Virtual Heritage

Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 10 (3):55-61 (2007)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Virtual Heritage (VH) is the use of electronic media to recreate or interpret culture and cultural artifacts as they are today or as they might have been in the past (Moltenbrey, 2001; Roehl, 1997). By definition, VH applications employ some kind of three dimensional representation; the means used to display it range from still photos to immersive Virtual Reality. Virtual Heritage is a very active area of research and development in both the academic and the commercial realms. (Roehl, 1997; Mitchell and Economou, 2000; Addison, 2000; Stone and Ojika, 2002; Champion, 2004b; Champion and Sekiguichi, 2004; Levy, 2004). Most VH applications are intended forsome kind of educational use. While the main activity of virtual heritage is to create ancient artifacts, the real goal is to understand ancient cultures.Most VH applications are architectural reconstructions, centered on a reconstructed building or monument. However, in the same way that archaeologists and historians study the artifacts because they are the primary cultural evidence we have, VH uses architecture as a frame for recreating ancient cultures. The larger goal of VH is to recreate ancient cultures, not as dead simulations, but as living museums where students/users can enter and understand a culture that is different from their own. The closest analog is the real-world living museums, where actors in period dress occupy a life-size historical setting and interact with the visitors. Ultimately, we would like to see the users themselves creating activities in the virtual space as a way of exploring different cultural viewpoints. For example, students who know about the Virtual Egyptian Temple (Jacobson and Holden, 2005) and the supporting material may attempt to recreate activities there. In doing so, they would learn about what is and is not possible in the architectural and cultural space.In this paper we will begin by reviewing the issues and tradeoffs around building the architectural models for VH applications. These models are crucial in themselves and many of the issues involved in designing and creating them also apply to the dynamic and interactive aspects of VR. Then, we will touch on issues of how to bring culture to life in VR, the strengths and limitations for VR technology for VH applications. Finally, we will present the Virtual Egyptian Temple, our current project, as a working example.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Virtual Heritage.Jeffrey Jacobson & Lynn Holden - 2007 - Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 10 (3):55-61.
Virtual Heritage.Lynn Holden - 2007 - Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 10 (3):55-61.
Virtual Aspects of the Fairy Tale.Alekseeva Olga Pavlovna - 2008 - Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 26:77-79.
Virtual and Real Relativity.Serghey Gherdjikov - 2008 - Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 17:57-63.
A Cultural Semiotic Aesthetic Approach for a Virtual Heritage Project.Chrysanthos Voutounos & Andreas Lanitis - 2016 - Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 20 (3):198-215.
Aesthetics of the Virtual.Roberto Diodato - 2012 - Albany: State University of New York Press. Edited by Silvia Benso.
Realistic virtual reality and perception.John Dilworth - 2010 - Philosophical Psychology 23 (1):23-42.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-02-16

Downloads
6 (#1,269,502)

6 months
2 (#668,348)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Playing With The Past.Erik M. Champion - 2010 - London: Springer.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references