My PhD Thesis in 10 Pages

DECODING KASHGAR

in 10 pages

A Digital Design Approach to Steer and Diversify Creative Engagement in Digital Heritage

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A SUMMARY OF my thesis submitted to the

in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Abstract. This thesis demonstrates an innovative digital design approach to creative and participatory contentmaking in digital heritage. I investigated the use of creative content generated collaboratively for knowledge production and acquisition in architectural heritage and tested in Kashgar, the westernmost city in China. My research was based an interdisciplinary methodology, integrating design with the standard activities involved in digital heritage. I utilised a set of digital media equipment for collaboratively expressing authenticity and virtuality of heritage information while examining the role of creative engagement for constructing digital heritage.

Keywords. Digital heritage; creative engagement; digital design; virtuality; Kashgar.

How does a digital design approach steer and diversify creative engagement in digital heritage?

in ARCHITECTURE

fig.110

A graphical summary of what has been done

Aim. The aim of my thesis was to investigate the role of design as to what extent creativity of users can be integrated with the general purposes of digital heritage, which are documentation, representation and dissemination.

Significance. The current research and practice in digital heritage focuses on the realist perfection of imagery that leads to technical improvement rather than understanding the value of digital heritage content. A design approach is proposed in this research to close the gaps between the use of medium, the role of audience and the production of content.

Objectives. Translating architectural heritage into creative digital forms; conveying virtuality to the public for creative engagement via immersive applications; discovering alternative knowledge in participatory content-making. sub-Question 1 [sQ1] How can architectural heritage be translated into creative digital forms?

SERDAR AYDIN

PhD (VUW), MA (ULiv), BArch (KTU) serdar_aydin@hotmail.co.uk www.themuseumofgamers.org

2018 | WELLINGTON

sub-Question 2 [sQ2] How can an immersive digital heritage application convey virtuality to the public via creative engagement? sub-Question 3 [sQ3] What alternative knowledge of virtuality lies in participatory content-making?

DECODING KASHGAR | in 10 pages

CH.2. Digital Heritage Overview (pp.11-66) Select Figures of Chapter:

What is original about this Chapter?

This chapter gives an overview of a non-linear history of digital heritage. Preceding this research, different authors have studied the history of digital heritage (e.g. Jones-Garmil 1997; Williams 2010; Parry 2007). This thesis critically summarises the history of digital heritage through the progression of computers. virtual reality, digital arts, museum computing, cybernetics and other fields of influence.

The evolution of computerisation in heritage can be tracked down by reading the roots of structuralism through the works of early semioticians. p.14

Traditionally, the early museum computing activities in the 1960s are vital to the history of digital heritage. For this thesis, ‘The Birth of Museum Computing’ (Subchapter 2.2) is extended to the early nineteenth century developments in AHIs, including the themes of the binary codes and the role of plurality in heritage. This chapter reviews the influence of information theory on the rise of museum computing activities alongside ‘The Birth of the New Museology’ (Subchapter 2.3) movement that stimulated the inclusion of new media tools in museums as part of their newly raised responsibility for serving the society.

The ‘death’ of the ‘virtual museum’ is the emergence of virtual communities and their muséal activities in information space.

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Ferrante Imperato’s museum in Naples.

CRT display terminal of IBM 2250

Rotunda in Leicester Square exhibiting Panorama of London

Guggenheim Virtual Museum

by Asymptote Architects

p.62

The Birth of the Virtual Museum’ (Subchapter 2.4) demonstrates the crisis years of VR in AHIs, whereas ‘The Death (Deaccessioning) of the Virtual Museum’ (Subchapter 2.5) depicts several topics in the course of the development that digital heritage is taking, or about to take.

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Victoria University of Wellington 2018

Kingdom Hearts video-game play visualisation by Lev Manovich

in 10 pages

| DECODING KASHGAR

(pp.67-130) CH.3. Matters of 'Transcoding' Select Figures of Chapter:

Kashgar old-town after renewal, with newly-built houses lookıng old and lit with fluorescent colours

Pop-Up Museum set up at NISV in Hilversum, The Netherlands

Dome of Sultan Ahmet Mosque, Istanbul, projected in MediaDome, LUXLAB Workshop

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What is in this Chapter?

Referring to a correlation between the “computer layer” and the “culture layer” made by Manovich (2001), Chapter 3 is about the resolution of the two layers blended in digital heritage. The analysis breaks the abstract concept of digital heritage into its formative components with the present ‘Matters of ‘Transcoding’ in Digital Heritage.’

In the subchapter ‘Matters of Context,’ architectural heritage of Kashgar is introduced with a qualitative review of cases from China. The criteria driven by the matters of ‘context’ help redefine the sub-question 1 (sQ1).

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Subsequently, the subchapter ‘Matters of Medium’ makes a qualitative assessment of the works by two prominent scholars of digital heritage and new media, Sarah Kenderdine and Jeffrey Shaw. From this qualitative case study of matters related to ‘medium,’ sub-question 2 (sQ2) restates an enquiry of a relationship between immersiveness and virtuality.

This [hyperreality] leads to alienation and estrangement with ‘virtuality’ instead of ‘embodiment.’ An enquiry of virtuality enforces the emancipation of the viewer instead of confinement. p.98

3D glitched anaglyph digital forms

'OnBroadway,' representing the modern city with non-text-based information extracted from Instagram

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With regards to the subchapter ‘Matters of Audience,’ the works of Lev Manovich are assessed to show how digital content made by people can reveal alternative knowledge.

Rendering the relationship between creative content-making and knowledge production about virtuality, this subchapter of ‘audience’ matters relates to sub-question 3 (sQ3).

In the last subchapter, the ‘Matters of Research’ synthesises the previous subchapters and provides connection to the themes of the forthcoming chapters. It theoretically reformulates the critical matters for meaningful explanation specific to this research. It provides a scheme of the research approach that helped the thesis critically engage with digital heritage discourse while reinforcing it with methodological principles to be followed in the rest of the work.

2018 Victoria University of Wellington

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DECODING KASHGAR | in 10 pages

CH.4. Digitising Kashgar Old-Town (pp.131-208) Select Figures of Chapter:

What is in this Chapter?

Chapter 4 explores three sets of methods. The alleyways of Kashgar are digitally ‘documented,’ ‘visualised’ and ‘disseminated’ with a scope of interest in a specific neighbourhood.

Digitising historical knowledge lies beneath an encompassing paradox of two distinct views “a mode of inquiry” and “form of communication.”

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Map of Köziciyerbişi (Gaotai) in Kashgar old-town

p.133

With ‘Documentation’ (Subchapter 4.2), three fieldworks are explained as to how the data recorded in Kashgar has been documented and used in this research.

fig.62

3D photogrammetry model viewed in wireframe

In the subchapter of ‘Representation,’ (Subchapter 4.3) the assembly line of digital geometry processing is laid out in details, making a direct relation to sub-question 1 (sQ1).

Glitch forces computational geometry to go beyond [its] algorithmic definition.

fig.63

Polygon mesh model of narrow roads in Köziciyerbişi (Gaotai), Kashgar

p.172

Afterwards, ‘Dissemination’ (Subchapter 4.4) gives the details of Event I and Event II where two experiments address an enquiry of sub-question 2 (sQ2). Event I was carried out during a workshop at the CAADRIA 2016 Conference in Melbourne, whereas Event II was part of a public demo made at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in 2017.

Proceeding in parallel with the structure of Chapter 3, Chapter 4 closes with a final subchapter that synthesises the previous subchapters as well as relating to the subsequent chapter.

With this, ‘Design’ (Subchapter 4.5) is appended to the standard procedures of digital heritage, i.e. documentation, representation and dissemination. It highlights the deficiency of the field to dwell on creativity by relating an answer to subquestion 3 (sQ3) to be addressed in the following chapter.

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Victoria University of Wellington 2018

Parametric elements of photographic map in 3D photogrammetry

Glitches during the modelling of the tomb of Mahmud Al-Kashgari

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| DECODING KASHGAR

(pp.174-198) CH.4.4. Experiment - I and II Select Figures of Chapter:

What is in this Chapter?

This subchapter is focused on the dissemination of digital heritage based on two experiments. Immersiveness is tested based on content generated by participants in Hyve-3D. The outcome of each experiment is analysed qualitatively.

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“Index of representations” are the essential elements that make an everyday environment familiar to travellers of heritage sites.

3D sketches at the end of remote collaboration between Melbourne and Montreal

p.186

Visitors at Te Papa Museum inside Hyve-3D, a hybrid virtual reality platform.

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The experiments were carried out as part of two public events. They are called Event I (CAADRIA Workshop) and Event II (Public Demo at Te Papa Museum). This subchapter presents the qualitative findings from Events I and II. The user-generated content, which consist of 3D sketches in VR, is analysed through an indexical analysis that help categorise resulting sketches into groups of items in correlation with each other.

Three types of skteches are observed in the qualitative analysis of the experiments (Table 46, p. 191):

78.fig A visitor is sketching while calibrating his avatar's position to navigate in VR

A participant taking over the role of guidance while another visitor participates in wheelchair participates

Overlapping Māori patterns are drawn by a New Zealander on the Kashgar model.

CONTENT

IMMERSIVENESS

AGENCY

Reflexive

‘Routine’ imitation of edges and outlines of the pre-existing content

Mimicry of the guidance

Systemdefined

Reactive

‘Innovative’ use of the pre-existing digital content by adding new elements that are still connected to edges and outlines

Reflective

‘Creative’ 3D sketching without guidance and guiding at the most authentic level

TYPE

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Inversing the Self-defined guidance

Emancipating from the conversation of the guidance

Authentic, no agency

An offspring of immersiveness is the agency that starts when the user takes meaningful action.

2018 Victoria University of Wellington

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DECODING KASHGAR | in 10 pages

CH.4.5. Design as a Digital Heritage Activity (pp.199-208) Select Figures of Chapter:

What is in this Chapter?

This subsection reframes previous findings of creative engagement in two experiments. ‘Design’ is appended to the procedures (documentation, representation and dissemination) of digital heritage research.

This section provides a systematic conceptual framework to study the participatory content-making in digital heritage. A diagram called MAC (Medium, Audience and Content) is designated to a system of correlations between immersiveness, agency and transformation. Below Figure 92 (p.204) renders the MAC diagram.

fig.86 Superimposing user-drawn sketches (Event II, Session A) on polygon mesh model

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The subchapter revisits the ‘Matters of Research’ hindering the sustainability of digital heritage applications which is instrumental in assessing alternative knowledge generation of virtuality in the participatory content-making. The thesis defends that design as a novel digital heritage procedure (besides documentation, representation and dissemination) connects research to system thinking and cynerbetics by utilising a process-oriented approach.

Therefore, a cybernetic design scheme is conceived to reframe the immaterial aspects of creative engagement, which will lead to the introduction of the hypothesis.

Superimposing user-drawn sketches (Event II, Session B) on polygon mesh model

fig.88 A visitor looking confused confronting the complexity of user-generated content.

fig.89 3D user sketches together with the 3D model of Köziciyerbişi (Gaotai), Kashgar.

HYPOTHESIS: Alternative knowledge of virtuality in digital heritage is entangled with the transformation of content in creative engagement. p.206

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Victoria University of Wellington 2018

Assemblage of 3D user sketches in two events.

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| DECODING KASHGAR

(pp.209-248) CH.5. Decoding Kashgar & Experiment - III Select Figures of Chapter:

99.fig

Top view of brick collection checkpoints placed on the alleys.

Brick collection (Type I – Visible): A brick collection checkpoint (cube)

Filling planes of the virtual model, highlighted with a fluorescent tone of purple

What is in this Chapter?

Chapter 5 starts with the construction of a second experiment platform in Event III. The experiment makes use of a gameplay that urges the participant to engage creatively with digital replicas of alleyways in Kashgar. The experiment is conducted with a participant from the workshop at CAADRIA 2016. Figure 107 (below) summarises mechanics and gameplay, showing participant activities.

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104.fig The ‘selection activity’ in

the experiment platform

The participant is navigating in the photogrammetric model of Kashgar’s narrow alleyways.

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Association rule mining, a well-known technique in data mining, is used to disclose patterns through quantitative findings. It is the first time in digital heritage that research has employed association rule mining.

The production of the alternative knowledge turns heritage information into the knowledge of the future.

2018 Victoria University of Wellington

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DECODING KASHGAR | in 10 pages

CH.5.4. Synthesis of Experiment Results (pp.238-248) Select Figures of Chapter:

What is original about this Chapter?

The subchapter ‘Synthesis’ utilises the findings from the experiments to respond to the three sub-questions of this research. The synthesis consists of two divisions. The first is a retrospective synthesis of sub-questions (sQ1, sQ2 and sQ3).

The second synthesis is prospective and proposes opportunities for improvements. fig.116

SUB-QUESTIONS

ADDRESSED CONCEPT

sQ1: How can architectural heritage be translated into creative digital forms?

CREATIVE DIGITAL HERITAGE

sQ2: How can an immersive digital heritage application convey virtuality to the public via creative engagement?

VIRTUALITY OF CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT

sQ3: What alternative knowledge of virtuality lies in the participatory content-making?

ALTERNATIVE KNOWLEDE

fig.116

A sample association rule discovered as a result of the usergenerated content (part of Figure 113, below):

Flying as First-Person in the narrow alleys of Kashgar in VR.

Identifying and understanding the architectural style recorded in Kashgar.

{Metal Door, Timber Wall Structure, Brick Wall} → {Rec Cobblestone}

which means that there is generated a correlation between the 3-itemset of the participant (a metal door, timber wall structure and brick wall) and rectangular cobblestones in Kashgar. The full list of association rules is provided in the thesis with 13 of them discussed in detail.

fig.116

Collecting brick patterns.

In the context of Bloom’s Taxonomy these activities are represented in a hierarchy evolving from remembering (1) and understanding (2) to applying (3), analysing (4), evaluating (15) and creating (6) (Figure 116, below). fig.116

fig.116

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Victoria University of Wellington 2018

Generating a library of patterns from the existing model in VR.

Patching missing parts of the 3D model.

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| DECODING KASHGAR

(pp.249-266) CH.6. Discussion: Design as Virtuality in DH Select Figures of Chapter:

What is in this Chapter?

Chapter 6 discusses the results of this study as to how a digital design approach fuses ‘discursive novelty’ and ‘effective innovation’ in digital heritage. It shows how this fusion in the context of a real scenario (Kashgar) leads to principles for creative engagement in digital heritage.

Defining the resolution, the frequency and the range values of user-generated content based on RGB visualised 3D

Participants remotely (from Wellington, New Zealand) visiting the front outer courtyard of Masjid Wazir Khan, Lahore

3 design components were identified as interdependent parameters.

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The below Table 62 from the thesis shows macro-level and micro-level design activities observed in the research.

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The cover page of The Museum of Gamers.

MACRO-LEVEL

MICRO-LEVEL

From immersiveness to agency

From agency to transformation

3D sketches

2D thumbnail images

Method

Qualitative analysis through an ‘Index of Representation’ method

Quantitative analysis Association Rule Finding (ARF) method

Results

‘Shared indexicality,’ i.e. correlations between different sets of usergenerated content

Thirteen association rules

MAC diagram for the design and development of participatory and interactive platforms in digital heritage

Association Rule Finding for the assessment of user-generated content in participatory and interactive digital heritage platforms.

Observation Data

Implications Decoding Kashgar in The Museum of Gamers

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Creative engagement ‘steers and diversifies’ the development of virtuality through heritage information.

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Virtual tours demonstrating 3D models of heritage environments in The Museum of Gamers, a web-based museum concept developed in this research.

2018 Victoria University of Wellington

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DECODING KASHGAR | in 10 pages

CH.7. Conclusions (pp.267-270) Summary The main motivation behind the research was the lack of a holistic understanding of the potentials of digital engagement that offers new ways of expressing ‘authenticity’ and ‘virtuality’ in heritage. This research was undertaken to conceive a new role for participatory content-making and evaluate the creative outcome of user engagement. A ‘design-based,’ ‘generative,’ ‘active’ and ‘creative’ mode of engagement with heritage information is sought as a stimulus of alternative knowledge production. In this investigation, the unique case of Kashgar, which is an old city on the historic Silk Road in China, is used as a context to build a scenario for experimentation and research.

The findings from three experiments make several contributions to the current literature. The contributions categorically have significance for: (1) bringing novelty to the heritage discourse, (2) providing innovation to available methodologies, (3) demonstrating a successful interdisciplinary approach to practice, (4) producing alternative knowledge in heritage and virtual reality, and (5) adding on the preservation of Kashgar’s architectural heritage in digital formats.

This research will serve as a base for future studies in digital heritage that is concerned with the transformative power of creative engagement. The investigations foster the advancement of research and practice in digital heritage beyond the frontiers of current knowledge. It may be the first time that cultural heritage presents unique research challenges in the domain of digital design. There is a number of fields that can apply the results of this research, including cultural heritage, computer-aided architectural design, museology, new media, TV, education, MOOC, streaming, as well as culture and game studies.

User-generated content for building ‘virtuality’ through creativity, a higher level of engagement with heritage than merely testing the success of embodiment and immersiveness for educating users about historical places. p.269

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Victoria University of Wellington 2018

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SUPERVISORS PROF MARC AUREL SCHNABEL MR TANE MOLETA EXAMINERS PROF DANIEL BROWN (VIC. UNI. OF WELLINGTON)

PROF UWE RIEGER (UNI. OF AUCKLAND)

PROF ANDRE BROWN (UNI. OF LIVERPOOL)

SUPPORTED BY

THANKS TO