HistorySpace: Tools to Support Scholarly Expression, Narration and Documentation in Virtual Environments

The HistorySpace project was initiated in 2012 with the view of generating software to support the generation of 3D/4D historical narratives dedicated to Canada’s urban, social and economic past.  Towards that end, the project’s aim is to generate applications devoted to creating three objects:

• Complex Objects – Complex Objects are multi-modal constructs that typically refer to human-built objects such as ships or buildings. They have the capacity to change their shape and surface appearance.  Their purpose is:
  • To show Transformations in a Given Building’s Appearance over Time (See Figure One A);
  • To show Extant Versions of the Given Structure (prior versions, say, of a building of interest produced by a scholarly team, and competing versions of the same building produced by other scholarly teams) (See Figure One B);
  • To symbolically show the Given Structure’s Relationship to Specified Ontologies such as Ethnicity or Economic Sector (if the building’s inhabitants were Scottish, for example, the building might turn blue; if the same building is dedicated to selling dry goods, the structure might turn orange) (See Figure One B).

• Narrative Objects – Narrative Objects support the generation of multi-modal spatial narratives. The software enables authors to specify the pathway of a given narrative and camera orientation (See Figure Two A), and in turn to attach narrative content (text, audio, graphics and film) to specified points in the narrative (See Figure Two B).  The software finally enables authors to specify the sequence, duration and time of all content items and environmental transformations attached to the narrative.

• Documentation Objects – Documentation Objects are dedicated to showing viewers the evidence and decision-making that gave rise to the model. They are, for all practical purposes, an analogue for textual forms of documentation such as footnotes.  Through a combination of text, 2D diagrams and 3D objects, they describe the workflow underlying each model and model iteration.

To date, alpha versions of the applications for Complex Object (See Figure Three A) and Narrative Object (See Animation One) production have been completed or are near completion.

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Réalisations

Publications

• BONNETT, John, Mark ANDERSON, Wei TANG, Brian FARRIMOND, Wei TANG, Léon ROBICHAUD, « StructureMorph: Creating Scholarly 3D Models for a Convergent, Digital Publishing Environment», in Scholarly and Research Communication, n^o 7, vol 2 (Article ID 0201253), 15 p.
• BONNETT, John, « A Plea for Design: Historians, Digital Platforms, and the Mindful Dissemination of Content and Concepts », in Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, n^o 25, vol 2, p. 189-231.

Communications et conférences

• BONNETT, John, « The Topographic Revolution in the Digital Humanities », École d’été Montréal numérique, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, 21 mai 2015.
• BONNETT, John, « StructureMorph: A Tool for the Construction of Complex Objects and Historic, Virtual Worlds », Conference:  2014 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association,Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario May 26, 2014.
• BONNETT, John, Mark ANDERSON, Brian FARRIMOND, Wei TANG, Léon ROBICHAUD, «Creating Narratives in a Convergent, Digital World: The Complex Object », 2016 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, University of Calgary,  Calgary, Alberta, June 1, 2016.
• BONNETT, John, Mark ANDERSON, Brian FARRIMOND, Wei TANG, Léon ROBICHAUD, « StructureMorph: Creating Scholarly 3D Models for a Convergent, Digital Publishing Environment » INKE 2016:  New Knowledge Models – Sustaining Partnerships to Transform Scholarly Production, Whistler, British Columbia, January 19, 2016.
• BONNETT, John, Mark ANDERSON, Brian FARRIMOND, Wei TANG, Léon ROBICHAUD, « Converging in a Virtual World: The Complex Object», 2015 Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association, Baltimore, Maryland, November 14, 2015.

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Soutien financier

Responsables

• John Bonnett, Department of History, Brock University
• Mark Anderson, Department of Computing, Edge Hill University
• Brian Farrimond, Department of Computing, Edge Hill University
• Léon Robichaud, Département d’histoire, Université de Sherbrooke

Personnel de recherche

• Connor Li, student, Department of Computer Science, Brock University, (2018)
• Wei Tang, student, Department of Computing, Edge Hill University, (2015-2017)