Name of legal entity: University of Oslo (dept. of Media and Communication, SitsimLab–project)
Country: Norway
City: Oslo
Website: www.sitsim.org
Description Summary of the Project
Type of Organization
The SitsimLab–project is an ongoing research & development effort in the field of Digital Cultural Heritage at the Department of Media & Communiction, University of Oslo. More specifically we focus on the potential use of location-based media (Augmented Reality etc.) on Cultural Heritage sites and in Museums. We have conducted internationally acclaimed research & development projects regarding storytelling and digital reconstructions for buildings, activities and historical events. The SitsimLab project has been ongoing for more than ten years. Experimental prototypes and published applications have been developed for use on a variety of Cultural Heritage Sites: The Roman Forum; Augustus’ Forum; Via Appia Antica; Parthenon and the Acropolis hill in Athens; the fortified port of Ancient Phalasarna on Crete; the burial sites of the Oseberg and Gokstad Viking Ships in Norway; Mission Dolores in San Francisco; the baroque town of Old Narva in Estonia (won the GLAMI–award at MuseWeb in Boston 2019); climate change in Norway; land rise and stone age sites on the coast of Southern–Norway; the Templo Mayor and Calmecac museums in Mexico City; the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach in Normandie on June 6th, 1944; the sinking of the German heavy cruiser Blücher in the Oslo Fjord on April 9, 1940, and several more. All these case studies and prototype/app developments have been tested with users on location and are part of a long term effort to explore and establish innovative solutions for digital storytelling, simulation and reconstruction on location at cultural heritage sites using off-the-shelf hardware like smartphones and tablets (and smartglasses in the near future).
Project and Partnership Contribution
From the many projects we have developed over the past decade we have learned the importance of working with specific places and cultural heritage sites, and in close collaboration with the local institutions, both administrative staff, curators and scholars. We would like to join any Cultural Heritage site project related to reconstructions, in particular where it is not possible to achieve full physical reconstruction of buildings or structures, or where the site itself has been through various stages of development. We are also very eager to contribute to reconstruction and simulation of activities, actions and historical events on location inside and outside historical buildings and museums. We have recently conducted an experiment related to museums about the old Aztec city of Tenochtitlan in Mexico City. In this context we managed to create a solution where visitors can have continous positioning (use of applications/simulatons) both inside buildings/museums and outside in the open air. Our portofolio of previous and ongoing projects and productions should provide a good indication for how we in the SitsimLab–project have been working with various cultural heritage sites and museums, see videos in the section below.
Intended Partnership
We are interested in discussing collaboration with all partners and projects that are in need of advanced, experimental digital CH solutions for on site, in situ dissemination of buildings, structures, historical events, activities etc., both indoors and outside.