science

Virtual heritage

Virtual heritage is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Virtual heritage rather than just read about it. In short: Virtual heritage or cultural heritage and technology is the body of works dealing with information and communication technologies and their application to cultural heritage, such as virtual archaeology. It aims to restore ancient cultures as real (virtual) environments where users can immerse.

Key takeaways

Virtual heritage belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Virtual heritage to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Virtual heritage from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Virtual heritage or cultural heritage and technology is the body of works dealing with information and communication technologies and their application to cultural heritage, such as virtual archaeology. It aims to restore ancient cultures as real (virtual) environments where users can immerse. Virtual heritage and cultural heritage have independent meanings: cultural heritage refers to sites, monuments, buildings and objects "with historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological or anthropological value", whereas virtual heritage refers to instances of these within a technological domain, usually involving computer visualization of artefacts or virtual reality environments.

First use The first use of virtual heritage as a museum exhibit, and the derivation of the name virtual tour, was in 1994 as a museum visitor interpretation, providing a 'walk-through' of a 3D reconstruction of Dudley Castle in England as it was in 1550. This consisted of a computer controlled laserdisc based system designed by British-based engineer Colin Johnson. It is a little-known fact that one of the first users of virtual heritage was Queen Elizabeth II, when she officially opened the visitor centre in June 1994. Because the Queen's officials had requested titles, descriptions and instructions of all activities, the system was named 'Virtual Tour', being a cross between virtual reality and a royal tour.

Projects One technology that is frequently employed in virtual heritage applications is augmented reality (AR), which is used to provide on-site reconstructions of archaeological sites or artefacts. An example is the lifeClipper project, a Swiss commercial tourism and mixed reality urban heritage project. Using HMD technology, users walking the streets of Basel can see cultured AR video characters and objects as well as oddly-shaped stencils. Many virtual heritage projects focus on the tangible aspects of cultural heritage, for example 3D modelling, graphics and animation. In doing so, they often overlook the intangible aspects of cultural heritage associated with objects and sites, such as stories, performances and dances. The tangible aspects of cultural heritage are not inseparable from the intangible and one method for combining them is the use of virtual heritage serious games, such as the 'Digital Songlines' and 'Virtual Songlines' which modify computer game technology to preserve, protect and present the cultural heritage of Aboriginal Australian Peoples. There have been numerous applications of digital models being used to engage the public and encourage involvement in built heritage activities and discourse. Place-Hampi is another example of a virtual heritage project. It applies co-evolutionary systems to show a cultural presence using stereoscopic rendering of the landscape of Hampi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India.

See also CyArk Computational archaeology Digital heritage

References

Further reading Michael Falser, Monica Juneja (eds.). 'Archaeologizing' Heritage? Transcultural Entanglements between Local Social Practices and Global Virtual Realities. Heidelberg, New York: Springer (2013), ISBN 978-3-642-35870-8.

External links Ben Kacyra: Ancient wonders captured in 3D, a TED talk

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Virtual heritage

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Virtual heritage claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Virtual heritage before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Virtual heritage ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Virtual heritage

In research: Virtual heritage appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Virtual heritage in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Virtual heritage is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cultural heritage, Digital humanities, Virtual reality, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Virtual heritage outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Virtual heritage in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Virtual heritage means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Virtual heritage out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Virtual heritage in simple terms?

Why does Virtual heritage matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Virtual heritage?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Virtual heritage.