Currently, issues of access to and the preservation of material artefacts are presenting challenging problems to institutional cultural collections.
VeRSI is collaborating with researchers from Melbourne and La Trobe Universities as well as the Australian Institute of Archaeology to find a solution for the storage and transfer of the image files. By using VeRSI’s distributed storage facilities, these images are now more accessible and secure in a centralised location, and not subject to the precarious nature of external hard drives located in the offices of individual researchers.
VeRSI is also hosting a dedicated, Sakai-based website for the 3D Multimodal Visualisation Discussion Group based at the University of Melbourne and the University of Bradford. It will be used by participants from industry and research institutions world-wide. Users will be able to discuss problems faced and solutions found by 3D imaging practitioners using digital photography, laser, CT, MRI and ultrasound technologies. Many of the practical hurdles and their solutions are common to all these technologies and can be usefully shared across the emerging 3D community.
Left: a single image from a virtual 3D file of a replica of a 4500 year old Sumerian cuneiform clay tablet. The original is held in the collection of the Australian Institute of Archaeology. Access to, and the preservation of, material artefacts present challenging problems within institutional cultural collections.
