19.021 Cultural Heritage and New Technologies, Vienna, 11/05

                Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 19, No. 21.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 06:50:29 +0100
         From: frischer49_at_aol.com
         Subject: Call for Papers (deadline May 20, 2005)

10th international congress "Cultural Heritage and New Technologies"
(Workshop 10 "Archäologie & Computer"
November 7th-10th , 2005
Vienna, Austria, City Hall
www.stadtarchaeologie.at

Dear Colleagues,
I would like to send you an update for our "Call for papers", you will find
it soon also on our homepage

Please mind: Deadline for "CALL FOR PAPERS (200 - 300 words) - May 20th,
  2005

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me

Best wishes
Wolfgang Börner
bor_at_gku.magwien.gv.at

Past -- Present -- Future in the field of Cultural Heritage and New
Technologies
"The Next 10 Years of 3D Modeling of Cultural Heritage: Why We Need a World
Virtual Heritage Center"
Chair: Bernie Frischer (bernard.frischer_at_gmail.com), Director,
Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, U. of Virginia (USA)

Background

   As we look back on ten years of activity in applying the new technology
of 3D computer modeling to archaeology and architectural history, we can
observe great progress on many fronts. Computer modeling has become a
widespread, well-understood technique. Scholars have grasped the need of
publishing not only their 3D data but also the related metadata and
documentation. The costs of creating and demonstrating 3D models have
fallen dramatically, and today standard PCs can run models, even real-time
models. As the quantity of archaeological models has increased, so, too,
has the quality. Scholars have started to create animations in
high-definition stereo. Real-time models are no longer just visual but
sometimes include sound and even touch. Perhaps the most important
achievement is that, beyond the narrow circle of digital archaeologists,
cultural authorities, too, have "gotten it" and now understand the
importance and utility of 3D models for documenting a site and presenting
it to the public. A number of exhibitions and museums have used 3D models,
and virtual heritage centers have even started to be created.

The time is therefore ripe to think about the next ten years and why
creation of a World Virtual Heritage Center (WVHC) would be useful and
desirable. The WVHC could be a place where standards and best practices are
tracked and promoted; where models of individual sites are deposited,
maintained, and distributed via the Internet to users all
over the world; and where changing exhibitions present work going on in
this field all over the world. Moreover, the WVHC could be more a network
than a "bricks and mortar" building: through partnerships with local,
regional, and national virtual heritage centers, it could help work done in
one corner of the world to be known and used all over the
globe. This is important: unless virtual heritage is international in
scope, it runs the risk of becoming less a tool to promote peace and
understanding among peoples than a weapon to glamorize one culture at the
expense of all others.

Call for Papers
    We therefore invite papers on any of the following topics related to the
idea of a WVHC:

    -reports on the use of 3D models in museums or exhibitions during the
past 24 months (goals and results)
    -reports on planning or implementation of new local, regional, or
national virtual heritage centers
    -the politics of 3D: the dialectic of local vs. global in the recreation
of past cultures through computer technology
    -the features of the proposed WVHC: what would be the services and
activities of such a center; why are these services and activities
desirable and necessary?
Received on Fri May 13 2005 - 02:08:33 EDT