Between Two Worlds:Virtuality in Arts and Teaching

Virtual worlds provide a platform in which to construct compelling experiences not possible within the material and temporal constraints of the physical world. The virtual realm has the potential to be united and engaged by physicality--informing and transforming the audience\u27s experience of exhibition in a profoundly transformative nature. The Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts at Ball State University has been incorporating mixed-reality approaches into museum exhibitions, musical performances, installation art, and interface over the last several years. This paper documents specific explorations of the opportunities of the Second Life environment for mixed-reality experiences--analyzing approaches to bridging the worlds such as media streaming, client-side interaction, an external web server communication hub, as well as opportunities for human/computer interaction

Investigating the Effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning in 3D Virtual Worlds. A Preliminary Report on the Hadrian’s Villa Project

This paper discusses a recent study to test the effectiveness of combining 3D virtual worlds (VWs) with Problem Based Learning (PBL) in archaeological education of undergraduate college students at two American universities. The testbed used was a virtual world of Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli (Italy), a World Heritage Site dating to the reign of Hadrian (117-138 CE). At both universities courses were offered on the villa using a PBL approach in such a way that the relative strengths and weaknesses of learning based on face-to-face, 2D, and VW presentations could be assessed. The study helped to clarify ways in which VWs can most appropriately be used as an aid to PBL

3D digital reconstructions of lost buildings: a first critical framing

This paper presents a first critical framing of 3D digital reconstructions of lost buildings, hence focusing on reconstructions using 3D models. This critical framing is constituted by reflections on definitions, concepts, methodologies and digital technologies. Much experimentation in the digital reconstruction of lost buildings has produced valuable results during the last twenty years, but the variety of methods, software types, and purposes should be reorganized into clear operational protocols to allow sharing of information and collaboration across disciplines. We have therefore investigated the diverse approaches towards digital reconstructions of lost buildings and found that digital reconstructions are not typically aimed at simple visualizations: they are often further developed in virtual environments, information systems and tools for simulations and analysis. In this sense they are not products but instruments for further research and/or heritage conservation. Counter the large number of theoretical positions, methods and tools specific to different disciplines, such as architecture and archaeology, we can find the almost total absence of a comprehensive critical assessment. This paper, which is part of a larger project, intends to open and articulate a debate on how to define, analyze and critically systematize the methodologies for the digital reconstruction of lost buildings

New Light on the Relationship between the Montecitorio Obelisk and Ara Pacis of Augustus

The article takes as its point of departure recent work (Frischer forthcoming) critiquing the theory of Edmund Buchner about the relationship of the gnomonical instrument known as the Horologium Augusti and the Ara Pacis Augustae. As a result of this critique, the Montecitorio Obelisk could be situated with greater precision on the map of the city. A computer simulation showed that Buchner erred in positing that the shadow of the Montecitorio Obelisk went into the center of the Ara Pacis on Augustus’ birthday. In this article, computer simulations are used to develop a post-Buchnerian interpretation of the relationship of the obelisk and altar. Over 230 hitherto unrecognized solar and shadow alignments are reported. The first part of the article defines four zones around the monuments where the solar and shadows observations were made. In the second part of the article, specialists interpret the significance of the annual solar and shadow spectacle from various points of view. The conclusion synthesizes the results, arguing that the monuments were intentionally aligned and situated in order to propagate the same message as the one inscribed on two sides of the Montecitorio Obelisk [CIL 6.702 = ILS 91]: that Augustus was a devoted worshipper of the sun god (Sol), who brings Rome victory in war, peace, and prosperity through his earthly representative, the emperor