Virtual Heritage Colloquium- A witness to Enhanced Realities in Virtual Heritage: Potentials and Limitations

By Mario Santana, Architect, M Sc. In Conservation of Built Heritage
R. Lemaire Centre for Conservation, KU Leuven - Stadtbaugeschichte, RWTH Aachen

The Fourth Special Session on Virtual Heritage and a Virtual Heritage Colloquium during the Seventh International Virtual Systems and MultiMedia Conference brought together numerous experts from diverse backgrounds and nationalities to present, share, and experience knowledge 'in multimedia and virtual reality state of the art applications' for the study and promotion of heritage.

Organized by the Virtual Heritage Network [http://www.virtualheritage.net], The International Society on Virtual Systems and MultiMedia [http://www.vsmm.org/vsmm2001] and the Center for Design Visualization, University of California Berkeley, [http://www.cdv.berkeley.edu] the conference was held on the University of California, Berkeley campus from 25 to 27 October 2001.

Participants discussing technology and culture

The Impact of the Virtual Heritage Colloquium
The special Colloquium held immediately prior to the full conference gathered more than 40 academics, professionals, government officials, and cultural leaders from around the globe and representing the spectrum of preservation (conservation), heritage, culture, museum, computing technology and new media.

This event enabled a chance to meet, in addition to a rich and extended debate, exploration, and exchange of ideas for improving the documentation, implementation of information systems, dissemination tools, and the collaboration of networks for cooperation.

Documentation: State of the Art and Trends
The morning included a discussion and debate of issues related to documentation of heritage. The roundtable focused on appropriate identification and acquisition of information sources (geometric "morphology", historical documentary, condition mapping, and others) to produce a selected dataset for understanding a place or object and its context using the highest possible precision. We generally agreed that precision and observational accuracy should be determined according to limitations of budget, accessibility, and other issues. Furthermore, the process should be optimised according to the application requirements (inventories, restoration-monitoring, archaeological-historical research, condition mapping, visitors, etc) and related to their associated Target audiences (professional, visitor, decision maker).

Diagram of "Documentation: State of the Art and Trends"

Participants pointed out and discussed limitations dealing with the need of different level of detail, the rapid obsolesce of technology, the need for optimisation and development of sustainable technology for developing countries, issues of copyright in sharing information, and the definition of accuracy and precision in each context.

Information systems "A Lasagna Approach"
The debate continued addressing the characteristics of visual information systems (as opposed to geographic information systems) and their use of storage, retrieval, visualization, and management tools for sharing and disseminating the sources of information using adequate interfaces. Likened to a lasagna, a multilayered approach was advocated.

Diagram: Information Systems

A relevant contribution of the discussion was the need for transparent communication and sharing of protocols, standards, and interfaces used in the system with fluidity and consistency, taking into consideration that sources and records can have accessibility issues due to copyright and other ownership issues.

The need for implementing feedback systems for verification and improvement, avoiding misleading visualizations, the competition between data and metadata, and obsolesce were among the most common problems exposed.

Diagram: Information Systems

Continuing on to dissemination and presentation, the discussion dealt with the use and limitations of two- and three-dimensional representation tools for disseminating the actual state of the object, and chronological regression studies using hypothetical visualizations (Phases of construction). These tools should address the verification of the interpretation process (Level of detail (LOD), the process, participation level, identification, and selection sources.

Networks & Next Steps
The last part of the event focused on the identification of different initiatives and organisations dealing with Cultural Heritage and Digital Technologies. Since our audience included representatives from a good number of the organisations and institutions working in the area, we were able to learn about their objectives and goals and discern similarities and differences. It was proposed that we work to establish linkages and adequate channels of communications to exchange information (sharing: data, experiences, protocols, standards), perhaps jointly even apply for funding; as well as to avoid misleading applications (ethics).

Diagram: Network

The organizations represented consisted in bodies for authentification (member based), support and funding, portals (information providers), clearance houses, training (Guidelines providers), Implementation of projects and research (end-user feedback), and body of experts.

A common problem in virtual heritage appears to be the lack and restricted nature of funding available.

Participants
Academic institutions, trusts, and museums: Center for Design Visualization (UC Berkeley, USA), Getty Conservation Institute (USA), Sydney University (Australia), Korea Insitute of Science & Tecnology (Korea), Wheeling Jesuit University (USA), University of Calgary (Canada), University of Melbourne (Australia), Gifu University (Japan), University at Buffalo (USA), University of Bergen (Germany), R. Lemaire Centre for Conservation (KU Leuven, Belgium), Institute for Simulation and Training (University of Central Florida, USA), Concordia University (Canada), Chalmers University of Technology (USA), Columbia University (USA), Multimedia Authoring Center for Teaching in Anthropology (UC Berkeley, USA), North Dakota State University (USA), University of Iowa (USA), Peabody Museum (Harvard University, USA), University of Illinois at Chicago (USA), UCLA (USA), American Academy in Rome (USA), Polytechnic of Milan (Italy), Arizona Center for Desert Archaeology (USA), and Aachen University (RWTH Aachen, Germany).

Mr. Chris Gray, Getty Conservation Institute

Professional bodies and Cultural Network Initiatives: Virtual Heritage Network (VHN), Virtual Systems and Multimedia Society (VSMM), CIPA-ICOMOS, the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI), Cultural Virtual Reality Organization (CVRO), Institute for the Visualization of History, and the Vrheritage.org.

Dr. Ian Johnson, ECAI, Prof Robert Stone, Executive Director, Virtual Heritage Network

Governmental agencies: Italian National Research Council, US National Technology Transfer Center, and the Vienna Archaeological Service.

Lon Addison, Executive Director of the Virtual Heritage Network

Companies: Shoot Digital (USA), Learning Sites (USA), SUN Microsystems (USA), Virtual Presence (UK), 3D Veritas Srl (Italy), Glass House Studios (USA), and Octree Corporation (USA).

Mads Peter Herluf, Chair of the new VRheritage.org in Denmark

The Virtual Heritage Session: sharing experiences and knowledge

During the VSMM2001 conference, the Fourth Special Session on Virtual Heritage continued the discussions and presentations of Virtual Heritage. The keynote by Dr John Gage, Chief Researcher and Director of the Science Office, for Sun Microsystems, Inc. offered the opportunity of experiencing 'high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, elevation data, GPS coordinates, and overlay information about cities and businesses to deliver a streaming, 3D map of the entire globe' (www.keyholecorp.com). This application presents a revolutionary look of the world through the use of a desktop computer.

Sun Microsystem's Chief Scientist, Dr. John Gage,
VSMM2001 Opening Plenary Keynote

A rich and upbeat conference video prepared by Rachel Strickland, Ross Anderson, and the staff of MACTIA (UC Berkeley) at the opening plenary presented a dynamic and attractive summary of animations from a cross-section of the published papers. The Proceedings, published by the IEEE, came to over 800 pages, a VSMM record, and are a rich archive of the latest work in virtual systems and multimedia.

Following the issues shared and debated in the Virtual Heritage Colloquium, the conference Virtual Heritage Session of presentations, roundtables and other activities provided the participants with an extended overview of the latest advances in the use of documentation and dissemination technology for studying heritage.

Papers presented in this session showcased a variety of innovative technical work and applications, including multimedia in communicating and exploring culture, acquisition and modelling techniques, geo-temporal 3D databases, object and image restoration and modelling, virtual and augmented environments for museums, and philosophical issues dealing with the study of heritage using these technologies.

Award winning papers highlighted several approaches in the use of multimedia and virtual reality: from the original, and use of attractive abstract visualizations of reality, to enhanced links to other sources of information presented at the case study of the "Historical Landscape and Culture of West Lake in Media" (Chen, L. and Kiriyama, T.) to the adequate scientific grounds of 'VR as a Tool for Architectural & Archaeological Restoration: The "Ancient Appian Way 3D Web Virtual GIS' (Gaiani, M.) for developing a method to digitally record and represent 3D data over the Web for restoration and monitoring of architectural heritage.

Other relevant papers, such as 'Virterf: a Vision of Heritage Conservation' (Nuyts, K. & Van Balen, K., and Smars, P.) presented the development of a tool from professionals working in the documentation for conservation projects that combines recent developments in computer vision and reverse engineering.

'Communicating Culture and Exploring Landscape: An Experiment in Digital Heritage in the Loire Valley' (Addison, A., Strickland, R. and Ceccarelli, N.) offered an inexpensive medium for management, recording, and dissemination of a cultural and natural site, while 'Enhanced Cultural Heritage Environments by Augmented Reality Systems' (Aguil—, C., LorŽs, J. et al), presented an innovative proposal for the use of augmented reality applied to the visit of an archaeological site.

An "Anthropology, Heritage, and Virtual Heritage" roundtable organized by the MACTIA Center (UC Berlekey) gathered a series of experts, students, and other staff member in the discussion of issues in sustainable 'Low tech (or low cost)' technologies for first-hand projects.

A crowded special session on The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative [ECAI, http://www.ecai.org] discussed the use of a global shared time-map GIS database and displayed different case studies, addressing the use of remote sensing and GIS for Visualization of Cultural Research and related issues.

Summary and contribution
The Special Virtual Heritage Colloquium and the Virtual Heritage Conference Session provided a rare opportunity to exchange, experience, and learn about innovative techniques and methods for appropriate use of documentation and dissemination technology for promoting the understating of heritage alongside a global gathering of experts.

The destruction of monuments by terrorist acts, and the numerous monuments affected by natural phenomenon in recent worldwide events are perfect examples of the need for adequate documentation and dissemination of heritage.

This event is relevant for the study of heritage that not only contributes to the creation of a permanent record of its past and present, but also to understanding its importance, both of which encourage its future conservation.

Contact information
Mario Santana: mario.santana@asro.kuleuven.ac.be
Alonzo Addison: addison5@socrates.berkeley.edu