its digital archive for educational purposes. The main goal of this paper is to give an illustration of the Living Lab approach in order to map the needs of teachers towards an audiovisual heritage platform.
In this paper, we propose a method for the partitioning of dance sequences into multiple periods and motion patterns. The proposed method deploys features in the form of a skeletal representation of the dancer observed through time using multiple depth sensors. This representation is the fusion of skeletal features captured using multiple sensors and combined into a single, more robust, skeletal representation. Using this information, initially we partition the dance sequence into periods and subsequently into motion patterns. Partitioning into periods is based on observing the horizontal displacement of the dancer while each period is subsequently partitioned into motion patterns by using an exemplar-based Hidden Markov Model that classifies each frame into an exemplar representing a hidden state of the HMM. The proposed method was tested on dance sequences comprising multiple periods and motion patterns providing promising results.
The issue of protection and promotion of cultural heritage has become a central topic of European and international cultural policy, especially in recent decades. Beside more ‘tangible’ cultural manifestations (like archaeological sites, natural parks or museum collections) there is a huge heritage, made up of intangible live expressions like performing arts, social practices, oral traditions, etc. which is threatened by the globalization process. The i-Treasures project looks at some of these intangible cultural expressions with the aim not only of preserving them, but also of providing innovative solutions to education in this field. In order to do this, the project explores the potential of cutting edge technologies for capturing the specificities of the considered Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) expressions, analyzing and modeling data and making these resources available for preservation, research and educational purposes. With this aim an open and extendable platform is developed in the project framework. This paper deals with the process of user and system requirements definition and explains how this was necessarily influenced by the specificities of the ICH expressions considered. This process encompassed the identification of the specificities of rare traditional know-how, the discovery of the existing teaching and learning practices and finally the identification of the most cutting edge technologies able to support innovative teaching and learning approaches to ICH.
This paper deals with new capturing technologies to safeguard and transmit endangered intangible cultural heritage including Corsican multipart singing technique. The described work, part of the European FP7 i-Treasures project, aims at increasing our knowledge on rare singing techniques. This paper includes (i) a presentation of our light hyper-helmet with 5 non-invasive sensors (microphone, camera, ultrasound sensor, piezoelectric sensor, electroglottograph), (ii) the data acquisition process and software modules for visualization and data analysis, (iii) a case study on acoustic analysis of voice quality for the UNESCO labelled traditional Cantu in Paghjella. We have identified specific features for this singing style, such as changes in vocal quality, especially concerning the energy in the speaking and singing formant frequency region, a nasal vibration that seems to occur during singing, as well as laryngeal mechanism characteristics. These capturing and analysis technologies will contribute to define relevant features for a future educational platform.
This paper investigates the potential use of the high resolution FormoSAT-2 sensor for supporting archaeological research. Although satellite remote sensing data have been widely used in the context of archaeological research, the high-resolution FormoSAT-2 dataset has attracted little attention. For a better understanding of the Neolithic habitation of the Thessalian plain in central Greece, the authors have used a variety of remote sensing techniques, including satellite and in situ data. In situ spectroradiometric measurements have been recalculated based on the Relative Response Filters of the FormoSAT-2 sensor and compared with other medium- and high-resolution sensors. The FormoSAT-2 spectral characteristics tend to give similar results with the Landsat 5 TM and 7 ETM+ sensors during the whole phenological cycle of the crops, which make this ideal for pan-sharpening fusion techniques. As we found, FormoSAT-2 data can be sufficiently used for the documentation of tells (locally called magoules) in the area as well as to reconstruct the current landscape of the area. Results presented here are part of the ISPRS WG VI/5 “Archaeo-FORMOSAT” project, sponsored by the National Space Organization, National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs-NSPO) and jointly supported by the Chinese Taipei Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and the Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research (CSRSR) at the National Central University (NCU) of Taiwan.
The construction, negotiation and dissemination of cultural heritage in the digital era can take advantage of several approaches, including Virtual Reality (VR). Leveraging on the provision of contextualized multimedia content, VR can foster awareness about the histories of specific times and places, encouraging personal interpretative processes. This paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of “One Day at the Sands”, a VR application aimed at conveying the atmosphere of one of the most famous casinos in Las Vegas from the 1950s onwards. First, we collected a digital database, including a wide range of historical material; then, we developed a presentation medium that allows viewers to navigate the virtual reconstructions and access the archival material following their curiosity and interests. User tests underlined the capability of the application to facilitate a deep and meaningful exploration of the contents reinforcing the argument that virtual reality solutions represent valuable tools to engender awareness and explorative attitudes towards heritage.
Ancient landscapes of movement are challenging to conceptualize. Moving agents did not leave much material evidence behind other than their continuous use of pathways and roadways–unless the road was intentionally built. Under special morphological conditions, this repetitive practice carved the landscape in such a way that the proof of past movements survived until today. In one of these cases, the Early Bronze Age road network in Upper Mesopotamia provides ample evidence for a reconstruction of landscapes of movement. In realization of this opportunity, this study aims to explore ancient traffic through satellite remote sensing. Particularly, the study pushes the agenda for not only mapping the road network, but also understanding the volume of traffic. To accomplish this, the methodology relies on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data for the investigation of the relationship between soil compaction and vegetation health. It is hypothesized that variations in the ancient traffic differentially changed soil physical characteristics so that past variation is still detectable in modern environmental data, albeit only through the study of proxy variables. Comparison of NDVI values over the Early Bronze Age roads suggests differential use. Results of the study also open a new research avenue for studying the morphology of ancient roads with the same proxy data.
There is a knowledge deficit about Al Ardha dance movements in Gulf Arab culture, and the dance form is not yet analytically documented. This paper is the first attempt to explain and isolate some of the thought processes related to this indigenous festive activity in the Arabian Peninsula. The study conceptualizes the dance in a manner conducive to its transfer to a digital learning environment designed for user interaction. Aimed at developing a motion detection-based kinesthetic learning system, this study also tries to identify the motor and cognitive skills related to the Al Ardha dance. The anticipated system can provide tremendous opportunities for users to learn the dance-related harmonious movements without the help of a live instructor. The study can also help identify and isolate some of the predominant movements of this dance to investigate its analytical paradigm.
Using an online and touch screen interface, this paper explores language and cultural identity as a form of intangible heritage. The relationship between language and cultural identity has spawned several studies in various disciplines in the past few decades. This study represents a first attempt at visualising some of the issues relevant to cultural identity discussed by linguists, psychologists and cultural studies experts in an interdisciplinary collaboration between linguists and digital design heritage researchers and computer programmers. For the purpose of this study, an interactive program that centres on the issue of cultural identity, heritage and language was developed to engage participants. Via a touch screen, several prompts and triggers related to culture, identity and heritage were embedded for participants to choose. The engagement includes allowing the participants to emphasize one identity trait over another as well as minimising the less relevant traits. Participants explore their perception of others and themselves via touching and manipulating the onscreen text. These participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire that was designed to elicit their thoughts about the program and on the relationship between cultural identity and language. The findings indicate that the participants considered language to be a crucial element of their identity and heritage though the different ethnic groups attributed different reasons for this response. It affirmed the “Touch my heritage” multilingual identity programme as a successful way to engage participants to think about complex and abstract issues such as culture and identity.
UNESCO, in its 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, obliges State Parties to inventory cultural heritage and making those inventories accessible. This process is a rather complex activity, involving different skills and competences, such as ethnographers, social history experts, etc. who detect cultural heritage to be inserted in the catalog, identifying the best practices and defining what kind of information to keep track of. In this paper we will present three environments that compose a framework for the inventorying, cataloging, searching and browsing of multimedia digital objects related to ICH (Intangible Cultural Heritage), developed to design and implement the AESS archive (Archive of Ethnography and Social History of Lombardy Region): the data concern mainly popular traditions handed down generation by generation, such as traditional fairs, popular songs, and customs.
This paper presents the use of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform for the inspection and documentation of historical buried structures, starting from the landscape scale up to the local and detailed scale. The combined use of RGB and thermal images acquired from this kind of platforms, along with algorithms and procedures for data registration, can be a quick and powerful contact-less methodology to discover hidden structures. In this case study, the identification of buried remains needed the implementation of new algorithms able to register thermal images with the geometrical survey from RGB data. The georeferenced images (thermal orthophotos) were then used to inspect the ground and discover buried features.
