Digital Building Heritage
Lead Research Organisation:
De Montfort University
Department Name: ADH Research and External Income
Abstract
This proposal focuses on publicizing and brokering partnerships between De Montfort University Researchers and community heritage groups concerned with historic buildings and their related artifacts in the use of appropriate digital methodologies and technologies for meeting the needs of these groups. The digital trechnologies and techniques available at De Montfort University range from detailed surveying and recoding of historic buildings and structures to 3D laser scanning, virtual reality simulation, 3D printing, web-design, mobile and locative computing applications development and visitor display design amongst others. The project will have a public presence based around a high quality website linking community groups and De Montfort University researchers and in conjunction with a one-day conference for the establishment of collaborative partnerships and two follow on workshops it will act as a best-practice vehicle for discussions on planned, larger research collaborations and bids.
Planned Impact
Not applicable / required at this stage.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Douglas Cawthorne (Principal Investigator) |
| Title | Reconstruction of Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor's Design for Sir John Moore's School |
| Description | This is a 3D digital reconstruction of an unbuilt design for the Sir John Moore School in Appleby Magna, Derbyshire, UK by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor. It was made by the Digital Building Heritage Group at De Montfort University in 2012 based upon original drawings by Hawksmoor which are held in the the Coddrington Library of All Soul's College Oxford and which are published in the book "The Architectural Drawings of Sir Christopher Wren" by Anthony Geraghty. The reconstruction was created by Steffan Davies and Douglas Cawthorne at DMU. Thanks to BBC East Midlands for promoting the work and the the East Midlands Heritage Lottery Fund for advice and support. This work formed part of the AHRC's Connected Communities, Community Heritage Programme. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Impact | This digital reconstruction and animation has been used by the Sir John Moore's School (a charitable) foundation to promote its history and has been used in the school's on-site heritage center. |
| URL | http://youtu.be/_vbh0227OYw |
| Description | This project established a highly effective collaborative framework between eleven community heritage groups in England and Wales and De Montfort University for the production of digital heritage interpretation assets and led to a further AHRC funded collaborative project to produce those assets. |
| Exploitation Route | The project is an exemplar of how to establish collaborative networks between a University and community heritage groups for the production of digital heritage assets which allow those groups to effectively meet medium term aims and goals. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism |
| URL | https://digitalbuildingheritage.our.dmu.ac.uk/ |
| Description | The grant was used to meet two objectives, hosting a one day international conference and separately two days of community heritage workshops to assist them to establish partnerships and to formulate Heritage Lottery Funded projects under the HLF's "All Our Stories" Program. Both objectives were achieved. A very successful one day international conference and technology open day was held at De Montfort University on the 25th May 2012 in the Hugh Aston Building. This was for Community Heritage Groups and other organizations who wish to use digital technologies which are being developed at De Montfort University and are seeking funding under the Heritage Lottery Fund's forthcoming "All Our Stories Program". It was attended by 108 delegates. The two, one day workshops held a De Montfort University in mid 2012 enabled over a dozen community heritage groups from across England a Wales who had successfully won HLF funding under the "All Our Stories" funding to engage with De Montfort University as a preferred collaborative partner in planning and executing their projects. Eventually eleven community heritage groups committed to participating in collaborative digital heritage projects with De Montfort University in 2013. In addition to these original objectives the Digital Building heritage group completed a spin-off project in May-June 2012 for the BBC's Great British Story TV series to digitally reconstruct a "lost" Sir Christopher Wren / Nicholas Hawksmoor design for the 17th century Sir John Moore's School in Derbyshire as a demonstration both the HLF and community heritage groups of what could be achieved in future AHRC/HLF combined projects in this field of digital heritage. The reconstruction was presented at the BBC's highly successful launch event there in early July and received publicity with several BBC radio interviews. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | All Our Stories Digital Heritage Workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The workshops achieved their overall objectives of: 1) Establishing The real needs of each of the eleven community heritage group in attendance. Many of them came with preconceived notions of what those needs would be, some were correct but through structured discussion we worked through them and redirect ideas and effort where there was an obvious mismatch between stated ambitions and assumed means of achieving them. 2) Firm sets of mutually agreed, specific proposals were established for what De Montfort University was going to to do for each of the community heritage groups and what each of the community heritage groups were going to do to support DMU's effort in producing digital heritage assets with them, the essential ground work of the the co-production process that was to used. A range of other heritage related outreach activities arouse from these two workshops including a number of talks by De Montfort University staff to parish councils and local heritage groups about digital heritage and how it could help community heritage projects. Ultimately the success of the workshops helped to lead to the award of AHRC Grant Reference: AH/K007610/1, Title: "Digital Building Heritage: Phase II", Follow On funding to develop specific digital heritage assets with each of the eleven community heritage groups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | https://digitalbuildingheritage.our.dmu.ac.uk/ |
| Description | BBC East Midlands Great British Story Event 2012 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This very successful public outreach event where we exhibited and presented was attended by schoolchildren, families and the general public and stimulated increased interest and engagement with architectural heritage in the East Midlands and the use of digital technologies to communicate aspects of architectural and cultural history. It also provided networking opportunities for community heritage groups wishing to engage with De Montfort University researchers in the use of digital technologies like 3D laser scanning 3D reconstruction and 3D printing for museum and heritage applications. Several community heritage groups requested further information about collaboration with the Digital Building Heritage Group at De Montfort University. The P.I. (Cawthorne) gave a radio interview to BBC Radio Leicester's "Talking History" program which was broadcast at 13:00 on Sunday 1 July 2012 which resulted in several new inquiries for collaboration on community heritage projects and promoted the exhibition of our research work at the event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tmckt |
| Description | Digital Building Heritage Conference 2012 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This 1 day conference and technology showcase event at De Montfort University was hosted by Dr Cawthorne and presented innovative digital technologies for use in the heritage industry. It was attended by a wide range of community heritage groups and representatives of the Heritage Lottery fund and stimulated a number of De Montfort University collaborative project initiatives in the Connected Communities program. Eleven community heritage groups from England and Wales asked for and received detailed guidance on formulating Heritage Lottery fund bids under the HLF's All Our Stories programme with the Digital Building Heritage Group at De Montfort University as an academic collaborative partner. All eleven bids by these groups to the HLF were eventually successful and resulted in eleven collaborative projects in 2013 with De Montfort Universuty. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | https://digitalbuildingheritage.our.dmu.ac.uk/conference-open-day/ |