Unit 9 - Real Vs Unreal

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The real versus unreal plays a major role in today’s historical experience. Historical accounts have been greatly impacted by the development of new virtual study and recreation techniques. However, there are pros and cons of handling historical objects physically and virtually. These pros and cons consist of historical knowledge of an object, the time needed to study objects and the sensory interaction with these objects. 

The advancement of Technology has created many possibilities that weren't available in the past.  Today's devices allow historians to restore and perform tasks on objects that might have previously been very time consuming physically. Also, when compared to the method of physically handling an object, some of these tasks ran the risk of potentially harming the objects. With the aid of 3D imaging, archaeologists are able to perform analysis and access related findings from anywhere in the world. Notes are often attached to describe texture and smell. With the knowledge from a collection of objects, a scientist can work with programmers to design a virtual reality creation of a certain time period associated with the objects. Current technology allows users to enter a virtual world with the use of headsets. Users are able to interact with the world with hand movements or a controller. The limitation of the virtual reality is that it stimulates the sight sense but not the other senses. There is also a chance a programmer might incorrectly input a measurement of an object into a software. Which might give an inaccurate representation of history.


In comparison, Archaeology is an example of physically handling a historical object. It is the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains. Archaeologist study and train for years on how to properly handle items objects from the past. They learn how to determine the time period of an object or its geography origins with techniques that involve touching, smelling and looking at it. To an average Joe, when we touch an object we too notice it's texture, smell if any and how it looks from different. We are not able to determine details of its origins but we probably could describe the object. However, there is also the risk of an average Joe damaging a fragile historical object.


Smithsonian National Museum of Natural history is located in Washington DC, it is one of the most visited museums in the world. The museum offers a peek at its treasures with an online virtual tour of the entire grounds. Viewers experience a 360-degree walking tour of all its exceptional exhibits. 

Comments

  1. Professor Charles EvansJune 28, 2018 at 8:01 AM

    That's a good point about how archaeology is focused on the physical handling of an object. Now the question that continues to bother me is the different user experience of handling that object physically versus putting on the 3D goggles and manipulating the reconstructed object. There's also a larger philosophical issue here.

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