The Digitisation of Historical Surgical Tools for Inclusion in an Online Learning Module for the RCPS Glasgow and the Open University

Abstract

The preservation of historical artifacts is an important, yet difficult task for museums worldwide. There is a constant battle between preventing damage to the artifacts and increasing access to viewers, and this balance is difficult to attain.Curators are looking to new techniques to display collections, many turning to digitisation for online access. Presented here is a new method of digitising highly specular surgical artifacts held at The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Close-range photogrammetry was applied to develop interactive digital models of a set of surgical tools. These models were then incorporated into an online learning module for students studying "Medicine and Society in Europe: 1500-1930s" at the Open University.It is hoped that results from this project can prove that close-range photogrammetry combined with virtual reality technology can be used by museum institutions worldwide as a cheap method of digitisation