Introduction

Last updated on 2024-09-17 | Edit this page

Estimated time: 10 minutes

Making it FAIR

Once a 3D model is created by deploying digitisation methods, it is good practice to provide access to the 3D model.

It is also useful to follow the FAIR principles, which states that content should remain:

Findable: allow others to find the 3D model and the information related to it.
Accessible: the 3D model and its metadata should be accessible via using a protocol for web, such as HTTP/HTTPS.
Interoperable: consider how other users will bring together content from various data sets, for instance to create a new project. Some frameworks such as IIIF (generally pronounced “triple-eye-eff”) allow for linking to visual media in an interoperable way.
Reusable: 3D data should be released with a clear and accessible data usage license.

Interactive Linear Stories

Storytelling is a useful way to engage users with heritage assets and their stories. Storytelling is a large domain, here we focus on the stories which are easily enabled by accessible web-tools.

Interactive linear stories allow users to interact with the 3D models by following a sequential narrative. This type of storytelling is popular in museums’ applications, such as kiosks.

Images and 3D models also use a technique called annotations, where more information can be pinned to the asset at a specific position. This technique is heavily used when interacting with a 3D model to direct the attention of users to particular points which are of interest.

Skara Brae, Orkney by Historic Environment Scotland on Sketchfab

Interactive 3D content

Interactivity allows users to access detailed information on 3D models. For instance, it allows decomposing or interacting with parts of an artefact, as in the recessed ceilings from Zhihua temples from the imperial Ming-era craftsmanship. You can find this example here: Disperse Chinese Art Digitisation project.

Scrollytelling

Websites also use the popular scrollytelling technique, which allows a user to follow a narrative by scrolling.

By doing this, they access an interwoven mix of textual and visual media, including images, videos or 3D models, with which they can interact to get additional details.