Representing Reformation: 3D Scanning and Documentation Conference: Day 2
We were welcomed on the second day by Ross Parry (University of Leicester) who spoke briefly about the previous day’s proceedings and outlined the day’s theme ‘Wider 3D scanning & digitisation projects,’ he also introduced each of the speakers in turn.
So, with the day over, and the conference at an end there must come time for reflection and thinking about the variety of topics presented. In Day 2’s papers there was an emphasis on the mechanics of using and applying a variety of technologies to the speakers’ projects. For that reason, I too am changing the format of this blog from Day 1. Readers will notice that I have not included audience questions, this is because the technical nature of query and response was, to be honest, rather over my head so, what I will give here are synopses of the speakers’ papers as they struck me.
First up was Mike Howe (British Geological Survey) with ‘Laser scanning 563 million years of evolution: the JISC GB/3D type fossils online project’. Mike started by explaining to us lay-people what type fossils are and gave us a bit of history on how they had been catalogued and displayed. The historical practice had been to provide specimens to the Geological Society on publication of a paper in their journal. This created a huge body of specimens that required housing, care and display. Unfortunately, the Geological Society made a decision to choose its library over its museum and the collection was dispersed.
Currently there are three databases for type specimens: the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; the Natural History Museum, University of Oxford; and the Geological Survey, Type Specimens. A proposal was submitted to JISC to work with partner institutions and local museums countrywide to create a single British database of type fossils. A side-effect of the project has been the re-assessment of type fossils, leading to changes of classification. A core element of the project is to make the database freely accessible to the public with an interactive element to aid online research.
Mike highlighted the requirement that research needs to be of use and value and posited that the best measure of impact is reuse of raw data. This idea of value was one carried forward from the previous day and was a recurring theme in the papers to follow.
If you wish to see more of Mike’s work, follow it at http://gb3dtyepfossils.blogspot.co.uk
Andrew Wilson (University of Bradford) followed with ‘3D Bones – Digital documentation of skeletal remains’. In this fascinating paper Andrew stressed documentation as a prime interest and goal of this JISC funded project. The fragility of the most requested specimens mirrors arts and humanities concerns about the potential of damage to vulnerable and unique objects. In Andrew’s field, palaeopathology of human osteology the specimens are just as irreplaceable as the individual work of art, as these bones show the unchecked progress of disease, which would be unavailable through modern samples due to advances in treatment protocols that alter disease progression, even if they cannot always halt or reverse it.
Handling of human remains is preferable to teaching through models that tend to even out and obscure natural variation, but this handling causes immense damage to samples and as iterated above, it is often the most fragile items that are most frequently requested.
3D scanning is also invaluable at sites where sensitivity demands that finds be re-interred. In an echo of Annemarie and Marco’s difficulties with uncooperative materials, Andrew explained that bones too can be uncooperative due to their inherent porosity. A further difficulty in scanning is that lasers do not have the subtlety to differentiate pathological holes from surface topography. The project team’s two artists provide the missing subtlety through colouring and texturing. It can take anything from 15 – 100 photographs to work out the texturing on a single bone, bringing out the labour intensive nature of the work, which likewise was a shared theme in many papers.
With complexity and detail as driving factors every scan has to be re-checked. This is done collaboratively by the project’s clinician.
Andrew passed his iPad amongst the delegates so that we could experience at first hand the quality and interactive capabilities of the finished product. The 3D scans are being used for teaching in Bradfield University and have received highly positive feedback from students, comparing them favourably with actual specimens and above photographic reproductions in standard text books.
Read the blog at: http://digitiseddiseases.wordpress.com/
In a witty segue we went from bones to stones as Paul Bryan (English Heritage) took us on a tour of recent work at Stonehenge. He showed how the use of digital technology can create findings that exceed expectations, for example in how the stones were worked and the uncovering of prehistoric carvings that are invisible to the naked eye. The data creates a detailed record of the Stones in their current condition, and it will be possible to determine the impact of public access to the Stones at the Solstices, amongst other challenges in conservation.
Re-use of the data with virtual content will enhance the visitor experience when the new Visitors’ Centre opens.
See more at: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/
Time for an extended coffee break after which we reassembled for David Arnold (Director of Research Initiatives and Dean of Brighton Doctoral College) who spoke about ‘3D documentation: Current Practice and future potential’. A useful web address to go with his paper is: www.3D-COFORM.eu. Working with nineteen partners over four years the goal is to make 3D documentation a practical alternative for Cultural Heritage Institutions. An obstacle to this is the lack of a shared thesaurus/taxonomy/semantics of shape. Another challenge is the exclusion of properties, such as physicality, chemical components and density. These too will require the creation of a standardized descriptive language (in my opinion). The benefits of 3D scanning have been previously expressed, but I will reiterate them. They are: better control of access, diminution of wear and tear, and superior visualization of items that may be too small, intricate or inaccessible for manual handling.
See the National Palace Museum of Taiwan’s carved olive stone boat as an example:
http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/collection/selections_02.htm?docno=904&catno=12&pageno=2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYmgbY-DPn4
Documentation may allow novel analysis, condition monitoring, provide an opportunity to record temporary exhibitions and provide an alternative when items are out on loan. 3D documentation has a role to play in providing provenance for stolen artefacts. David gave us the incredible statistic that one public sculpture goes missing every week in Britain. 3D documentation also offers an alternative route to commercial exploitation through the production of replicas as souvenirs.
A technical detail that at this stage goes over my head, but may be of interest to readers is David’s advocacy of C.CRM as a semantic web approach to documentation, i.e. text and annotation as a better way of navigating through different datasets, as it is used by Museums, Libraries and Archives.
After lunch we had a reversal of order recommencing with Stephen Gray (University of Bristol) and ‘The challenges of using 3D digital tools and methodologies across different research disciplines’. Stephen spoke about JISC support services and their role in democratizing technology. He also addressed the issue to the legal grey area surrounding sharing and publishing 3D content and posed the question: is there a need for a different legal framework? He shared with us projects as diverse as the use of augmented reality in teaching veterinary students and motion capture in choreography and sports.
JISC supports a culture of data reuse, so Stephen outlined what’s available, for example RCUK (2013) along with challenges associated with handling and storing big data sets.
The final paper was given by Douglas Pritchard (Director of Operations at CyArk Europe and Creative Director at CyArk California). Visually this was certainly the most engaging of papers and I have to admit that I was so enthralled that note taking was suspended, as Doug took us on a tour of the most amazing projects being undertaken to document designated world heritage sites. The focus was on the Scottish Ten project that has been mandated to capture five Scottish sites and five international sites.
As a gauge of just how impressive these projects are, the reader may compare them imaginatively to any extreme sport they are familiar with and multiple that by a factor of a hundred (at least). With Mount Rushmore (USA) and Rani Ki Vav (India) as just two examples you will understand that we are dealing here literally with ‘big data’! I did however pull myself together long enough to record an audience question.
Audience Question: How long is post-processing?
For everyday of scanning there is one to two days of post-processing.
Following Doug’s tour de force presentation we had tea and the round table discussion, chaired by Peter Findlay (JISC).
Some of the themes Peter presented were:
Innovation
Adaptation/Re-purposing
Capacity
Agendas
Interpretation
Open/sharing
Other themes of the day:
Knowledge sharing
Impact on the wider society
Teaching and Learning
Standards
Rights
Authenticity
Uses
In conclusion:
For a novice in the area of Digital Arts and Humanities, much of the wealth of technical knowledge went over my head, but the openness and collegiate attitude of the organizers, speakers, students and interested persons created an environment full of opportunities to learn. What I took away at a professional level is the sheer complexity of creating a single 3D scan, never mind creating a realistic virtual environment that can be toured by the web user. However complexity is not synonymous with impossibility, as was demonstrated by the variety of projects presented.
