3D technologies, such as LiDAR and photogrammetry, are being used by archaeologists at sites all over the world, frequently to record the state of preservation of standing architecture or document field excavations. But 3D and Virtual Reality (VR) can also be used to digitally ‘re-imagine’ or visualize aspects of historic places that are no longer accessible due to landscape change, the passage of time, and modern development. Students and the public can ‘virtually travel’ across space and time, experiencing visualizations of historic sites on different continents or centuries in the past. This one-day event, Virtual Reality as ‘Virtual Traveling’ for Public Engagement with Historic Sites, brings together scholars working on the question of Humanities VR and ‘virtual travel’ for presentations and discussion. The workshop will focus on questions of user experience and interaction, educational design, ethics, and the concept of ‘cultural presence’ when virtually traveling (gaming scholar Erik Champion’s theory of ‘being there, then’).

Presenters

• Dr. Rita Lucarelli, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, UC Berkeley
• Dr. Eiman Elgewely, School of Design, Virginia Tech
• Dr. Matthias Lang, Bonn Center for Digital Humanities, Bonn University
• Dr. Vincenzo Lombardo, Department of Informatics, Università degli Studi di Torino
• Ph.D. Candidate Maureen McGuire, History of Art and Visual Culture, UCSC
• Dr. Cameron Monroe, Anthropology, UCSC
• Dr. Martin Rizzo-Martinez, State Park Historian II & Tribal Liaison Santa Cruz District, California State Parks

Organized by Dr. Elaine Sullivan, History, UCSC and sponsored by the Humanities Institute