Dr Marinos Ioannides and DHRLab researcher Drew Baker travelled to London at the request of the incoming Lord Mayor of London Professor Michael Mainelli and the XRchiving Group as part of a fact finding workshop. The aims of the mission were to
- Is the growing community of XR specialists in immersive technologies and story-telling?
- How can XRchiving augment XR specialists activities and optimise their effectiveness?
- How can XRchiving inform the programme for future events?
- How can we identify, fund, and optimise the synergies between the interests of the XR community and the efforts of the City of London Corporation and the Destination City initiative in promoting London as “the world’s coffee house” in developing its global ambitions?
- In acknowledging London’s two millennia of close links with Europe, can we develop proposals for funding a European research project exploring the potential of XR for education, economic development, social improvement, and well-being?
Held at the archives at King’s College London the attendees heard presentations from Drew Baker on the origins and concept of the London Charter for Computer based Visulisation of Cultural Heritage and how it might be used as a spring board for XR, and from Prof Mainelli outlaying his vision for London as the world’s coffee house for creativity, scholarship and innovation and a year of ‘connecting to prosper’.
A total of eight workshops were held discussing a wide range of issues surrounding the digitisation and use of Cultural Heritage as a catalyst for creativity and innovation with tow of these being co-chaired by CUT; A commercial strategy for Sustainability looked at establishing closer ties between London and Europe in the post Brexit landscape and London’s Best Practice Case Studies examining what has been digitised, what could be exploited and why previous initiatives have not always been successful in promoting London’s heritage assets.
At the conclusion of the event members of CUT were treated to London’s intangible cultural heritage at a historic public house and fish and chip restaurant
