VirtuAL
Project details
Full project title: VirtuAL
Duration: 1 September 2001 to 30 August 2002
Funded by: European Union
Project lead: Nada Brkljac
Project summary
The VirtuAL project aimed to design and establish a new methodology for creating a web based prototype model for multimedia recording and publishing of historic collections of cathedrals or similar historic buildings.
The primary objective of the project was to develop a prototype for web based historic collections where an interactive 3D VRML model as a metaphor of the place was integrated with an underlying multimedia database providing a portal for exploration and retrieval of data.
The purpose of the prototype was to improve and provide an integrated access to the historic collection through a user-friendly interface in the form of a 3D model, as well as to set up a new framework and methodology for recording and designing a multimedia database for historic collections.
Although the project was based on the example of a Cathedral in Wells (Somerset, UK), it trialled novel digitising methods and computer technologies in order to create a methodological framework which, once evaluated, can be applied as an improved methodology for recording, managing and presenting any historic collections of a similar type and scale in Europe on the web.
Project outcomes
The VirtuAL project aimed to deliver:
- A digital collection of the recorded selection of data and artefacts from the Cathedral's archive and library
- A sustainable multimedia database accommodating a digitised record with integrated search facilities and web format output for publishing on the web
- Improved and enhanced access to the archive and library collection which will minimise visitors damage to fragile objects
- A methodology for digital recording and retrieval of information for historic collections
- A prototype website model capable of adjusting and expanding, applicable to various sizes and types of historic collections
- Evaluation, appraisal of benefits and difficulties in creating the prototype via seminars of users ranging from scholars to the general public