Heritage Key was a content-oriented online community aimed at those with an interest in history and culture. It featured both media resources and an interactive experience. Available content included podcasts, streaming videos, news articles, interviews, discussion groups and blogs. The content was often created in conjunction with archaeologists and historians, such as the Egyptologist Dr

Zahi Hawass Zahi Abass Hawass (; born May 28, 1947) is an Egyptians, Egyptian archaeology, archaeologist, Egyptology, Egyptologist, and former Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Egypt), Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, a position he held twice. He has ...

and

John Julius Norwich John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich, (15 September 1929 – 1 June 2018), known as John Julius Norwich, was an English popular historian, writer of widely read travel books, and television personality. Biography Youth Norwich was born ...

. Heritage Key combined this content with an online 3D virtual experience, or

virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space or spaces) is a Computer simulation, computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many simultaneous users who can create a personal Avatar (computing), avatar and independently explore th ...

, that recreated artifacts and archaeological sites.

The Virtual Experience

The Heritage Key Virtual Experience (VX) allowed users to explore virtual reconstructions of historical sites from around the world. Users navigated through these virtual worlds by creating avatars, enabling them to interact with each other and to explore in groups. All artefacts and historical sites were reproduced in

3D modelling In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of a surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, and ...

applications using measurements and photographs of the actual sites and artefacts. Digital content creation was handled by Rezzable, a London-based team of digital artists.

Open source approach

Heritage Key used a range of open source software, including content management system,

Drupal Drupal () is a free and open-source web content management system (CMS) written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Drupal provides an open-source back-end framework for at least 14% of the top 10,000 websites worldwide ...

, and online 3D simulation software,

OpenSimulator OpenSimulator is an open-source software, open-source server platform originally launched in 2007 for hosting virtual worlds and metaverse environments. It is largely compatible with the virtual world ''Second Life'' but full compatibility is ...

Content delivery

Heritage Key used a variety of existing social media platforms for sharing and viewing content, including

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Flickr Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of synchronous computer-mediated communication involving the immediate ( real-time) transmission of messages between two or more parties over the Internet or another computer network. Originally involv ...

and

RSS feeds RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many ...

User-generated content User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), emerged from the rise of web services which allow a system's User (computing), users to create Content (media), content, such as images, videos, audio, text, testi ...

was also accepted through the sharing of photos via Flickr, posting blog entries or helping to create some of the digital items in the VX.

Potential in education

Heritage Key also acted as a

Virtual Learning Environment Virtual may refer to: * Virtual image, an apparent image of an object (as opposed to a real object), in the study of optics * Virtual (horse), a thoroughbred racehorse * Virtual channel, a channel designation which differs from that of the actual ...

. Educational institutions could use Heritage Key to develop experiences for their students inside the virtual world. Teachers could select content and choose how to deliver it in the most appropriate way. The Heritage Key VX supported real-time communication through messaging and live conversations via

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

Virtual tourism

Three-dimensional virtual tourism allows travellers to see and explore

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

environments for the purpose of experiencing physical places in space and time without physically traveling there. Heritage Key’s VX provided an environment where travelers could explore historic sites, meet and interact online and share advice or recommendations for potential destinations.

References

{{Reflist

External links

*https://www.youtube.com/user/heritagekeymedia/videos History websites of the United Kingdom