Digital 3D Reconstructions as a Scholarly Area of Digital Humanities – Scholars, Projects, Implications and Perspectives SanderMünstersander.muenster@tu-dresden.deTechnischeUniversitatDresden,Germany

Abstract

Since an academic discourse on using digital 3Dreconstruction tools for humanities research is stillhighly application-oriented, an overarching objectiveof our researchwork is to draw a currentlymissing“bigpicture”ondigital3Dreconstructionasaresearchtool indigital humanities by combining theoreticallyand practically grounded research parts as well asincludingmulti-disciplinaryperspectives.Thisarticleprovidesanoverviewofresearchworkcarriedoutbyour department in 12 projects over the past sevenyears, namely on (a) scenarios and practices for theemployment of digital 3D reconstruction andvisualization methods and approaches for scientificresearch in visual humanities, (b) requirements andrecommendationsfordigitaltools,and(c)approachesto teach digital 3D reconstruction methods atuniversity. The article is intended to contribute to acomprehensivediscourseonauniqueepistemologyofdigital3Dreconstructioninhumanitiesandtodeliverrelatedpracticallytestedimplicationsforsoftwarede-sign,teachingandorganizationalsettings. Introduction Formorethan30years,digital3Dmodellingandinparticular reconstructionmethods have beenwidelyusedtosupportresearchandeducationinthedigitalhumanities,especiallybutnotexclusivelyonhistoricalarchitecture.Whiletechnologicalbackgrounds,projectopportunities,andmethodologicalconsiderationsforthe ap-plication of digital 3D reconstruction tech-niquesarewidelydiscussedin literature(e.g.Arnoldand Geser, 2008, European Commission, 2011,Frischer, 2008, Bentkowska-Kafel et al., 2012,

Bentkowska-Kafel,2013,Kohle,2013),ourinterestistoinvestigatedigital3Dreconstructionasascholarlyarea and to derive implications for furtherorganizational andmethodical development. Againstthis background, this research work is dedicated tosupportthedisseminationprocessbyinvestigatingthefollowingresearchquestions:

• What scenarios and practices exist for theemployment of digital methods andapproachesforscientificresearchwithinthefieldofdigital3Dreconstruction,especiallyinartandarchitecturalhistory?

• What are requirements andrecommendationsforthedesignoftoolsandmediarelatedtodigital3Dre-construction?

• Howcan theuseofdigitalmethodsand, inparticular, digital 3D reconstructiontechniquesinvisualhuman-itiesbelearnedandtaught?

Research Againstthebackgroundoftheseresearchinterests,our research activities include to investigate (1) ascholarly community, (2) usage practices occurringwith-insingleprojectsandtogainimplicationsforanappropriate organizational development. Moreover,practical application and a development ofimplications for (4) theconceptionandcreationofauser-centered design of software tools andenvironments for digital humanities scholars and an(5)implementationinstudenteducationareinfocus.Research methods and approaches used within thedescribedresearchactivitymainlyderivefromsocialandinformationsciencesaswellasfromscienceandtechnology studies (cf. Hackett et al., 2008,Boczkowski and Lievrouw, 2008, pp. 955) andcomprisee.g.bibliometricanalysis(cf.Vinkler,1996),quantitativeandqualitativeempiricalanalysisaswellas structuring approaches likemindmapping (Table1).Relevantresearchhasbeenactivesince2010in12projects (ongoing till approx. 2020) on the local,national and EU levels, with our department’sparticipation.

Table 1. Brief overview of methodical approaches

Results Considering a scholarly community on digital 3Dreconstruction and modeling, discourses on majorconferencesduringthelast25yearsweremainlyledby institutions from European Mediterraneancountries, coveringprimarily technological topics. Inparticular, statues and buildings in MediterraneancountriesdatingfromallperiodsAnnoDominideliverrich content for such reconstruction (Fig. 1).Institutions with high numbers of publications,connections to co-authors or the extraordinaryimportancetolinkgroupsofresearcherstoeachothercanbeidentifiedonastructurallevel(cf.Fig.2).Dueto the high complexity and team based workflows,aspects and usage practices for communication,cooperation, and quality management are of highrelevance within 3D reconstruction projects.Especially if people with different disciplinarybackgroundsareinvolved,visualmediaareintensivelyusedtofostercommunicationandqualitynegotiations(cf. Fig. 3), for exampleby comparing source imagesandrenderingsof thecreatedvirtual reconstruction.Furthermore, several projects successfully adoptedhighly standardized conventions from architecturaldrawings for interdisciplinary exchange (Munster,2013).Tosupportanorganizationaldevelopment,weranfiveworkshopstoidentifyongoingresearchtopicsand challenges, involving around 100 researchers intotal. Current challenges named (cf. Fig. 4) aim at aresearch and development of sustainable andpracticable approaches to access wider scientificcommunitiesandaudiencesandincludeaspectssuchas widely interoperable documentation andclassification strategiesandschemes, anoverarchingcataloguingofprojects,andthecreationofobjectsaswell as strategies and technologies for an exchange

between different technological domains andapproaches of usage. Regarding design implicationsfordigitalenvironments,weinvestigated,forexample,that relatively little visual information is needed toallow observers to distinguish buildings from eachother or to identify a single building and gaininformation about its spatial relation and shape(Munster et al., 2017b). Moreover, we adopted andevaluatedteamproject-basedlearningapproachestosupportstudenteducationindigital3Dreconstruction(cf. Fig. 6). As observed in two courses so far, adevelopment of procedures and strategies forcooperationwithinstudentprojectteamsforcreatingvirtual representations evolves slowly and ismostlycaused by emerging problems and urgent demands.Related competencies are based highly on implicitknowledge and experience. As a consequence, ateaching of implications and best practices prior tocommencing aproject is less effective than coachingduringtheprojectwork.

Figure 1. Types of 3D reconstructed and modelled artifacts

(Sample: 478 publications on digital 3D modeling in humanities)

Figure 2. Accumulated Author-Co-Author Relations by institutions (TOP 10 in Degree, Count, Betweenness

Centrality named, Sample: 3917 publications on digital 3D modeling in humanities)

Figure 3. Exemplified modeling as well as quality control techniques. Originally published in (Münster et al., 2017a).

Figure 4. (Selected) future challenges named for digital 3D

reconstruction in academic contexts (outcome from a workshop series involving around 60 international

researchers).

Figure 5. Results from Freiberg Cathedral App educational

project. Models: Wachsmuth et al., 2014

Summary Since it is our vision to establish digital 3Dreconstruction as a scholarly accepted and widelyused researchmethod in humanities, it seems to becrucial to add a critically reflected methodological

basisandanchorit inacademicculture.Todrawthiscurrently missing “big picture”, our departmentperformed research on digital 3D reconstructionwithin various projects by combining boththeoreticallyandpracticallygroundedresearchparts.This comprises research on scholarly communities,scholarly practices and methodologicalrecommendations as well as implications forinteractiondesign,teachinganddissemination.

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