CONTACT: Scot Thrane Refsland

RELEASED  2  February 2000

Announcing the Establishment of  a
New Network Organisation for International Virtual Heritage

2 Feb 2000, GIFU, JAPAN -- The International Society on Virtual Systems and
MultiMedia (VSMM Society) announced today the establishment of the Virtual Heritage Network [VHN], a new international organisation designed to promote the utilisation of technology for the education, interpretation, conservation and preservation of Natural, Cultural and World Heritage. The network is a physical and electronic network of people and resources in many countries currently working in the virtual heritage community.

The Virtual Heritage Network [VHN] will address many issues on an international scale by offering services to the virtual heritage industry and community through conferences, projects and information dissemination.   The main feature of VHN is the website
[XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX], a substantial database of news,
conferences, events and employment opportunities. The main feature is an
online electronic Library for the permanent archival of manuscripts,
projects and websites relating to Virtual Heritage.

Executive Directors of the new organization are: Prof Takeo Ojika [Japan], Gifu University; Prof Robert Stone [UK], Scientific Director of Virtual Presence (UK)/MuSE) Technologies (US); Scot Thrane Refsland, Executive Director of VSMM Society, [Japan]; and Alonzo Addison, Director of the Center for Design Visualization at U.C. Berkeley, USA. VHN also has a board of directors consisting of international professionals and researchers in the industry.

There has been a strong international growth of interest in the prospect of  using VR to recreate historic sites and events for such purposes as education, special project commissions and showcase features at national and World Heritage visitor centres. In the context of heritage, VR goes much further, however, in that it offers a means of protecting the fragile
state of some sites and can help educate visitors not so much about their history, but in how to explore, interpret and respect them. Yet, even though the Virtual Heritage industry and community has grown substantially, it is still fragmented and difficult to find researchers, projects, news and events or how to produce virtual heritage applications. Many times researchers will duplicate efforts because they did not know of existing research or case studies. The Virtual Heritage Network provides a common network point to solve these problems through education, administrative, legal/financial case studies, and member interaction tools.

Prof Ojika, founder of the VSMM Society and Virtual System Lab at Gifu University, saw the need for such an organisation and began searching for other like minds. "Heritage is extremely important as it tells about our sociological, cultural and natural past. Virtual Reality technologies are a great way to increase our understanding of this important part of human life," says Ojika. In this sense, we gain human wisdom by integrating the eternal values of our heritage and ever-progressing technology in perfect harmony. Thus, the Virtual Heritage Network System is used to realize a common ground where people around the world can communicate with each other freely, toward the coming 21st Century."

"Here in Gifu Prefecture, says Ojika, we've been working on Virtual Heritage through the VSMM Society's International Conferences which host a special session on Virtual World Heritage with the kind support of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. We've also produced several projects at the Virtual System Laboratory, including the Shirakawa go Grass Hut Village. Shirakawa Go is an extremely important heritage asset to Japan and is a dying art form. We wanted to document this process and since it is located in Gifu Prefecture, it is only appropriate that we modeled it in VR to enable many people to explore it that live outside of Japan. We've been so successful with this project that the Prefectural Government is now
supporting our efforts in Virtual Heritage through assisting with a more formalized production facility for virtual heritage applications. With this new production facility, we will begin producing a project for Japanese school children to work on virtual heritage projects, as well as offer low cost/no cost production assistance to other international projects. In the future, we want to develop strong relationships with many countries to collaborate on projects that will promote better cultural understanding between countries through the VHN network system."

Bob Stone, a long time expert of VR and father of the English Heritage Virtual Stonehenge site, says the key issue to Virtual Heritage is accessibility. "As with industrial and commercial applications, the time for being overawed by Hollywood-style 3D graphics and VR component technologies per se has passed. The key issue now for virtual heritage is
accessibility. This means paying attention to what some might consider more mundane issues – usability, the human-computer interface, database interchange formats, accuracy and ethical responsibilities. Accessibility also demands the putting in place of a global communication infrastructure to provide formative experiences and, of course, entertainment (but not entertainment that detracts from the real heritage content). Access must not just be restricted to those who work in the expensive laboratories where the virtual heritage developments occur."

In the UK, membership of VHN is gaining pace. The most recent partners joining the VHN partner program include the Lion Salt Works in Northwich, Cheshire, the Manchester-based Advanced Telematics Centre and, in the north-east of England, the University of Teesside's VR Centre.

In collaboration with the Carnegie Trust, the Lion Salt Works XXXXXXXX has been working with Virtual
Presence to carry out a VR development programme based around the historic salt mining town of Northwich.

The Telematics Centre XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, an initiative funded by the European Regional Development Funding to support Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, brings expertise in IT network facilitation media conferencing and on-line delivery, an important contribution to the VHN's goal of making international heritage more accessible through the medium of VR.

The University of Teesside (XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX), home to one of the UK's academic "reality centres", has recently become involved in the establishment of the Northumbria Heritage Virtual Reality Centre, to be built at the Historic Quay in Hartlepool, UK. The Teesside's Management Team is chaired by Prof. Stone.

Other founding participants include English Heritage and the Monastery of St Francis & Gorton Trust (XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX) in south-east Manchester (representing one of the 100 most endangered sites in the World Monuments Fund's Year 2000 directory). European membership is expected to grow dramatically over the next 12-18 months.

Prof Stone says, "We've designed the Virtual Heritage Network to address these issues so that we provide accessibility through networking of the professionals who are producing the content and the visitors who will use the applications. The combination of VR and Heritage has become a very powerful new tool for the heritage industry."

"Minja Yang, Director of the Asia/Pacific region of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre agrees. "We see virtual reality as a very important management and educational tool that can aid researchers and planners in the conservation and development of their world heritage sites. Yet at the moment the potential of this new technology is largely unknown by many site
managers. We have been working closely with the VSMM Society for over 2 years by participating in conferences on Virtual World Heritage, and we are excited to see the Virtual Heritage Network established as a result of our efforts. It will create opportunities to enhance our mandate in heritage conservation and preservation. VR will never take the place of visiting the actual site, rather, it will provide a substantial contribution to interpretation, preservation and enhancement to a visitor's experience, especially with the younger generations who are already very computer savvy."

Since 1996 The International Society on Virtual Systems and MultiMedia has been hosting the VHN and have been working and collaborating in this area through Special Sessions on Virtual World Heritage, published articles in many Journals and international Newspapers. In November 1999, an official announcement for the establishment of VHN and the web database was made at the Annual UNESCO Site Manager's meeting in Poitiers, France.

Currently VHN is producing a special Session on Virtual Heritage during the
VSMM2000 conference in October 2000 in Japan.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX] and will be releasing a large format, full
colour Book on Virtual Heritage in the summer 2000.

Membership to the Virtual Heritage Network and the use of its services is
free. For information, please refer to:
. The VSMM Society can be found at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX