Visualising Knowledge: 3D Digital Editions and Their Scholarly Potential

Scholarship in three dimensions can transcend the limitations of traditional two-dimensional representations of objects that exist in the physical world in three dimensions. It has the ability to provide users (both researchers and the public) with immersive and interactive experiences, enhancing their study and interpretation. This is true for 3D representations of individual objects and for more complex reconstructed scenes. 

3D Digital Scholarly Editions add a contextualising layer of scholarship to the model: scholarship that has been possible for several decades for text-based editions. The contextualising possibilities share much with traditional digital scholarly editions in terms of textual annotation and apparatus, but it also has the possibility of, not only incorporating multimodal annotation (images, video, as well as other models), but annotation that is 3D-specific, such as tools for measurement, for views into the model, the use of textures and colours to represent reconstruction and hypothesis.

The presenters of this talk, Prof. Susan Schreibman and Dr. Costas Papadopoulos, have been addressing these challenges and potential through two interrelated projects: PURE3D which is developing an infrastructure for the development and publication of 3D Digital Scholarly Editions, and OPER3D which is exploring Open Publication and Peer Review for 3D Scholarship. As such, this talk will also consider issues related to data preservation, standardisation, as well as issues around the publication and peer review of 3D DSEs. This presentation showcases the scholarly potential of 3D DSEs, advocating for their adoption as a new tool in the DH toolkit for new formats for the dissemination and interrogation of knowledge.

Learning Outcomes

After watching this webinar, learners will be able to:

• understand how the application of 3D digital scholarly editions can open up new research questions
• recognise some of the challenges of developing 3D digital scholarly editions.