85447 - Intangible Artifacts, Cultural Heritage and Multimedia (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students are put in touch with the intangible cultural heritage mediated by computer science and expressed under the form of practices, representations and skills that the multimedia research community recognizes as part of its identity. Students are able to reflect upon and manipulate a variety of digital instruments, including objects, artifacts and cultural spaces, manifested through interactive multimedia signs and actions.

Course contents

The course is divided into topics. Each topic starts with the exploration of a relevant multimedia application, developed at International level in the last years. An analysis follows, through which students will be able to decompose each example into single digital elements and undestand their basics, how to acquire and process them. A further analysis is than carried out on the use oftools, software and ICT infrastructure needed to build a multimedia project and finally an excercise is selected and developed by students . During these process students will enrich their vocabulary learning of images, audio, video, 3d models (both reality-based and computer-graphic/source-based), geospatial vector and raster dataset (including remote sensing)

It is suggested to study authonomously the basics of a 3d modelling software, such as Blender (Tutorial on line)

1) Test, Introduction, Concept of Intangible Heritage, Interactive media Design basics (1), Roles in Interactive Media development, from Design to Prototype and Product creation, Users, Scenarios, the Design Brief, Examples of applications; #presentation of the project work (PW)

2) Digital Images: analog/digital, raster/vector, pixel, bit depth, raster file formats, interlacing, image properties and histogram, lossy/lossless compression; #definition of the groups for the PW. 

3) Digital acquisition (1): camera, visualisation principles, electromagnetic spectrum, range/intensity images, raw format; #presentation of the case study for the PW 

4) Digital acquisition (2): human eye and the camera, focus, slr/dslr cameras and parameters, types of cameras, examples of use of images in digital heritage: 180 panoramas, spherical panorama, structure from motion, Nero Divine example and DPF viewer; #definition of roles in PW

5) Digital acquisition (3) on site (visit)

6) Reality Based modelling: Laser Scanner and Photogrammetry (Structure from motion), 3d file formats and software.

7) Panoramas, CG, VR and immersive VR (HMD),

8) Landscape Simulation: basics of cartography, GIS, Spatial Analysis, Remote Sensing, procedural modelling, vector files, raster2vector, example of 3d landscape applications

9) Interactive Media Design basics (2), Digital Heritage Applications Classification, IoT and Tangible interaction, Designing with cards, Cultural Probes, Design Brief

10) Interactive Experience and Game Design, storyboarding

11) Video editing and production: bitrate and filesize, video parameters, standards, spatial and temporal compression, file formats, codecs, software, hardware: monitor and projectors

Readings/Bibliography

Ansel A., The Camera, Little Brown and Company New York, pp. 44-93

Benyon D., Designing Interactive Systems: A comprehensive guide to HCI, UX and interaction design

Kenderdine S., Embodied Museography, in “The digital in Cultural Spaces”, 2016, pp. 24-43

Remondino F., El-Hakim S. (2006). Photogrammetric Record, 21(115), pp. 269-291

Ze-Nian Li, Mark S. Drew, Jiangchuan Liu., Fundamentals of multimedia, 2. ed Cham: Springer, 2014, pp. 3-23, 57-77, 81-85, 99-103, 115-135, 139-175

Notes from the lectures on Multimedia

Assessment methods

The exam is divided in 2 parts: an oral part where groups will present a brief of their design ideas, with specification of multimedia file, software and processes needed to create the final product. (It is not required to build the final product, although the presentation of a prototype will be considered as a plus) and a second oral part where to each of the students will be asked to answer to questions related to technical concepts (a. file formats, software, hardware, b. processes and methods, c. design and theory).

Teaching tools

The lectures includes exercises on specific software and brainstorming design sessions aimed at the definition of the Project Work.

The Software that will be used is:

• GIMP
• INKSCAPE
• RAWTHERAPEE
• QUANTUM GIS
• PTGUI
• HITFILM
• A PHOTOGRAMMETRY SOFTWARE (Photoscan, Zephyr or Regard3d)

Office hours

See the website of Sofia Pescarin