Producing a Digital Interpretive Environment: The Role of Digital Documentation and Game Engines in Reaching New Audiences with Critical Stories of the Past

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Leveling Up: Gaming and Game Design in Archaeological Education and Outreach" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Two goals of the North Brentwood Digital Heritage and Archaeology Project are educational outreach and restorative justice. Digital documentation and gaming are an increasingly important part of those efforts. Multiple classes of students have taken an active role in engaging with the community to provide digital heritage services, including the development of a tour app, GIS, 3D documentation of at-risk sites, and the development of a digital interpretive environment using Unreal Engine. These grant-supported efforts have relied on the commitment of community members, students, and graduates in and out of the classroom. The digital Windom Road Barrier environment preserves a 70-year-old guardrail that separates the historically Black community of North Brentwood from the historically White community of Brentwood. The imminent success of a years-long effort to remove and memorialize the barrier’s history brings mixed emotions to some of the community members whose lives were shaped by this seemingly mundane artifact of daily life. One hundred years of gains made the removal of the barrier possible, but its erasure from the cultural landscape brings challenges to sharing this dark history with the youth. This project is the beginning of a new approach to cross-generational storytelling to preserve North Brentwood community heritage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Leveling Up: Gaming and Game Design in Archaeological Education and Outreach   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39860.0