Material Digital Humanities seminar
School of Advanced Study, University of London
May 7, 2024
Orly Lewis (Hebrew University Jerusalem): The Materiality of Interpretive 3D Models
The application of 3D modelling in the humanities is steadily growing. This includes the design and creation of digital 3D interpretive representations of objects described in historical texts but for which we have partial or no direct visual or material evidence. Once created, the digital models can be viewed, manipulated and studied by scholars and students, and even printed to become a physical object. But what kind of sources are these 3D digital or printed models - are they material sources? Are they “secondary sources” similar to a research article or a commentary? And how can one reflect interpretive decisions in a 3D model?
This talk will engage with these questions through the case of 3D models of ancient anatomical ideas. I will discuss the work of project ATLOMY on the history of anatomy and explain the process of creating such models based on textual and non-textual sources. I will then consider how 3D models can be used in further research, possible caveats and how these can be addressed in the production process.
The Spring 2024 Material Digital Humanities seminar is organised by Gabriel Bodard, Shawn Graham and Rada Varga and co-hosted by the Digital Humanities Research Hub, University of London, UK; Department of History, Carleton University, Canada; Star-UBB Institute of Advanced Studies, University Babeș-Bolyai, Cluj Napoca, Romania.
This seminar series will present a range of discussions around materiality and the research possibilities offered by digital methods and approaches. More than just the value of digitization and computational research to the study of material culture, we are especially interested in theoretical and digital approaches to the question of materiality itself. We do not restrict ourselves to any period of history or academic discipline, but want to encourage interdisciplinarity and collaborative work, and the valuable exchange of ideas enabled by cross-pollination of languages, areas of history, geography and cultures.
22 июн 2024
