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One of the roles of traditional museums was that to support cultural identities. According to UNESCO's definition, the heritage that generates the identity of a community is both material (objects, architectural constructions), and immaterial (represented by technologies, customs).In order to preserve today, and to transfer into the future the identity of a community, a solution is the digitalization of both categories of cultural heritage, complemented by a subsequent structuring of the information, starting from the objects and buildings, up to their utilization by people. This logical process outlines the possible structure of a virtual museum of cultural identity. The virtual museum we have implemented within the Time Maps Project (www.timemaps.net), following the above mentioned concept, in a first stage presents to the visitor the objects specific to the local history, virtually reconstructed in 3D. In a secondary stage, the visitor can study the technologies behind the manufacturing of the 3D objects, explained by means of a series of video films. In the third stage, the visitor will be immersed in the architectural contexts virtually reconstructed, in which the 3D objects have been introduced, as well as the human characters that utilize these objects, the latter being created with 3D photogrammetry techniques. The 3D content has been simplified for optimal utilization of the virtual museums in online and mobile environments. The e-learning experiments with the virtual museums of cultural identity have been performed in different rural and urban communities within the Time Maps project, and will be described and discussed in the current paper.
Abstract: One of the roles of traditional museums was that to support cultural identities. According to UNESCO's definition, the heritage that generates the identity of a community is both material (objects, architectural constructions), and immaterial (represented by technologies, customs).In order to preserve today, and to transfer into the future the identity of a community, a solution is the digitalization of both categories of cultural heritage, complemented by a subsequent structuring of the information, starting from the objects and buildings, up to their utilization by people. This logical process outlines the possible structure of a virtual museum of cultural identity. The virtual museum we have implemented within the Time Maps Project (www.timemaps.net), following the above mentioned concept, in a first stage presents to the visitor the objects specific to the local history, virtually reconstructed in 3D. In a secondary stage, the visitor can study the technologies behind the manufacturing of the 3D objects, explained by means of a series of video films. In the third stage, the visitor will be immersed in the architectural contexts virtually reconstructed, in which the 3D objects have been introduced, as well as the human characters that utilize these objects, the latter being created with 3D photogrammetry techniques. The 3D content has been simplified for optimal utilization of the virtual museums in online and mobile environments. The e-learning experiments with the virtual museums of cultural identity have been performed in different rural and urban communities within the Time Maps project, and will be described and discussed in the current paper.
Keywords: heritage; cultural identity; Virtual Reality; 3D objects; re-enactments.
I. INTRODUCTION
One of the roles of traditional museums was that to support cultural identities, i.e. rescue and promote the material and intangible heritage. According to UNESCO's definition [1] the heritage that generates the identity of a community is both material (objects, architectural constructions), and immaterial or intangible (represented by technologies, customs).
The traditional museum often presented the collections/exhibits in a de-contextualized manner and separated it from the public [2].
Starting with the second decade of the 20th century the museums developed more sophisticated methods for delivering the information by focusing on establishing a relationship between the visitors and the exhibit materials; this was achieved by using multi-media technologies and recreated contexts under the form of dioramas [3] which offered visitors an opportunity to understand the objects in their original contexts.
In last decades, due to the technological advancements [4] and development of the digital arts [5] 3D reconstructions of objects and architecture [6], became standard means to exhibit museums' artefacts or collections, culminating with the development of virtual museums (VMs), offline or online, organised and exposed on the internet [7]. World museums, e.g. Louvre, Smithsonian or Hermitage, developed VMs to facilitate the access and study of their most important collections [3][8]. The concept of VM further evolved to pure virtual museums, i.e. without having a correspondent in a physical museum or artifact.
VMs can be a solution to the problem of preserving and promoting a cultural identity. Thus, in order to preserve today and to transfer into the future the identity of a community a solution is the digitalisation of both categories of cultural heritage, complemented by a subsequent structuring of the information [3][7], starting from the objects and buildings up to their utilization by people. This logical process outlines the possible structure of a virtual museum of cultural identity.
Among the various benefits of VMs we find their capacity to serve as informal educational tools for children and adults [9][10][11] or as scientific tools for experts from the humanistic sciences [12].
Online VMs are modern virtual environments for distant learning [13], supporting modern learning paradigms such as learning in true contexts, building knowledge by experiential learning [14] or enhancing information retention by means of users' engagement [15].
The present paper discusses an innovative approach aimed at digitising the local material culture and immaterial heritage which define the local identity, and presenting it to the public, thus rescuing it for the future. Included in the approach is the collection and use of the resulted digital material for e-learning.
An overview discussion of the "Time Maps" project will be presented as a case study. The project was designed and coordinated by D. Gheorghiu at the National University of Arts (NUA) Bucharest. The project's website (www.timamaps.net) is designed as a combination of two VMs. The two VMs were developed using different implementation methods and display different degrees of complexity.
Aside from the storage function for the material and intangible heritage, Time Maps plays an educational role, its VMs acting to highlight the identity of several less known communities under the form of traditional objects and technologies, along with their usage.
Within the Time Maps project different instruments of distant learning have been designed and experimented, by means of the two categories of virtual museums, which will be detailed in the following chapters.
II. SIMILAR WORKS / STATE OF THE ART
According to [16] a working definition of the "virtual museum" could be: "...a logically related collection of digital objects composed in a variety of media which, because of its capacity to provide connectedness and various points of access, lends itself to transcending traditional methods of communicating and interacting with visitors.; it has no real place or space, its objects and the related information can be disseminated all over the world".
A virtual museum is synonymous with "on-line museum, electronic museum, hypermuseum, digital museum, cybermuseum or [...] Web museum depending on the backgrounds of the practitioners and researchers working in this field" [17].
The virtual museum concept embraces different categories [17]: a "content museum", usually made for experts, offers scientists access to the digital catalog of the museum's collections; a "learning museum" offers different points of access according to users' background, age or knowledge with the goal of making the virtual visitor "establish a personal relationship with the online-collection".
The pure "virtual museum" aims to "provide not only information [...] but to link to digital collections of others. In this way, digital collections are created which have no counterparts in the real world" [17].
Museums such as the Louvre, Smithsonian, and Hermitage offer both online "content museum" and "learning museums" for different collections. The "Dimitrie Gusti" and "Romanian Peasant" museums of Bucharest and the "Astra" museum from Sibiu provide panoramic virtual tours of the museums, as an immersive experience, which prepare the visitors for the exploration of their physical facilities. Virtual Reality applications and 3D modelling in online museum environments [12] represent the most advanced form of VMs, equivalent to computer games. Thus, the most recent VM implementations are based on gaming engines, e.g. Unity3D [18]. The European project V-MUST [19] offers a collection of mini-virtual museums representing 3D reconstructions of archaeological sites or ancient buildings, among which is one from the Time Maps project.
The issue of preserving local heritage using digital technologies has been addressed in previous works by the authors [20][21][22][23].
III. THE TIME MAPS VIRTUAL MUSEUM
As already mentioned, the Time Maps project and its web-site are composed of two types of virtual museums interlinked so as to complement their information offerings, and form an effective educational tool.
3.1 The museum of objects and technologies
This museum was designed as a succession of stages of material culture presentation (Figure 1a, b). For each chronological level selected as specific to the sites' identities, the most representative objects were identified. All of these specific objects have been rebuilt in 3D and form the first store of museum information.
The second level is that of the intangible heritage, i.e. of the technologies for manufacturing the stored identity items. The technologies were recreated experimentally, the stage being saved on video. For an exact understanding of each stage, the film captured the technological gesture, both from the perspective of the performer, or the "actor", and from that of the "observer" placed outside of the action [24].
A third level of functioning of the museum, focused on saving and transmitting the intangible heritage, is based on the use of objects already technologically analyzed. This stage is achieved through re-enactments, made in the form of performances made by actors wearing historical costumes. For both the technological and re-enactment stages, video recordings have been made to facilitate understanding of the technical processes and the use of objects, and form the e-learning material of this museum [25].
3.2 The immersive museum
In parallel with the operation of this virtual museum, the visitor is given the opportunity to learn the same subjects from the perspective of immersion in a virtual context (Figure 2). The virtual reconstructions of architectural spaces allow for a phenomenological complex experience, the visitor discovering here in a realistic way the objects and technologies studied previously. In some locations / sites where the project was implemented, the reconstruction of the contexts representing the site identity was carried out in Unity3D, and in other locations the reconstructions were executed in CryEngine [26].
Due to the access of the virtual museum through online and mobile environments, a first concern was the optimal design of the 3D content using Autodesk 3dMax modeling tools [27].
The possibility of moving into virtual spaces, which were rendered hyperrealistically, creates a feeling of immersion that can be exploited in the e-learning lessons.
Thus, in order to increase the degree of "realism" of the reconstructed contexts in some locations [28][29] real characters dressed in epoch costumes were scanned in 3D and introduced in the 3D scene, providing the link between the objects, their use and the reconstructed architectural contexts.
In order to relate the e-leaming lessons of the previously presented museum, they have been introduced, for example, on the Vădastra page [30] in the Unity reconstructions, next to each object, in the form of clickable hotspots to allow the transfer from Virtual Reality to reality (i.e. videos of reenactments). Thus, two different environments [22] have been linked, allowing the visitor the flexibility in receiving information / knowledge.
It can be argued that the most important aspect of this type of e-learning is that of learning in context. In this manner the visitor is given a much more realistic and complete understanding of the cultural-historical information.
IV. E-LEARNING IN THE VIRTUAL MUSEUM. THE CASE OF MANGALIA
One example of using e-learning within Time Maps is the Mangalia community (Figure 3a, b). The representative period selected for this location was the Hellenistic era, and consequently the most representative objects and architecture of this period were studied.
Pieces from the local museum, to mention only the Tanagra ceramic statuettes, were scanned in 3D followed by their technological re-enactment. Period dress was copied after the ceramic statuettes and costumed actresses were then scanned in 3D, their image and 3D objects being introduced into the virtual reconstructions of some buildings of the epoch.
This museum reconstruction of an important period in the history of the place allows for the remote learning of a quantity of information far superior to that provided by the local museum.
V. UTILIZATION AND RESULTS
The Time Maps Virtual Museum has been running since 2012. During this time a series of evaluations of its effectiveness as an e-learning tool have been conducted.
The National University of Arts in Bucharest has been continuously in touch with the communities involved in the project, especially with the Vădastra and Luica communities, teaching lessons on Skype to local schools by using the material of each community's pages, and periodically evaluating local school students [24][25][31].
5.1 Case Study: Vădastra school
In addition to the Skype lessons, a Google+ blog with questions regarding different technologies (i.e. textiles, glass, metal, ceramics, presented in the project's website), was created as a study tool [24][25].
The questions were answered with the help of local teachers in cooperation with teachers and master students from the NUA and were accessed from the Google+ page [32] of the project. These questions are listed below:
One of the short lessons posted on the blog addressed the ceramic modeling technology, very popular among students.
LESSONS OF THE UNDERSTANDING OF HISTORY IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS [32]
1. Describe the action in this movie using the information on Time Maps.
2. What operations are required to build a ceramic dish? Check the Time Maps website at: http: //timemaps.net/timemap/?page_id=35 9
3. Describe the ceramic objects of a prehistoric home using the information on the Time Maps website: http://timemaps.net/timemap/?page_id=42
LESSONS OF THE UNDERSTANDING OF HISTORY IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS [32]
1. Describe the walk through this Roman villa using the information on the Time Maps website http://timemaps.net/timemap/?page_id=44
2. What are the parts of a Roman villa?
3. What are the technology operations that took place in a Roman villa? Use the information on Time Map http://timemaps.net/timemap/?page_id=512&imgid=0
A sample response of the above question, from a Vădastra School student:
The pictures describe a trip to the Roman villa rustica, a building complex in the rural area, consisting of: the owner's house, the slave's house, the warehouse, the craft workshops, the yard of the villa, glass-making, glass processing, iron ore processing, the horizontal loom.
At the entrance to the courtyard is the ceramic oven, used in the household for various purposes, sleeping rooms, a kitchen. The walls were decorated with frescoes, on the ground were tiles. The housing inventory included: chairs, tables. Lighting was using candles or oil lamps".
(Adelina 6th grade).
In order to evaluate whether the virtual museum can be an efficient educational tool helping students improve their understanding and retention of information, a public history class has been conducted by the Vădastra School in February 2014, involving the participation of all the students from the primary and secondary classes of the Vădastra school and 30 teachers from other schools [33][34].
The results showed that, at the end of the one hour course, both students and teachers successfully responded to a 10 item questionnaire (Figure 4).
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The use of virtual museums as e-learning tools has proven their educational efficiency, as well as their effective role in the storage and transmission of intangible heritage.
Time Maps contributes to the cultural identity preservation effort. The experience of the five years of educational applications of the project has led the authors to a series of pedagogical conclusions about creating content for e-learning.
First, it has been noticed that technological processes, which can sometimes be perceived as uninteresting information, were correctly received when associated with scenic presentations in rebuilt contexts, or in relation to real characters in relation to technologies or objects.
Secondly, the immersive experience in re-built contexts, similar to digital games, has added a playful aspect to the exploration process that has made it easier to get information.
Last but not least, the design of the information presentation process, the logic of building objects, and the logic of their use, has had an enormous impact in transmitting knowledge.
The presentation of the virtual museum must be simple, clear, following an easy to follow syntax, and also be complementary to other discourses, presented in parallel.
Acknowledgements
This research was carried within "Time Maps - Real Communities, Virtual Worlds, Experimented Pasts" a PNCD II IDEI Project. Special thanks to Professors Laura Voicu and Octavia Iacob, the principals of the Vădastra and Luica Schools, for their involvement in experiments and the evaluation of the results. The authors thank Mr. Bogdan Căpruciu for proofreading the English version of the text. Last but not least, thanks to the enthusiastic students from Vădastra and Luica schools.
Reference Text and Citations
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