The Correlation between the Ability to Read and Manually Reproduce a 3D Image: Some Implications for 3D Information Visualisation

Most of us can recognize common 3D objects depicted in drawings, photographs and computer graphics. But, few of us are able to manually reproduce them in a convincing manner. This paper discusses a psychology experiment that investigates the variability in individual drawing ability and the ability to read 3D images. Currently, Shepard and Metzler’s Mental Rotation Test is the most popular test for spatial ability. This paper discusses the need to further investigate the correlation of 3D drawing ability and recognition and its potential effect on the legibility of the 3D information visualisation application. This paper reports ongoing research in this field

The pedagogical benefits of remote design collaboration in a 3D virtual environment

Researchers are beginning to explore the role of digital design collaboration within multi-user 3D virtual environments. In the latest installment of an ongoing remote digital design collaboration project with the Sydney University Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition, the University of Queensland Information Environments Program (IEP) co-coordinated an online performance of T. S. Eliot's 'The Cocktail Party' in a 3D virtual world environment. This paper describes the process and pedagogical outcomes of early learners collaborating remotely in digital 3D media

Encoded cultural heritage knowledge in Australian aboriginal traditional representation of country

From tactile paintings in sand to acrylic on board, Australian Aboriginal performative art can be thought of as also cultural heritage survival maps. This paper synthesises the two key authors' work [1; 2] that address this concept. In so doing, it sheds new light on understandings of the indexicality of the Australian Aboriginal cultural heritage survival map to form a theory of the cultural specificity of the conventions used and their role as storytelling navigation aids

Exploring the Central India Art of the Gond People: contemporary materials and cultural significance

This is the full paper of the short paper accepted for the iV2016 - 20th International Conference, Information Visualisation on 19 - 22 July 2016 at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, in Lisbon, Portugal.Prior to the Muslim invasions of the 14th century, the Gond people were a culturally significant tribe in central India. Today, their art and culture is being rediscovered by a local and international audience. This is due mainly to the events of exhibitions by the Gond artist Jangarh Singh Shyam's work in Paris and Japan, in 1988. Since then, other Gond artists have also had their work exhibited internationally. Despite this renewed interest in Gond art, little has been written about their work. While much is known about the people and their customs, little is known about their artworks and what motivates their style of art and the depiction of particular elements in their works. This paper begins to address this apparent gap in the literature by reviewing a recent contemporary art exhibition of Gond art at the Art Gallery of South Australia

Ancestral Forces in Contemporary Indigenous Australian Women's Art: 3 Case Studies of Multi-dimensional Cultural Heritage Knowledge

The transition from ephemeral, ceremonial art to more permanent acrylic-on-board paintings has made Australian Aboriginal art more accessible to the public than ever before. However, early examples contained secret/sacred motifs and stories - knowledge recorded in the paintings that was normally only made available to initiates. In turn, this prompted contemporary Australian Aboriginal artists to hide, camouflage or remove the sensitive material from their work. It is only recently, through inter-gender and inter-cultural collaborations between contemporary Indigenous Australian artists and non-indigenous ethnographers and anthropologists, that the full ramifications of this transition is becoming apparent. This paper discusses 3 case studies where the traditional expression of Kuruwarri, or Ancestral power, has been transformed through contemporary Australian Aboriginal women's art

Visualising Human Motion: a First Principles Approach using Vicon data in Maya

Author version made available in accordance with publisher copyright policy.This paper describes a first principles approach to understanding how 3D digital animation of human motion can be processed and produced from raw data, without the use of proprietary software. The paper describes how students collected motion data using a custom marker set, how this was used to create a point cloud, how errors were corrected, and finally how the skeleton was rigged, skinned and modelled in Maya

Re-writing Recent History: Developing a National Reconciliation Pedagogy Using a Video Game for School Age Children

Australian Aboriginal people have suffered ignominy through British policies and practices since the legal conquest of their land in 1788. They have been historically and socially misrepresented on the premise of their race alone. Recent attempts at reconciliation have come some way towards a shared culture. However, the national curriculum has not been effective in promoting reconciliation as an important part of a student's education. As a pedagogical tool for advancing notions of reconciliation a game was developed. The goal of the game is for students to experience notions of trust, empathy and collaboration - core to notions of reconciliation. Initial evaluation of the game suggests these goals are being met

Developing virtual heritage application with 3D collaborative virtual environments and mobile devices in a multi-cultural team: experiences and challenges

Until recently museums have been the sole repositories of an objective factual history. However, with the advent of online interactive media, there has been a shift to alternate forms of cultural exposition. This paper presents a project where 3D CVE is augmented with mobile devices in order to support a collaborative educational exploration of a famous historical site in Norway, where Battle of Stiklestad took place in 1030. This system can be used by both local and distant learning communities, working together towards a common goal. The paper presents a background for the project and describes the preliminary design. Finally, the paper discusses the challenges associated with developing educational augmented virtual heritage applications in a multicultural context

Reflections on reflection: blogging in undergraduate design studios

In this paper we describe our experiences introducing weblogs as an online design journal into two design-based IT degrees. We introduced weblogs to support reflection by the students within a studio process. We view this introduction as successful and we have continued using blogs in the subsequent academic year, although we have made some changes to take account of problems with scale, sophistication and effort

The summer games

As part of a nationally funded project, we have developed and used \u27games\u27 as student centred teaching resources to enrich the capacity for design in beginning students in architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. Students are encouraged to learn inter-actively in a milieu characterised by self-directed play in a low-risk computer modelling environment. Recently thirteen upper year design students, six from Adelaide University (Adelaide, South Australia, Australia), five from Deakin University (Geelong, Victoria, Australia), and two from Victoria University, (Wellington, New Zealand) were commissioned over a ten-week period of the 2000-2001 Australian summer to construct a new series of games. This paper discusses the process behind constructing these games.This paper discusses six topical areas:&ndash; what is a game;&ndash; specific goals of the summer games;&ndash; the structure of a game;&ndash; the game-making process;&ndash; key findings from the production unit; and&ndash; future directions.<br /