Making history virtually real: Purai to work with expert to recreate First Nations histories
A trip to a 19th century tomb and the oldest theatre in NSW were just two of the places Purai Global Indigenous History Centre staff and affiliates visited without having to leave their office.
University of Tasmania's Dr Zi Siang See, took University of Newcastle's HDR student, Srishti Guha, to Malacca, so that she could pay her respects to Sultan Hussein Shah, and then Professor Victoria Haskins, Co-director of Purai, back to the late 1800s to visit Newcastle’s heritage-listed Victoria Theatre.
Over the past ten years, Zi has specialised in the design, use and integration of interactive media including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) research-creation, user experience (UX) studies and extended reality (XR) research projects.
Sultan Hussin Shah (1776-1835) was best remembered for signing two treaties with Britain which culminated in the founding of modern Singapore.
A number of mixed-reality elements are used to recreate his tomb including virtual hands interaction, dynamic weather and sky configuration, ambisonic audio, room-scale locomotion, and a photogrammetry enhanced environment.
This means users can handle various artifacts, pick flowers and experience visual sensations such as flare from the sun, fog/mist, and a windy forest atmosphere complete with shadows of moving foliage.
To digitally create the Victoria Theatre, the team used: trade catalogues from the 1890s detailing chairs, iron railings, cornices and mouldings, carpets and lights; photographic records of restored theatres and detailed eyewitness descriptions of the theatre from newspapers.
A ‘teleport-style’ method enables users to move from the street to the foyer and inside the various seating areas of the theatre itself.
Currently, Zi is working on extended reality (XR) research projects in digital heritage, computational photography and medical and health sciences training at the University of Newcastle.
In 2022, Purai Global Indigenous History Centre will be working with Zi to explore new ways on how these techniques can be used in the context of digital heritage which will connect with First Nations histories and bring the past to life.
Contact
- Jacqui Wright
- Phone: 02 4921 7408
- Email: jacqui.wright@newcastle.edu.au
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The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.