Digital Heritage Interpretation Conference 2023

OPENING KEYNOTE: Amy-Jane Humphries (Hampshire Cultural Trust) & Professor Ryan Lavelle (University of Winchester)

‘In the Footsteps of Alfred the Great: Reflecting on 878AD’ 

Amy-Jane Humphries (Hampshire Cultural Trust) and Ryan Lavelle (University of Winchester) give the inside track on the development of 878AD, which opened in Winchester at the end of 2022. This innovative visitor attraction combines video game assets from Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and real artefacts, to tell the story of 9th-century Winchester at the time of the Vikings.

This presentation discusses the ways in which traditional museum interpretation interacts with digital media to the benefit of both. Amy and Ryan will provide particular insights on their roles in the development of 878AD and the creative challenges involved in representing history to a popular audience. 

*Ala’a Al Badarin (MSc Heritage Visualisation, Glasgow School of Art)

‘(Re)imagining Internet based Representational Practices f or Cultural Heritage Content: Exhibiting MC/F/100 From the Glasgow School of Art’s Archives and Collections’ 

The study discusses an experimental endeavour to reimagine online representational practices for digital heritage objects. It focuses on two current display models, object-centred and object-driven, used to study and exhibit museum and archival holdings. The study recognises what characteristics each of these models has and how they can potentially affect audience notions of understanding and perception of the presented artefacts.

As a result, it identifies a discrepancy between the largely ingrained cultural norms with which museum audiences approach objects and how they are exhibited on these institutions’ internet-based platforms. Moreover, It looks at the affordances of the digital object in each presentation model and questions the potential they could have to inform and be emotive in their engagement with their intended audiences if presented in conjunction.

To examine that, an artefact was chosen to be exhibited from the Glasgow School of Art’ Archives and collection, an iron-cast wrought Bell or MC/F/100 as named in the GSA archives. The Bell was added as part of a metal sculpture which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and placed in the School’s Mackintosh building. Unfortunately, after a devastating fire in 2018, the building along with the sculpture was severely damaged, the Bell itself, however, was not affected as it was taken off the Coat of Arms in order for a replica to be made for the Mackintosh visitor centre.

The project explores the prospects of presenting not only the material attributes and functions of heritage artefacts but also the potential of showcasing their relationships and connections to the people and cultures that make, use, and relate to them and how that can reflect on our broader conception, emotional correspondence, and reconfigure our relationships to digitised collections. (*Unfortunately this talk did not go ahead)

Campbell Ritche (Chair of Malmesbury Town Team CiC, Town Councillor & Project Leader for Explore Malmesbury)

‘Explore Malmesbury: Creating stories across a living town and 2,800 years of history’.

• Powerpoint: UoW Digital Conference May 2023 – Malmesbury

‘Explore Malmesbury’ is a multi-media supporting web app, including augmented reality interpretations using Unreal, providing users with themed trails, ‘Explore’ immersions and points of information across Malmesbury town centre.

Telling the stories of Malmesbury at the places they happened, it’s aim is to encourage more and longer visits to Malmesbury and increased spending in local businesses. Launched in Spring 2021 multi-media content is continuing to be added and its story telling potential developed. An associated Facebook page and a ‘commercial layer’ for use by local businesses are being launched this year. Malmesbury is a small vibrant market town in North Wiltshire with a unique and bountiful history.

The paper and demonstration will cover:

• Why we set out to create ‘Explore Malmesbury’
• What we wanted to show
• Creating a community project
• The digital solution we choose – Web app, database, front end display, navigation options, multi-media capability, historical reconstructions and paper based options
• Key capital and revenue costs and fundraising
• The working solution
• Marketing, engagement and support – introducing Explore Malmesbury to users
• Results so far and learning points
• Next steps

Grant Cox (ArtasMedia) & Maria Garcia-Abadillo (Head of Digital at Barker Langham)

‘Qatar’s past reimagined: reconstructing its most important archeological settlements’

This is a combined proposal by digital heritage specialists ArtasMedia and global cultural consultancy Barker Langham. We are Grant Cox (ArtasMedia) and Maria Garcia-Abadillo (Head of Digital at Barker Langham) and we have worked together in several digital heritage projects in the past five years.

We are delighted to talk about our most recent work together, which consists of four reconstructions of Qatari archaeological settlements, some of which had never been fully
reconstructed before. With the help of archaeologists and subject matter experts in the field, we managed to imagine how these cities would have looked in their respective heydays,
some going back to the early 1700s. 

On the technical side, the primary software used to create the various reconstructions in this project was Autodesk 3DS Max supplemented by the Vray renderer, a commercial grade animation and modelling suite built to handle any kind of CGI archive and output. In combination with Vray, 3DS Max provides a highly flexible and professional pipeline designed to produce imagery at the highest potential level.

The Plugins such as Itoo’s Forest Pack and Rail Clone were also used to build procedural elements into the work & covered the creation of natural elements such as landscape, foliage and architecture. This provided the ability to employ a parametric procedural approach, a series of rules that dictated how elements would appear.For a digital heritage project, having flexibility in this regard was crucial because it facilitated both quick communication and feedback on designs and the efficient construction of the final archive.

Neil Jakeman (Senior Research Software Analyst, King’s Digital Lab, King’s College London)

‘Using 2D and 3D digital tools for a fresh perspective on a well-known artwork’.

• Powerpoint: 3D_digital_heritage_titian_Jakeman

Early in 2020, five paintings by Titian came to the National Gallery in London, together for the first time in possibly hundreds of years, just as the pandemic closed down public spaces for several months.

In response to COVID-19 restrictions, we developed an approach for remotely viewing a prominent artwork which considered different perspectives (both physical and metaphorical) of interpretation and gave voice to alternative readings. Our work was integrated into an AR application developed by Playlines which allowed users to virtually place an artwork in their home and offered different curatorial journeys to follow.

One such journey was the result of a conversation between Neil Jakeman, a Research Software Analyst at King’s Digital Lab, and Tom de Freston, an Oxford based, multimedia artist. The conversation was triggered by Jakeman’s simple digital 3D reinterpretation of Titian’s Diane and Actaeon, which allowed for both a naïve close reading of the work by a non-expert and an informed critique from a trained fine artist.

Since the original research in 2020, new tools now present opportunities to revisit the methodology and consider a systematic use of a variety of off-the-shelf digital tools to provide insight. This paper will describe the methodology used and invite discussion about potential application in other settings.

Geoff Browell (Head of Archives and Research Collections King’s College, London) & Tam McDonald (Founder & CEO Cradle of English)

‘Improving sustainability in Digital Cultural Heritage Interpretation’

• Powerpoint: CEDI Geoff and Tam.U of Winchester final

A precarious project-focused mentality and grant-induced island hopping between contracts and initiatives has been an understandable feature of digital scholarship in the United Kingdom for more than three decades.  Drawing on the examples of London’s AIM25 in archives and XRchiving in extended reality, this talk will argue that for digital cultural heritage to thrive and become sustainable, it needs to identify new audiences; find new uses for methods and technologies developed since the 1980s; and build public and private interdisciplinary communities of expertise to share ideas and costs, iterate best practice and advocate more systematically and collectively.   

The emergent ecosystem of digital cultural heritage interpretation will share features including a recognisable public identity, common metadata standards to share information, an understanding of the economics of the cultural and creative industry, and an ability to identify rapidly changing needs and global challenges such as around health and wellbeing and emerging technologies.

Dr Debs Wilson (Senior Lecturer in Digital Media & Founder of Virtual Cities Ltd) 

‘Virtual Cities – Interpreting and Re-Constructing the Past of 1400 & 1800 in Winchester’

• Powerpoint: VirtualCities_DWilson-11thMay2023

An exploration of the use of 3D modelling technology to recreate the historical city of Winchester in the 15th and 18th centuries. This project aims to provide an immersive experience of the past by combining historical research, architectural modeling, and interactive storytelling. By leveraging digital tools, this project offers a new way of interpreting and experiencing the city’s rich history, making it accessible to a wider audience.