PAPERS
The Role of Unreal in Open-Air Museums
Peter Inker, Colonial Williamsburg (USA), EXARC (the Netherlands)
What role does virtual reality play in the real world of Open-Air museums? Is it just a new thing, a solution looking for a problem? Are we seeking to replace the real world with the unreal, and if so, why? Most open-air museum reconstructions are fixed in the real world. By presenting these only in real world form it is difficult to show a full and true representation of our understanding of the past. These fixed, real-world reconstructions are rarely able to show variability, different versions of the past, multiple periods, the research process, or differing interpretations. These static versions of the past can often be misleading, fixing in the memory one version of the past, and therefore implying the reconstruction is a real example of the past. But we ourselves are stuck in the present and we cannot directly access or experience the past. This means that we cannot remove the present from the reconstruction and replace it with the past. This paper looks at the ways in which digital reconstruction can help us to remove some of those limitations. Digital reconstruction tools need not be seen as a replacement of what is real. They can provide useful research methods to understand the past, such as testing hypotheses and stimulating research questions that in turn prompt action in the real world. They can introduce levels of variability over time, and illustrate the processes of change that are nearly impossible to see in the real world. They also provide useful methods of engagement, that meet the audience where they are, encouraging a connection with the past. We are not replacing the real with the unreal, but rather simply augmenting the physical reality of the open-air museum.
Unlocking (3D) digital Heritage
Kate Fernie and Henk Alkemade, Carare (Ireland)
This presentation and extended discussion will offer you the opportunity to find out about using standards and metadata for 3D cultural heritage to make it FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). We will present some inspiring examples from across Europe, of the creation and use/ re-use of 3D content that are relevant to oen-air Museums and reconstructions and we will discuss with you some lessons learned in the process.
Experiencing the Lower German Limes in a game-based Way
Stephan Engelhard, LVR-Archaeological Park Xanten, Xanten (Germany)
The Lower Rhine area is currently one of the most interesting parts of the Lower German Limes. Archaeologists have discovered various remains of military sites in recent years that bear witness to the efforts made by the Roman Empire to secure its northwestern frontier. A new exhibition tells that the river Rhine was not an impassable border. On the contrary, the ancient landscape evolved into a zone of mutual contacts, for example Roman soldiers venerated a Germanic goddess. Designed to appeal to children and young visitors, a digital experience raises curiosity to explore the new exhibition. With this self-led activity, children take on the role of a trader, learn about the life of Roman legionaries and discover everyday life in a Germanic settlement. Interactive riddles and in-game activities thus contribute to a new educational offer in a playful way.
Digitally Restoring Museum Objects to Their Original Context: Testing a New Dissemination Application at the Lofotr Viking Museum in Borg, Lofoten
Elin Tinuviel Torbergsen, Museum Nord and University of Oslo (Norway)
The objective is to create a digital relationship between the original finds in the cultural landscape and the objects inside the stand exhibition at the Lofotr Viking Museum at Borg in Lofoten, Norway. Here, the context of the find and the objects are separated. Visitors have problems understanding the historical significance of the cultural landscape at the museums and its relationship to the objects in the exhibitions. This is a general challenge that applies to many archaeological and cultural history museums, and this article will provide examples that can help solve the challenges. This is done by creating a situated AR-simulated prototype which test candidates can download on smartphones and tablets. The purpose of the test run is to find out whether the situated AR simulation appears real and contributes to a greater understanding between the original context and the objects. Since the article is in production, I can only point out the desired results. Through a questionnaire and observations, I want the test candidates to express themselves of their digital experience. That they understand the connection between objects and the site of discovery, by seeing them transferred digitally to the original site through a 3D constructed environment. In this way, they will be able to physically experience by looking for the objects in a 3D constructed landscape with Viking houses, people, and animals. But also, visually see the objects from a fragmented state to a reconstructed whole, and its entire context as an object of use in the Viking Age.
Enriching Technologies for a die-hard 'hands on' Presentation
Jack Veldman, Archeon (the Netherlands), Imtal Europe (Sweden)
Museumpark Archeon in the Netherlands offers visitors a real 'hands on' experience. Visitors get to experience for themselves what life was like in prehistory, Roman times, and the Middle Ages in our country. And they get to physically participate in many things themselves. Yet digital technologies offer a rich source of additional depth to this experience. Through different media and technologies, we can offer visitors more depth, matching the experience we already give them.
For Archeon, approachability and accessibility are hugely important. We do not achieve our goal with long texts and dry tours.
Digital solutions have already been realised at some locations in the museum park and are experienced as enriching. The Triclinium, a rich Roman dining hall, offers a VR experience of a cena, so you imagine yourself amid a real Roman 'cena' (Roman official meal).
In the Roman section, children can open an app that allows them to do an exciting scavenger hunt. Our online collection features 360o photos, so all objects can be admired all around, just at home behind your computer.
We will talk about these, and other digital solutions already realised, and talk about our plans.
When Digital hits the Museum: Experiences of our Museum with 3D
Dr Rüdiger Kelm, Steinzeitpark Dithmarschen (Germany)
The Stone Age Park Dithmarschen in Albersdorf (Germany) is an archaeological open-air museum focussing on the Stone Age. It consists of an outdoor park area of about 40 hectares. This includes archaeological monuments, reconstructed Mesolithic, and Neolithic buildings and a recently opened museum building with an exhibition of original artifacts.
Like in any other museum our challenge is to save and document information, especially practical work techniques and craft skills, in a sustainable way for future museum generations. Because of the evolving questions of this perspective the Stone Age Park joined Retold in 2020.
In our day-to-day business, we have no time to document, digitise and share the stories of our buildings, crafts, and such. Every step in this process was new for us, starting with the communication and data storage until the advanced creation of 3D-models of our buildings. Especially the 3D-models work as a perfect stage for sharing information about a building, whether you are standing inside it or if you are anywhere else in the world. For example, if our maintenance staff has this model on their tablet, they can walk through the house and make notes in the 3D model about repairs needed.
In the presentation it will be shown all the steps we had to solve as a smaller museum for the possibility to create 3D-models of our House reconstructions, from getting the hardware, learning to work with the software, creating 3D-models in real, use and publish them and spread this knowledge to other museums.
Not just Storytelling. Documentation traditional Crafts in a Museum Setting
Dr George Tomegea, Complexul National Muzeal ASTRA (Romania)
In open-air museums the presentation of crafts is a basic component in communicating heritage to the public. This usually takes the form either of demonstrations or participatory craft workshops performed by craftspeople or museum educators, or classical presentations.
The importance of documenting crafts is increasing day by day because these crafts are slowly disappearing. Several factors contribute to this. For example, craftspeople are getting older, and less young people interested in taking over, there is a lack of demand for their products, and people want to pay less and less, authorities are hardly involved.
Unfortunately, there is currently no international standard for documenting crafts that meets the needs of both researchers and the interested public. Based on our experience over the years, we have developed a user-friendly tool that can be used to store and pass on relevant information on crafts. Of course, this form is a proposal, to which additions, improvements or modifications may be made in the future as it is tested on a larger scale. However, we believe that it will be of real use in day-to-day work, both in terms of the information it contains and in terms of efficiency for those who will use it, as the database created will be of a uniform nature and can be used in future research.
Integrating this form into a digital tool offers multiple advantages like the opportunity to create a global database, the possibility to be used with any inexpensive device such as a smartphone, tablet or laptop, easy access to and use of information, mobility offered by such an alternative, short completion time, and instant updating with new information.
Going Digital, Issues, Challenges, and Results
Dr Roeland Paardekooper, EXARC (the Netherlands)
We designed the RETOLD Project to professionalise open-air museums. Little did we know what challenges we were waking up. What we want to capture are the stories of our museums and the people involved. We do not show a 3D model of “just a longhouse”, we show a specific house. The video and its documentation are not about “just a craft”, it shows a unique event. These are different steps of interpretation (cf Hurcombe 2015).
Going digital helped us in structuring the information, also for colleagues in other museums, for those speaking other languages and for the public around the world. An important result is that we broke the code of how to document crafts (as example of activities) and buildings (as example of physical things). The other important outcome is the interface which makes it easier to use these long questionnaires, plus a way of extracting the information in an attractive way.
Our biggest challenge was the dialogue. We all had to lean out of our comfort zone, and it was hard. We have partners in several countries, we have archaeological open-air museums as well as a historical open-air museum, a university, technical developers, and people “in between”. It took the museums three years to explain what they needed in a language the developers could understand. It took the developers three years to get it done, and yes, much of this overlapped within the four years we had.
We are not ready! We have a very solid base, and what we have to offer is not just a product, we offer a journey. With little effort, your content can be much more valuable. Will you join us?
Digitisation and 3D Visualisation: The State-of-The-Art vs Technological Appropriateness for Cultural Heritage Sites
Cordula Hansen, XYZ Technical Art Services GmbH (Germany)
As part of the RETOLD project, we planned an extensive phase of user research, where we listened to staff and volunteers in open-air museums to learn more about their experience of using digital technology, before, during and after the Covid pandemic. This presentation summarises the results and explores the barriers of adoption of digital tools and methods in open-air museums and other cultural institutions. We discuss the organisational and cultural factors contributing to the issue and offer an overview of approaches from the RETOLD project to lowering the barrier of entry for museums with regard to using digital technologies and 3D visualisation.
