155 research outputs found
Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
Serious Games in Cultural Heritage
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
A telepresence environment for concurrent life-cycle design and construction
Construction projects normally involve transient 'virtual organisations', where a multidisciplinary
project team works together on the design and construction of a facility. Many of
these participants often work independently while taking decisions that inevitably affect
others. The research described in the thesis involved examining the adoption of concurrent
engineering (CE) principles by the construction industry as a way to reduce the problems
posed by the fragmentation of the industry, and to enhance its competitiveness. An important
aspect of concurrent engineering in construction is the need for effective communication of
design information between all members of the project team and across all stages of the
constructed facility's life-cycle. The thesis describes the development of a communications
infrastructure for Concurrent Life-Cycle Design and Construction. [Continues.
Representing archaeological uncertainty in cultural informatics
This thesis sets out to explore, describe, quantify, and visualise uncertainty in a
cultural informatics context, with a focus on archaeological reconstructions. For quite
some time, archaeologists and heritage experts have been criticising the often toorealistic
appearance of three-dimensional reconstructions. They have been highlighting
one of the unique features of archaeology: the information we have on our heritage
will always be incomplete. This incompleteness should be reflected in digitised
reconstructions of the past.
This criticism is the driving force behind this thesis. The research examines archaeological
theory and inferential process and provides insight into computer visualisation.
It describes how these two areas, of archaeology and computer graphics,
have formed a useful, but often tumultuous, relationship through the years.
By examining the uncertainty background of disciplines such as GIS, medicine,
and law, the thesis postulates that archaeological visualisation, in order to mature,
must move towards archaeological knowledge visualisation. Three sequential areas
are proposed through this thesis for the initial exploration of archaeological uncertainty:
identification, quantification and modelling. The main contributions of the
thesis lie in those three areas.
Firstly, through the innovative design, distribution, and analysis of a questionnaire,
the thesis identifies the importance of uncertainty in archaeological interpretation
and discovers potential preferences among different evidence types.
Secondly, the thesis uniquely analyses and evaluates, in relation to archaeological
uncertainty, three different belief quantification models. The varying ways that these
mathematical models work, are also evaluated through simulated experiments. Comparison
of results indicates significant convergence between the models.
Thirdly, a novel approach to archaeological uncertainty and evidence conflict visualisation
is presented, influenced by information visualisation schemes. Lastly, suggestions
for future semantic extensions to this research are presented through the
design and development of new plugins to a search engine
Reviews
Teaching and Learning Materials and the Internet by Ian Forsyth, London: Kogan Page, 1996. ISBN: 0–7494‐ 20596. 181 pages, paperback. £18.99
A Portable Augmented Reality Science Laboratory
Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology which overlays virtual objects on the real
world; generates three-dimensional (3D) virtual objects and provides an interactive
interface which people can work in the real world and interact with 3D virtual objects at
the same time. AR has the potential to engage and motivate learners to explore material
from a variety of differing perspective, and has been shown to be particularly useful for
teaching subject matter that students could not possibly experience first hand in the real
world. This report provides a conceptual framework of a simulated augmented reality
lab which could be used in teaching science in classrooms. The recent years, the
importance of lab-based courses and its significant role in the science education is
irrefutable. The use of AR in formal education could prove a key component in future
learning environments that are richly populated with a blend of hardware and software
applications. The aim of this project is to enhance the teaching and learning of science
by complementing the existing traditional lab with the use of a simulated augmented
reality lab. The system architecture and the technical aspects of the proposed project
will be described. Implementation issues and benefits of the proposed AR Lab will be
highlighted
- …