From The Schommunity Wiki

Virtual Heritage

A Proposed course
This online course will provide opportunities to reconsider that which constitutes ‘heritage’ through examination of virtual heritage. It will also reflect the increasing importance to the heritage industries and the wider society of virtual learning and displays and the extent to which mobile technologies have become an integral part of how we understand the past.

Objects and places

A central element will be The Open University’s cross-faculty presence in Second Life. Second Life defines itself as ‘an online society within a 3D world, where users can explore, build, socialize, and participate in their own economy.’ On 17th January there were 2,724,305 Second Life ‘residents’ of whom 306,483 had logged on during the last seven days. Second Life resembles a game but business is transacted inside it and users can create their own software and content and realize their ideas. It relates to the external events, for example Reuters has a fulltime reporter inside Second Life who conducted interviews at the World Economic Forum, Davos which were then broadcast live inside Second Life. The Open University owns virtual property and goods in Second Life. Students on this course will have access to an island owned by The Open University on which there will be a variety of artefacts for them to consider. They will also have access to numerous other virtual heritage artefacts.

Approach to learning

Debates about virtual space and the archiving of online materials do more than mirror those which are focused on artefacts because, as a result of the spread of ICT, the notion of a conserved, authentic ‘heritage object’ has changed. Although virtual heritage does not decay in the same way as physical artefacts, there are nevertheless issues to consider about the future-proofing of archives of emails, websites and other virtual ephemera. Studying through Second Life will provide opportunities to consider several aspects of virtual heritage:
The operation of heritage networks
The most successful digital-works preservation projects are those which encourage widespread distribution. For example video games from the 1980s and pornography are preserved because of successful networks. Virtual heritage inverts the convention of the heritage industries, that preservation should be controlled by skilled professionals because on the Internet, moving and storing data is cheap and easy, the preservationists are amateurs and open source, publicly documented formats and software, aid preservation. In assessing the same virtual artefacts and records as the other students a physically dispersed student cohort will be able to network and forge an online learning community which shares knowledge and skills. Through engagement within such a community the functions of reciprocity in regard to heritage will be explored.
The purposes of preservation
The preferred discourses about nostalgia, identity, invented tradition and the rise of leisure can be disrupted and examined in fresh ways when observed from within a virtual world. Virtual castles, monuments and other constructions —— there is for example a Tāj Mahal in Second Life and also a Museum of Labor (sic) History —— perform different purposes in Second Life to real life material artefacts and allow a wide variety of different access and preservation problems to be addressed. Given the geographical spread of students and the considerable experience of online pedagogy of staff at the OU, teaching will focus on the study of online artefacts and on collaborative learning. There will be assignments in relation to activities within The Open University ‘land’ and also assessment of the use virtual space in relation to heritage policies.
An holistic overview of policy development
Through studying within a vast virtual world students will be able to take a holistic view of open access, attempts to preserve records and artefacts and how best to provide guidance about how the remains of the past should be preserved, presented and consumed. They will be able to gain knowledge and a critical understanding of the principles, concepts and terms relating to the preservation and archiving of artefacts through analysis of policies relating to virtual records. Discussion on a wiki, a collective website for students and staff, and on forums will provide a means by the wider issues of whose heritage should be preserved and why, can be reassessed.
The uses of mobile and online technologies within the sector
Many museums and heritage sites provide reasons for visitors to go online before, after or during their visit or encourage visitors to use PDAs as a means of interacting with the displays. A course which promotes reflection about, and knowledge of, virtual learning and displays will be distinctive within programmes courses about heritage. In telling stories about virtual objects students will be able to develop and demonstrate a number of learning outcomes. The indicative list below will be amended according to level and length of course and role within a programme.

Knowledge and understanding

• Indicate critical awareness of how accounts of the past are constructed through addressing questions about preservation.
• Show a knowledge of debates about heritage through case study. Students will be able to employ a variety of methodological approaches which will be introduced through key debates and issues.
• Understand the ethical and other implications of different approaches to the presentation of information.

Cognitive Skills

• Develop ICT skills through critical engagement with Second Life.
• Demonstrate evidence of communication skills through online forums, professional-style reports giving evidence-based opinion and appropriate use of reference
• Provide interpretation of virtual artefacts and records.

Key Skills

• Engage with heritage issues through comparative studies.
• Investigate heritage issues in a rapidly changing environment
• Address issues of evaluation, intervention and management within the context of a learning community.

Practical Professional skills

• Gain Insights into uses of the web and mobile technologies.
• Utilise online team competencies including how to work as a online learning community.
• Employ self-evaluation and reflection through keeping of online journals.