13 February 2012

Digital Books visualized in an innovative Storytelling project

The NTNU University

A Digital Storytelling virtual environment is the first phase of the Mubil Project and aims to visualize the already digitalized books collection of the Norway University  Gunnerus Library.

The environment will be developed to guide the user within a selection of ancient pictures picked from the books. The pictures will be investigated thanks to 3D live and interactive animations which will tell the story the pictures reproduce.

The collection of ancient books and documents of the Gunnerus Library was already available in a digital format. Therefore, the goal is to go further the digitization, investigating the possibilities of creating a virtual learning space within the physical space of the library.

The second phase of the Mubil Project will involve the setting of a working laboratory in the library, in order to create a hybrid environment (physical and immersive) where the visitor is allowed to experiment with a 3D digital copy through an augmented board in an immersive virtual environment.

The consortium that is developing the project was established in June 2011 as an interdisciplinary cooperation between the NTNU University Library  the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim and Percro laboratory of the University of Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy, with the aim of allowing the visitors to interact with archive documents, without touching the authentic fragile physical objects.

The Gunnerus library is the oldest scientific library in Norway, and dates back to 1768, when it was the library of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters. The library focuses especially on the academic fields of archaeology, botany and zoology, but is also a general scientific library that everybody can access.

A central project concern is to test the learning outcome of the users once interacting with the application. While in 3D reconstructions the user remains a passive viewer, the project aims to create an active participation and therefore to stimulate knowledge seeking through a perception-action procedure.
The virtual laboratory will have 3 interaction levels: the first level will allow exploration thanks to multimedia movies of objects and tools belonging to the university Museum, the second level will allow deeper interaction, and the third level will be an active phase where the user can share his personal learning experience to enhance the collective knowledge.

Source: Digital meets culture
More info: Gunnerus Library Blog