The NWO Open Science application that the 4D Research Lab submitted with main applicant dr. Jill Hilditch of the Tracing the Potters Wheel project (TPW), has received funding!
The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration on developing and deploying a 3D viewer for education and research purposes. This project, which we called 3D WorkSpace, is a collaboration with Loes Opgenhaffen, PhD researcher in the TPW project, Hugo Huurdeman, freelance designer (Timeless Future), Leon van Wissen, scientific programmer of CREATE, and is being executed in cooperation with Paul Melis and Casper van Leeuwen from SURF and the developers of the Smithsonian Institute represented by Jamie Cope, computer engineer at the Digitization Program Office of the Smithsonian Institute. Here, we present an outline of the project that will start in March, 2022.
Open access 3D models are often placed in online platforms with limited options for interactive communication and education. Although some 3D collections are published with their associated metadata, paradata, annotations and interpretations, these currently provide no open tools for re-use or interactivity. The Voyager digital museum curation tool suite, developed by the Smithsonian Institute, allows for interactivity and enrichment of the data but does not enable reuse or open content creation in a multiuser environment. Annotating, adding information to a 3D model without modifying the model itself, is possible for the creators of the content, but not for the end-users.
3DWorkSpace will facilitate re-use of 3D models through the addition of annotations and narratives, as well as side-by-side comparison of multiple models, within an online app environment adapted from the open source Voyager platform. It will allow data enrichment by enabling multi-authoring through the built-in annotation system, as well as through linkage to datasets (e.g., thesauri and museum catalogues) available as Linked Open Data (LOD). Two heritage-based case studies, production traces on experimental ceramics from the Tracing the Potter’s Wheel and a drone-based dataset from the 4D Research Lab, will allow full exploration of diverse 3D models for the implementation and testing of the adapted Voyager environment. Learning pathways, using the Voyager annotation feature, will train users in the necessary skills for guiding analysis of the 3D data models.
3DWorkSpace utilizes existing open access resources to realise a truly open science platform: from adaptation of the Voyager tool suite and testing with web-based open access 3D datasets, to technical support for data creation and access via Linked Open Data and Figshare. Evaluation will occur in tandem with the creation of training materials for technical set-up and 3D data curation. In this way we will lower the threshold for adoption, create best practice through training and demonstration, and create a roadmap for implementation and evaluation.
Although born from the material culture field, 3DWorkSpace is an initiative aimed at any field engaging with 3D data visualisation, as well as users seeking to integrate interactivity and data re-use, and will open up new ways of communicating and debating the narratives in which 3D reconstructions function for educators, researchers, students and general users.
We are really looking forward starting with this project!
