Today marks the beginning of a groundbreaking five-day workshop that will shape the future of 3D cultural heritage documentation. “Paradata in 3D Scholarship: Intellectual Transparency and Scholarly Argumentation in Digital Heritage” brings together 25 international experts at the Lorentz Centre to tackle one of the most pressing challenges in digital heritage: how to make 3D visualizations transparent, reproducible, and trustworthy.

Led by PURE3D coordinator Prof. Costas Papadopoulos (Maastricht University) alongside Prof. Isto Huvila (Uppsala University), Dr. Trilce Navarrete (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Kira Zumkley (Victoria & Albert Museum), and Vincent Rossi (Smithsonian Institution), this collaborative initiative represents the largest coordinated effort to standardize paradata documentation for 3D scholarship.

Addressing a Critical Gap

“Without knowing why and how 3D models were made and what decisions were involved in their production, our understanding remains superficial, with no additional reuse value for research, education, or public display,” explains Papadopoulos. “As the volume of 3D visualizations is set to surpass the total produced over the last four decades, establishing these standards is crucial.”

International Collaboration in Action

The workshop brings together representatives from world-leading institutions including The Smithsonian, Victoria & Albert Museum, University of Amsterdam, Leiden University, DANS, and Europeana, alongside participants from Sweden, Portugal, Germany, Cyprus, Ireland, the UK, and the United States.

Practical Outcomes Expected

Over the next five days, participants will:

• Develop comprehensive paradata standards for 3D heritage data

• Create a prototype tool extending Smithsonian’s Voyager platform

• Design implementation workflows for museums and research institutions

• Establish a roadmap for integration with PURE3D and other infrastructures

Building on PURE3D’s Vision

This workshop directly advances PURE3D’s mission to transform 3D models from static representations into dynamic, interactive scholarly resources. The collaboration with eScience Centre Research Software Engineers ensures that conceptual frameworks developed this week will become practical tools for the global 3D heritage community.

The workshop has been generously funded by the eScience Center and the Lorentz Center under the 2024 Open Call: Innovation in Digital Heritage Research.

To find out more about the workshop visit the Lorentz Center page: https://www.lorentzcenter.nl/paradata-in-3d-scholarship.html