PURE3D is a three-year project funded by the PDI-SSH (Platform Digitale Infrastructuur–Social Sciences and Humanities) with a mission to advance the virtual research environment through the development of an access infrastructure for viewing interactive Digital Heritage and Digital Humanities 3D content online. The platform intends to target the unique needs and abilities of both the content creators (researchers, educators, cultural heritage managers) as well as the end-users (students, public, academics, etc.).

Building on the conventions of text-based digital scholarly editions, PURE3D will provide tools to integrate multiple types of source materials (e.g., annotations, images, video, structured/unstructured data) and document the creation process (paradata), providing users with direct access to the modelling and interpretative choices creating a multimodal resource impossible to replicate in print form.

PURE3D is aware of the issues that research-based 3D content creators may encounter in making their projects and data accessible on the web. File size, format, technical know-how and funding are some of the issues. The PURE3D platform will act as a preservation repository for projects, developing a conceptual and methodological framework for valorizing and evaluating 3D scholarship, so that the outputs of 3D digital scholarship can meaningfully contribute to the whole of the academic ecosystem.

The PURE3D Project is based out of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University under the direction of Dr. Costas Papadopoulos and Prof. Susan Schreibman. A number of partner institutions join PURE3D as pilot projects or in advisory roles and technical support. Information about the partner institutions and pilot projects can be viewed in the Partners section of this website.