Recent developments in computer technology are providing historians
with new ways to see -- and seek to hear, touch, or smell -- traces
of the past. Place-based augmented reality applications are an
increasingly common feature at heritage sites and museums, allowing
historians to create immersive, multifaceted learning experiences.
Now that computer vision can be directed at the past, research
involving thousands of images can recreate lost or destroyed
objects or environments, and discern patterns in vast datasets that
could not be perceived by the naked eye.
Seeing the Past with Computers is a collection of twelve
thought-pieces on the current and potential uses of augmented
reality and computer vision in historical research, teaching, and
presentation. The experts gathered here reflect upon their
experiences working with new technologies, share their ideas for
best practices, and assess the implications of -- and imagine
future possibilities for -- new methods of historical study. Among
the experimental topics they explore are the use of augmented
reality that empowers students to challenge the presentation of
historical material in their textbooks; the application of seeing
computers to unlock unusual cultural knowledge, such as the secrets
of vaudevillian stage magic; hacking facial recognition technology
to reveal victims of racism in a century-old Australian archive;
and rebuilding the soundscape of an Iron Age village with aural
augmented reality.
This volume is a valuable resource for scholars and students of
history and the digital humanities more broadly. It will inspire
them to apply innovative methods to open new paths for conducting
and sharing their own research.
