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Delivering virtual reality:a proposal for facilitatingpedagogical use of three-dimensional computermodels of historic urbanenvironments

Lisa M. Snyderlms@ucla.eduUCLA’s Academic Technology Services/Institute for Digital Research and Educationand the Urban Simulation Team at UCLAUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Scott Friedmanfriedman@ucla.eduUCLA’s Academic Technology Services/Institute for Digital Research and Educationand the Urban Simulation Team at UCLAUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Examination of the built environment is afundamental line of humanistic inquiry thatshapes our understanding of diverse cultures. Itis impossible to consider the ancient Egyptianswithout immediately thinking of the pyramidsor the vast religious complexes of the Nileriver valley. The medieval pilgrimages andthe modern disciplines that study them –history, literature, religion, musicology, andart – are inextricably tied to the monumentalRomanesque cathedrals that blanket Europe.This link between humanities scholarship andthe built environment is unquestionable, with aninexhaustible number of examples that illustratehow architecture and urban design reveal theaspirations and priorities of cultures across theages.

The humanistic promise of virtual realityenvironments created to academically rigorousstandards is that they would allow scholarsthe opportunity to explore reconstructedbuildings and urban spaces, recreate theexperience of citizens from other eras, gaininsights into the material culture of pastcivilizations, and engage formal and informallearners in ways never before possible. Withinthese virtual spaces, students could navigate

through reconstructions of historic urbanenvironments and engage with one another tobuild knowledge through constructivist learningexercises. Beyond pedagogy, this new form ofacademic expression would engender new formsof scholarship and publication.

Seemingly, the promise of the technologyis within reach. Scores of researchersacross the globe are hard at work ona significant – and growing – bodyof academically generated three-dimensionalcontent. Architects and archaeologistshave embraced three-dimensional computermodeling to visualize un-built structures,1reconstruct cities of the past,2 and exploreresearch questions specific to a single site orstructure.3 Yet, even given all that promiseand hype, two-dimensional drawings and staticimages still dominate the research, study, andteaching methods of architectural and urbanform. The problem is that only a very smallselection of digital work has been made availableto scholars, students, and the general public.In part, this is because of a dearth of optionsfor easily sharing three-dimensional content.Available on-line social-networking virtualworlds such as Second Life and Stanford’sSirikata, while brilliant for avatar interactionsand communication, are not suited to thestudy of highly detailed environments. Theplatforms for most online virtual worlds do notsupport the ability to import or export content,thereby limiting the scope and functionalityof the exploration to a single platform. Thestrength of available online mapping programslike Google Earth and Microsoft Research Mapsis in their ability to let users interact with richgeographical content on a global scale, not theirreplication of the physical world and first personnavigation. While Google actively encouragesusers to create three-dimensional content withits free modeling package (Sketch Up), there areextreme limitations to using Google Earth forthe study of the built environment. Navigationis geared towards bird’s-eye examination ofschematic forms, and the models that can beloaded in Google Earth are, by necessity, verylow resolution. When the goal is to illustrate theschematic massing of a city, these limitationsare acceptable, but not when the goal is tounderstand the experience of moving through adetailed world. A secondary problem is that the

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computer models, by themselves, are essentiallyraw data, lacking contextual material, subjectexpert commentary, and textual analysis thatcould make them engaging and effective tools forteaching and learning.

The recent explosion of interest in online worlds,mapping software, and three-dimensionalgames is reinforcing both consumer interest inthree-dimensional worlds and the pressing needfor software to interrogate three-dimensionalcontent created to rigorous academic standards.While there are many different types of softwareand online opportunities for interacting withthree-dimensional computer models, nothingcurrently available addresses the uniquerequirements of humanities scholars andstudents. What is needed is a concerted effortto move these research projects successfullyfrom the research lab to mainstream scholarshipand pedagogy across the disciplines. Thispresentation will discuss efforts at UCLAby Drs. Lisa M. Snyder and ScottFriedman to leverage existing and newmodeling work for broad pedagogical useby creating a real-time software interfaceand content repository to provide amechanism for exploring highly detailedthree-dimensional models in educationalsettings.

The first phase of the project, currentlyunderway, is the creation of generalizedand extensible run-time software thatwill allow real-time exploration of highlydetailed, three-dimensional computer modelsin both formal and informal educationalsettings. This run-time software willaddress the greatest challenge forbuilding knowledge through use ofthree-dimensional computer models byproviding scholars and educators themechanism to explore, annotate, craftnarratives, and build arguments withinthe three-dimensional space – in essence,facilitating the creation of virtual learningenvironments that can be broadly disseminatedto educators and learners across grade levelsand humanities disciplines. This software willalso allow the raw computer models to beused as the basis for constructivist learningactivities, so that students can actively engagewith the content to build knowledge by creatinga personalized virtual learning environment.

This effort will provide an innovative way forscholars, students, and the general public aliketo interrogate academically generated three-dimensional content. Scholars will be able toexpand their own knowledge through interactiveexploration of the modeled environment, and,using the proposed authoring tools, developtheir own arguments and class presentationswithin the virtual space. By capitalizing onstudent interest in three-dimensional contentas evidenced by the popularity of online worldsand mapping programs, this new software willexpose students to academically vetted content,encourage them to develop critical thinkingskills about the historic reconstruction process,and provide an alternative to the traditionalclassroom methods for examining the builtenvironment. Lifelong learners will also be ableto access the content and build their ownknowledge about past cultures. The availabilityof the proposed software will also createopportunities to leverage existing modelingprojects by providing a mechanism for sharingcontent, and encourage new work that can takeadvantage of the new run-time software.

The educational promise of digital computerenvironments has yet to be realized, largelybecause past efforts have focused on the short-term constructivist benefits of the process forthe academic development team. As a result, agreat deal of content has been developed butis unavailable for general use. The proposedrepository and administrative front end thatconstitutes the second phase of the projectwill facilitate submission of this scholar-createdcontent,4 allow the aggregation of multi-mediasupport material, and provide incentives forcontributors to share their data. In additionto providing them access to the open sourcesoftware, this administrative front end wouldensure that content contributors are givenproper credit for their work, and provide them amechanism to control how they distribute theircontent and charge for their work.5

1. BackgroundUCLA has a long history with three-dimensionalcomputer modeling and on the developmentof real-time software for exploration of virtualenvironments. Given this long history, workon various fronts has been building to thedevelopment of this run-time software and

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content repository since 1996. The idea foran educational repository for real-time contentwas promoted in Snyder’s 2003 dissertationand was based on discussions with Dr.Scott Friedman (UCLA Academic TechnologiesServices) in the preceding years. Work oncomputer reconstructions of historic urbanenvironments has been conducted through theUrban Simulation Team at UCLA since 1996 andthrough the Experiential Technologies Center(the successor lab to the CVRLab) since 1997.6

2. The authorsDr. Lisa M. Snyder has been a member ofthe Urban Simulation Team since 1996. Sheis also the associate director for outreachand operations for the UCLA ExperientialTechnologies Center which operates underUCLA’s Academic Technology Services and theInstitute for Digital Research and Education.Her research is focused on the educational useof interactive computer environments. Throughthe UST, she developed the real-time simulationmodels of the Herodian and Umayyad TempleMount site now installed at the Davidson Centerin Jerusalem (see Figures 8-19) and is currentlyworking on the computer reconstruction of theWorld’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 (seeFigures 1-7).

Dr. Scott Friedman is a computer scientistwith UCLA’s Academic Technology Servicesand, since 1994, has been the principaldeveloper of the Urban Simulation Team’ssoftware systems. Friedman participated inthe NSF funded Virtual World Data Serverproject. His role in that project focusedon integrating an Urban Simulator clientinto that system to support multiple usersand very large data sets. He specializesin multimedia systems, interfaces for three-dimensional environments, and distributedcomputing. His 2003 dissertation focused on“The Pixelcluster: Real-time visualization usinga cluster of commodity workstations.”

3. FundingThis work is being supported by UCLA’sAcademic Technology Services/Institute forDigital Research and Education and theNational Endowment for the Humanities.

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Figures 1-5. Screen snapshots taken from the real-timevisual simulation model of the Herodian Temple Mount

developed jointly by the Urban Simulation Team at UCLAand the Israel Antiquities Authority. From top to bottom:

the Temple Mount; the north/south Roman road andRobinson’s Arch; on the platform; in the Royal Stoa; aview of the Second Temple from within the Royal Stoa.

ReferencesThe Experiential Technologies Center(2005-2010). The Experiential TechnologiesCenter, University of California, Los Angeles.http://www.etc.ucla.edu/ (accessed 12 March2010).

Friedman, S. (2004). The Pixelcluster: Real-time visualization using a cluster of commodityworkstations. Dissertation University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles.

Koller, D., Frischer, B., Humphreys, G.(2009). 'Research challenges for digital archivesof 3D cultural heritage models'. Journal ofComputing and Cultural Heritage. 2(3):article 7. http://portal.acm.org/citation.

cfm?id=1658346.1658347 (accessed 12 March2010: via ACM Portal, UCLA).

Snyder, L. (2003). The design anduse of experiential instructional technologyfor the teaching of architectural historyin American undergraduate architectureprograms. University of California, Los Angeles,Dissertation.

The Urban Simulation Team at UCLA(1997-2010). The Urban Simulation Team,University of California, Los Angeles. http://www.ust.ucla.edu/ustweb/ust.html (accessed 12March 2010).

Notes1. Pre-visualization modeling and rendering is now commonplace

at both the professional level and in architecture schools.

2. Computer modeling has been embraced by the ComputerApplications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA)community, with a broad range of projects that showcasecomputer modeling.

3. Research questions within the modeling environment mightinclude viewshed analysis, reconstruction alternatives, andplacement of statuary.

4. This type of content repository has precedent in the ‘GreatBuildings’ series created in the mid-1990s. It was also a centralelement of Snyder’s doctoral dissertation, and the proposal ofKoller et al. to archive computer models of cultural heritagesites.

5. This is an important feature in that it would allow contentproviders the opportunity to generate a revenue stream tosupport ongoing development and help to make large-scalemodeling projects self-sustaining.

6. Models constructed through the UCLA ExperientialTechnologies Center include the NEH-funded model ofKarnak, John Dagenais’ reconstruction model of theRomanesque Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, DianeFavro’s work on ancient Rome, new student work underwayin Egypt under the direction of Willeke Wendrich (includingmodels of Fayuum and Saqqara). Work through the UrbanSimulation Team includes the Snyder’s model of the World’sColumbian Exposition of 1893 and reconstructions of theTemple Mount in Jerusalem in both the first and eighthcenturies.