In the course Creating Digital Collections, we combined project-based learning (PBL) with more practical skills such as project management, design thinking, content development, and multimodal storytelling. We were encouraged to consider toys as meaningful objects within broader social, historical, and cultural contexts.
During the PBL sessions, we talked about various theoretical issues surrounding object digitisation, with a focus on the authenticity and properties (affordances) of digital versus physical objects. We discussed whether an object loses something of its ‘aura’ when digitised or, on the contrary, acquires a new form of meaning. Next to that, we talked about how toys reflect the values and social norms of the time in which they were produced and function as a historical snapshot. We also explored the concept of ‘multimodality’ which means the use of multiple media, like text, image, and interaction, to convey messages, especially within the digital society. This theory helped us to develop this tour.
In practice, we started by exploring photogrammetry, taking pictures of E.T. from all angles. Then we learned how to build a 3D model of E.T. using Agisoft Metashape software. Finally, we brought E.T. to life by creating and presenting a story around him in Voyage