Rome Wasn't Digitized in a Day - Council on Library and Information ...

83
One of the largest and best-known websites described by Gill is the Digital Karnak Project, 261 created
under the direction of two scholars at the University of California, Los Angeles. The Temple of Karnak
<strong>in</strong> Egypt existed for more than 3,000 years, and this website has created a number of ways for users to
explore its history. A 3-D virtual reality model of the temple was created that allows users to view how
the temple was constructed and modified over time; this is accompanied by orig<strong>in</strong>al videos, maps, and
thematic essays written by Egyptologists. A simplified version of the model of the temple was also
made available on Google Earth. There are four ways to enter the website: (1) us<strong>in</strong>g a Timemap of the
site that enables users to choose a time period and view features that were created, modified, and
destroyed; (2) choos<strong>in</strong>g one of a series of thematic topics with essays and videos; (3) brows<strong>in</strong>g the
archive by chronology, type, feature, or topic, which takes the user to both reconstruction model
render<strong>in</strong>gs, descriptions <strong>in</strong> the object catalog, videos, and a large number of photographs; and (4) us<strong>in</strong>g
Google Earth to view the model. This website demonstrates how many of these technologies are be<strong>in</strong>g
put to use to create sophisticated teach<strong>in</strong>g resources.
The city of <strong>Rome</strong> has also been the subject of a number of virtual reconstruction projects, with the
Digital Roman Forum explor<strong>in</strong>g one particular monument, 262 while the Plan de <strong>Rome</strong>, 263 the Stanford
Digital Forma Urbis Romae 264 project, and the particularly well-known <strong>Rome</strong> Reborn 265 focus on the
city as a whole. The Digital Roman Forum provides access to a digital model of the Roman Forum as it
appeared <strong>in</strong> late antiquity and was created by the University of California, Los Angeles, Cultural
Virtual Reality Lab (CVRLab). 266 Users can use TimeMap to view different features (e.g., the Basilica
Aemilia, the Curia Iulia) on the model, and click<strong>in</strong>g on a feature br<strong>in</strong>gs up both a virtual model and
current photograph of that feature, each of which can have its po<strong>in</strong>t of view adjusted. The digital
reconstructions can be searched by keyword or browsed by the primary sources that described it, as
well as by function or type. One facet of this website that is particularly noteworthy is that it seeks to
<strong>in</strong>tegrate the textual sources (such as the histories of Livy and Tacitus) and the secondary scholarly
research that were used <strong>in</strong> mak<strong>in</strong>g some model<strong>in</strong>g decisions. Each feature also <strong>in</strong>cludes a full
description 267 with an <strong>in</strong>troduction, history, reconstruction issues <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g sources and levels of
certa<strong>in</strong>ty, a bibliography, a series of QuickTime object and panorama movies, and still images. This
website illustrates the complicated nature of creat<strong>in</strong>g reconstructions, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the amount of work
<strong>in</strong>volved, the number of sources used, and the uncerta<strong>in</strong> nature of many visualization decisions.
The Stanford Digital Forma Urbis Romae project provides digital access to the rema<strong>in</strong>s “Forma Urbis
Romae,” a large marble plan of the city that was carved <strong>in</strong> the third century AD This website <strong>in</strong>cludes
digital photographs, 3-D models of the plan, and a database that <strong>in</strong>cludes details on all of the
fragments. The Plan de <strong>Rome</strong> website provides access to a virtual 3-D model of the “Plan of <strong>Rome</strong>,” a
large plaster model of the city that was created by architect Paul Bigot, and an extraord<strong>in</strong>ary level of
detail on the city.
The most ambitious of all of these projects, <strong>Rome</strong> Reborn, is an <strong>in</strong>ternational effort that seeks to create
3-D models that illustrates the urban development of <strong>Rome</strong> from the late Bronze age (1000 BC) to the
early Middle Ages. The project staff has decided to focus <strong>in</strong>itially on 320 AD because at this time
<strong>Rome</strong> had reached its peak population; many major churches were be<strong>in</strong>g built, and few new build<strong>in</strong>gs
261 http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Karnak/
262 http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Forum
263 http://www.unicaen.fr/services/cireve/rome/<strong>in</strong>dex.phplangue=en
264 http://formaurbis.stanford.edu/docs/FURdb.html
265 http://www.romereborn.virg<strong>in</strong>ia.edu/
266 http://www.cvrlab.org/
267 http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Forum/reconstructions/CuriaIulia_1