April 19, 2002 UNT Inhouse publication: UNT professor on a 3-D mission

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UNT professor on a 3-D mission

Imagine being able to visit an online museum and download three-dimensional plastic replicas of artifacts like dinosaur bones or Mayan sculptures. The idea is closer to reality than you might think.

Samantha Hastings, UNT associate professor of library and information sciences, is developing a system to organize and manage this type of online 3-D museum in conjunction with Arius3D Inc. in Ontario, which specializes in 3-D imaging.

Other labs use a high-resolution resin printer to create artifact replicas from archaeological digs. Hastings is adapting the same process for her digital museums by storing online the data that allows resin printers to re-create artifacts. Library science principles are used to create a system to organize this information so visitors may have easy access. And while building the foundation for these unique museums, Hastings is researching and testing a whole new vocabulary and field of study.

The program is an extension of a previous project in which fellows funded by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services digitized the collections of the African American Museum to create a digital museum of two-dimensional objects. The project digitized and placed images of museum pieces on the Internet, managed databases about the pieces and maintained the Internet server as well as produced students who were trained digital managers. Hastings hopes to do the same with the online 3-D museums.

The project is being conducted through the Texas Center for Digital Knowledge in the School of Library and Information Sciences.