CAA Conference

Etruscanning 3D is a European project in the Culture 2007 framework, that involves a consortium of museums and research organizations from 3 European countries to explore the possibilities of new visualization techniques, in order to to re-create and restore the original context of the Etruscan graves. The project is in progress and will last until 2013. Main objectives are:- International cooperation in the development of presentation techniques, to be proposed during exhibitions in the Netherlands (two important exhibitions are already open in Amsterdam and in Leiden), Belgium and Germany and for permanent use in Italian museums; - digital acquisition, digital restoration, 3D reconstructions and final communication of Etruscan graves and collections through innovative VR systems. We focus on two important Etruscan tombs: Tomba Regolini Galassi, in the Sorbo necropolis in Cerveteri, and Tomba 5 Monte Michele, in Veio. The finds from these tombs are mostly in museum collections and the existing (empty) tombs are not always open to public. By making 3D reconstructions of the tombs and of the objects which originally were found inside, we can re-create the ancient contexts. The techniques used for 3D representation are various: laser scanning, fotogrammetry, computer graphics, according to the typology and topology of the artifacts. A 3D reconstruction is not simply a digital replica of a real grave: we want to create an experience that can bring visitors inside the ancient etruscan mind and culture. The Regolini Galassi tomb, of the VII century B.C., is the one we have already reconstructed in 3D and implemented in a VR environment; the paper will present this work. It is one of the most remarkable Etruscan graves, famous not only for its rich contents, but also for the many objects that show the Orientalising influence. As the process of virtual reconstruction of the Regolini Galassi grave tries to visualise this tomb at the moment it was closed, we have been forced to ask ourselves very practical questions regarding the placement of the objects and their original position, their original shape and colors . We have had to re-evaluate and re-interpret all of the available, unclear, sources to seek answers to difficult questions. We explain the main steps we have applied in interpretation management. This is necessary in order to be able to update this process, to show the uncertainty in the reconstructions and, finally to enable and facilitate multidisciplinary research. From a technical point of view the most innovative element of the VR application for the Regolini Galssi tomb is the paradigm of interaction based on natural interfaces. The public has the possibility to explore the virtual space, to get near the artifacts and listen to narrative contents from the voices of the prestigious etruscan personages buried inside, just through the body movements, in the simplest and natural way. Walking in the space front of the projection, on a real map of the grave, he moves also in the virtual space, going deeper in the tomb, close to the objects and make storytelling emerge.

The Regolini Galassi tomb in Cerveteri, discovered in 1836 by the priest Alessandro Regolini and the general Vincenzo Galassi, is one of the most remarkable Etruscan graves we know. Despite the fact that many scholars have studied this grave, certain mysteries remain about the tomb. Since the grave was discovered and documented, but not methodically excavated and since the objects were purchased by the Vatican Museums one year after the discovery, much of the information on the exact location of the objects within the tomb was lost. This explains the many different, often contradictory reconstructions that were subsequently published.By developing a 3D reconstruction of this tomb we have been forced to re-evaluate and re-interpret all of the available sources in order to seek answers to difficult questions and make a digital simulation. In order to use this tool in a transparent we are documenting the interpretation process in a blog, tracking any updates to this process, presenting the uncertainty in creating the reconstructions, securing the data, and, finally, for enabling and facilitating multidisciplinary research.The project has been developing through a complex methodological approach; from the collection of existing data, to new topographical digital acquisition. Several ontologies of data have been acquired and elaborated: point clouds from laser scanner, photogrammetric data, computer graphics and GIS. From the 3D model of the tomb as it exists today, we have obtained a new model to present the tomb as it could have been in Etruscan age; with the objects contextualized inside, based upon historical sources and archaeological interpretation. The same we made for the objects, through a complex work of digital restoration in collaboration with experts. The final virtual reconstruction has been optimized to be implemented in an innovative VR application using natural interfaces and destinated to european and italian museums. All the interpretative and technological aspects will be presented in this paper.Virtual storytelling is another fundamental element of the project. We are dealing with new storytelling approaches, directly connected with the experiments in the interaction.The project is still in progress and will be concluded in 2013 but we have presented the VR application, in its first results, in occasion of some important exhibitions in Amsterdam, and Paestum, in order to test the public reaction. In these cases we began a monitoring activity on the public through an observational (non-interactive) methodology, that we consider fundamental to understand how these new approaches impact the public favour and expectations. In the paper we'll refer about this aspect.

Evaluation activities are highly useful since they can improve and enhance the research domain. That is true also in the newly born field of practice as Virtual Museums. Setting up a good process of analysis and evaluation can have an important impact on the creation phase of a virtual museum, in any of the following fields: virtual heritage and digital assets, interface design, interaction and immersive technology, visualisation tools. How can we effectively build a virtual museum in order to reach certain goals, such as knowledge exchange, cognitive improvement, cultural heritage communication, etc.? Up to now, we still do not have many extensive studies and statistics, a part from visitors studies, general or more specific in the digital domain such as those focused on web sites or interface design analysis. Consequently it is very difficult to build up a reliable and effective grid of indicators helpful to analyze, study and communicate such kind of results for a real improvement of the research.Hence, how can we evaluate the success of a virtual museum? Which are the criteria and the parameters we can use as reference? What kind of method, if exist one, we should adopt?These are the reasons why an European project focused on virtual museums, v-must.net (www.v-must.net), has an entire work package dedicated to quality evaluation through an wide interactive laboratory experiment.Although a previous attempt has been carried on during the exhibition "Building Virtual Rome" 2005 in Rome (Forte, Pescarin, Pujol 2006), the results of that study has not reached to enough detail, due to a lack of strategy to face the complexity of evaluating and comparing different digital applications. Therefore a second attempt has been carried on in November 2011, within the exhibition of Virtual Archaeology, Archeovirtual 2011 (www.archeovirtual.it), organized in Paestum, Italy.In this paper we will describe the following issues:the object of the evaluation (virtual museum) and its characteristics, based on the work currently in progress in v-must.net;the goals of the evaluation and expected results, such as:definition of principles to be used to further evaluate virtual museums (i.e. London Charter);testing virtual museum categories, as defined by v-must.net project;understanding if there is a gap between the visitor expectation and the visitor experience;taking into consideration the comparison of similar installations;analysing developers aims and comparing them with effective visitors feedback.the adopted strategies and the three evaluation methods (observation, short interview, written survey) selected for the specific case study of Archeovirtual, an exhibition of virtual archaeology projects with several different types of virtual museums;the survey at Archeovirtual 2011;the preliminary results.References:Forte M., Pescarin S., Pujol Tost L., VR applications, new devices and museums: visitors's feedback and learning. A preliminary report, in "The 7th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage VAST (2006)", Short Presentations, M. Ioannides, D. Arnold, F. Niccolucci, K. Mania (Editors), 2006

The faster and faster development of technological tools and methodology in the domain of virtual archaeology raises new fundamental challenges such as, on the one hand, the need of new, original and fully immersive applications, on the other, of more effective ways to translate into such emotional representations the careful of the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental analysis in order to make it visible by the public. This paper focusses on the new virtual comunication system planned by the Institute of Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage of Italian CNR, for the Pleistocenic Museum of Casal Dè Pazzi in Rome. The Museum is built around a 40x10 mt pleistocenic floor consisting in the ancient riverbed of the Aniene river, at about 200.000 bp, thus also containing the palaeoenvironmental records of such a phase (elephant tooth, plant remains, etc.). Starting from a detailed definition of the geomorphological and environmental conditions, the resulting data became the basis for a virtual reconstruction process carried on by the most advanced photorealistic terrain generator softwares, that led to the cut of highly impressive rendered movies. The planned systems implies a four projector complex. One couple is targeted to the archaeological floor (the ancient river bed), to create on it, in the darkness and with immersive audio track, the waterflow effect of river refilling. The second projector couple is targeted to the front wall, to show an episode of every-day naenderthal life in a fully reconstructed virtual environment. The same scientific contents will also be used for a parallel application: a flash, touchscreen-based, serious game on neanderthal life, targeted to childhood's learning.

This paper aims to reflect about how Cultural Heritage museums have been affected by the introduction of the concept of Virtual Museum, and are in turn affecting its development. To that end, it will firstly examine its philosophical roots and summarize how the museum's concept and its relationship with audiences have been modified by it. Then, it will review previous characterizations and current uses in order to suggest a new, more comprehensive definition of it. Finally, it will consider different theoretical frameworks that have been recently proposed for its definitive integration. The idea behind this paper is that the definition and implementation of the Virtual Museum revolves around its conceptual distance to the physical visit, which is ultimately determined by the museological tradition of each country. As a consequence, the real potential of Information and Communication Technologies for museum communication and learning online has not been completely unfolded. The solution may be found between a shift in mentalities and the limits of technological flexibility.

"Mapping the museum" is a museum visualisation system running on tablet devices, enabling selective fruition of historical and archaeological data on the iPad platform.The experiment has been led, as a proof of concept, with the partnership of ComPart Multimedia (an Italian company, which developed the device software) and the "Museo Nazionale del Ducato di Spoleto", Perugia - central Italy.The museum was inaugurated in 2007, inside an evocative fortress, and extends over more than 1000 square meters with 15 halls arranged on two floors. The works of art on exhibit there date back from the 4th to the 15th Centuries AD, documenting the transition from the Roman age to late antiquity. The museum collection includes sarcophagi and gravestone inscriptions, together with floor mosaics, 6th Century AD sculptures, or artefacts belonging to places of worship from the Lombard Ages. The paintings section includes Romanesque works of art as well as some lesser known Italian Renaissance masterpieces. This project, focusing on the precious grave goods exhibited in the showcases and on the massive reliefs dominating the museum halls, aims at a user-friendly visualisation for a wide range of users.The final result is interactive fruition of the museum and its exhibited items, by means of surrounding views, videoclips, HD photos, virtual reconstructions and text contents.The application guides and accompanies users in a 3D-360° content exploration through the museum halls. Several markers identify points of interest: tapping on them, a 360° view of the hall or videos or a 3D reconstruction of an item is allowed. With only a few taps, ancient artefacts take shape on a tablet right at a finger's touch, allowing a dynamic and comprehensive experience of the museum. All the minute features of small finds or sculpted stones can be explored by users just rotating them or zooming at the required level of detail.The framework was developed using Xcode for tablet software, Blender for 3D reconstruction, and photo stereo matching software for 3D visualisation of the artefacts, using professional cameras, still sets and lighting for the shootings.New generation tablet and mobile technologies are among the most promising ways to enhance the visiting experience in museums, and sometimes to reproduce selected contents remotely; their enthusiastic adoption by the general public makes them suitable vehicles for such an experiment. The innovative idea of this project consists in the opportunity to explore the museum, and to handle exhibited items, from the smallest find to the sarcophagus, enjoying fine detail views, thanks to the tablet technology mixed to open source software.The main goal of the project is an application dedicated to museums, but portable to several other research fields. It reinterprets museum items in a digital format, allowing ease of navigation, with no lack of accuracy. Portable devices are becoming every day a more promising means of making complex data available to public audiences, who can enjoy full sight of interesting objects at will and according to their preferences.TO BE CONSIDERED AS SHORT PAPER

In this paper we present our work done in collaboration with the Israel Museum on developing interactive and intuitive tools for exploring the world of the ancient community of Qumran, that was behind the creation of Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest known surviving copies of Biblical and extra-biblical documents. The goal of the project is to create online space in which heterogeneous information from various sources such as description of object, plans of archaeological excavations, ancient text interpretations, video segments can be used to help better understanding of the life of the ancient community. Our work is motivated by the idea that modern user interfaces in combination with huge amount of digital information should serve as an interactive space that improves use of available information and transformation of data into knowledge. When interacting with digital information, presentation layer and user interfaces should not act as constraints on how information is used, but should create possibilities for many different interpretations. Our idea is that highly interactive and customizable user interfaces can improve interaction between users and content. Search functionality is one of the most important aspects of digital interaction since it serves as one of the entry points to digital space. We present interactive visual search forms that can easily be customized by users, to best suit their needs for information. We think that users should be able to modify and personalize the way search is done. By being able to experiment with various searching solutions, users can get better understanding of the content in the starting phase of interaction. Presentation of search results is another important aspect of interaction. It is important to let users manage how information is presented to them. Users should be able to modify general layout of result presentation, size of objects in lists, number of presented objects, shapes, colors and other visual properties. Together with adjustable presentation of search results we are working on developing search tool that will let users collect interesting results of specific query, store it together with results from other queries, and explore it later, from single window. Set of available results is always available to the user independently of the current search, and visualization techniques used to present relations between results. In this way we want to give complete control to the user when performing the search, and later when exploring results. When users just want to explore content without any specific target in mind we provided browsing capabilities for users to easily and intuitively move over the information space. We propose a graph based data model in which every data item is represented as a node of a graph, and various metadata descriptions as edges over the graph. We also experimented on how information visualization can be used as another entry point to information space by providing multiple perspectives of data and support search of different types of information from a single place.