CIMS at Digital Heritage 2018
In late October 2018, CIMS had the opportunity to participate in the triennial Digital Heritage International Congress and Expo in San Francisco, California. Digital Heritage is the leading global event on digital technology for documenting, conserving and sharing heritage—from monuments & sites, to museums & collections, libraries & archives, and intangible traditions & languages. We were lucky enough to secure a spot in the tech expo, allowing us to showcase our work in our Digitization, BIM, Digitally Assisted Fabrication and Digitally Assisted Storytelling research streams. Team Lead and PHD Student Katie Graham presented her paper entitled, Creating Non-Linear Digital Stories of the Canadian Parliament Buildings and Rehabilitation Project, detailing the narrative structure of three of our Digitally Assisted Storytelling projects (The Senate Tour, Virtual Reality Kiosk and Building Canada’s Parliament).
I first began CIMS journey back in January of 2017 when I was hired as a web developer for the Building Canada’s Parliament project. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a wide array of projects across several disciplines – from computer programming, to animation and design, and now project management. Working at CIMS was a perfect compliment to my undergraduate program in Interactive Multimedia and Design, allowing me to practice the skills I learned in several courses in an ever-changing work environment. Additionally, I’ve learned a ton about architecture and cultural heritage, topics I would have never crossed while pursuing my Information Technology degree. I’ve been able to combine my knowledge of software development and interaction design with the architecture background of the lab to create several multimedia projects.
Having the opportunity to travel to San Francisco to take part in Digital Heritage is something I would have never imagined of when I started at CIMS two years ago. The conference was held at the historic wharves of Fort Mason, a former military port facility and coastal defense site, with the enormous Golden Gate bridge towering the mountains in behind the bay. The Gala Dinner was held on board the historic Liberty ship SS Jeremiah O’Brien. We had the opportunity to explore the ship deck, inner bays and engine room which was a spectacular maze of pipes and cogs.
We had a great turnout at the expo booth – a lot of attendees were blown away by the sheer amount of projects we’ve completed, and how varied they are. Some of the biggest hits were our passive virtual reality experiences we developed into an application on the portable Oculus Go, as well as some of our early AR tests we’ve produced as part of the Rehabilitation Project on Parliament Hill. Many conference-goers congratulated Katie on her talk – stating how they enjoyed how we’ve included a narrative into our projects rather than simply showing off a space to explore.
I’d like to thank CIMS for giving me this amazing experience! I can’t wait to see where we’ll head to next and what upcoming projects I’ll get to be a part of.