 Kia ora, everyone. Nāmahinu i kia koutou. Ngomai hairomai kitē tinei kōrero, ārā hitohu VR, kō Jarrod Davidson toku inga. I work at Arco's New Zealand and I'll be running through the first part about the development of the hitohu VR and then I'll pass over to Renee who will talk about some of the virtual reality in practice. It's really nice to piggyback on that last presentation which talked a bit more about the tech itself. So hopefully everyone knows what hitohu is. It's an exhibition hosted at the National Library in Arco's New Zealand exhibition with the strap line he whakapapa kōrero he whenua kura. So talking about our past to create a better future. We're blessed with this wonderful waka huia, he whakapapa kōrero, the document room where three documents are on display. He whakapūtanga o te rangatiratanga o nu tirani, known as the Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes, te tiriti o waitangi and the 1893 women's suffrage petition. It's an amazing space and it's been winning awards and it is a pretty special place to be there. Hopefully you've all been, if you haven't, you've got about another 23 years to go because it's a permanent exhibition. This is he whakapūtanga being viewed te tiriti o waitangi with some of the public programs groups that we take tours through and obviously the women's suffrage petition as well. Now that's all well and good. It's an amazing place to visit. But one thing that he tōhu is about is about increasing access and increasing learning for people. So what about all those kids who can't get to Wellington and keeping in mind that our target audience was 10 to 15 year olds. We also have an agreement, kawanata with the iwi chairs forum. So all throughout the development of he tōhu we worked very closely with our te tiriti partners and we had a commitment to them in a formal kawanata to try and increase access for those tamariki who could not get to Wellington. So that's the problem that we had to face. How do we increase the access and enhance learning about these three mana taonga documents? And honour our commitment and our te tiriti relationship as well. We explored some various options whether doing online things or taking document tables and placing them in museums, but we decided that we would go with the virtual reality experience of he tōhu and then be able to pilot that and run it in various places with people in partnership and we're also developing a mobile app as well. So the talk just before us talked a little bit about the technology and Renee and some of the sides will talk more about the tech. I was more involved in the creation and the curation of the project as well. So we wanted to basically go for the highest quality possible experience that we could because these are pretty important taonga with a very important history. So we wanted to maintain the quality and integrity of the exhibition. So we worked quite closely with educators and Tai Nui Stevens of Māori Land Film Festival in Ōtaki if you haven't been, make sure you go. And developed a bit of a script so that the virtual reality experience as our previous speakers said if you haven't done it before, it can be a bit disorientating. So we basically created two versions a bit of a curated experience and also a bit more of a free-roaming for educators like Renee can work with. We wanted a soundtrack as well and so we worked with Alistair Fraser and Ariana Tikau to create the appropriate soundtrack for the experience as well. And importantly to honour the relationship that Hitohu went through, the experience can be done in both Te Reo Māori and Te Reo Pākia. And so we worked with Lionel Wellington, with our director Māori engagement to create an appropriate Te Reo Māori experience. Interestingly, the process for that we had quite a formal script and it didn't really work the literal translation of the English so they developed a much more intuitive and user-friendly type of chord at all, which was great. So we partnered with Mixed Studios here in Wellington to create this and what they did was use photogrammetry to take thousands upon thousands of photographs of the waka huia. And you can see here is an example of some of those photographs being mixed and matched up so that when you're in the experience you get a full 3D version of it as well. We also supplied some of the high-risk scans from Hitohu, the documents themselves. Here's the Waikato Manakau sheet being kind of broken up and then being readied for the internal experience of Hitohu. And again this is shooting Lionel Wellington with the green string and then some of the testing at Mixed Studios as well. Do we have a bit of a video? There is a longer video online which you can go to through Arco's New Zealand and this is Anton from Mixed talking a bit more about the tech. Our team took thousands of photos and media and documents and using advanced processing technology we were able to stitch these together to create an accurate 3D model in 8K textures. The time and attention put into making this resulted in a hyper realistic experience. We developed this using the Unreal Game Engine and recorded our presenter in both Te Reo and English using Binaural Audio Capture. Users can choose between the language and navigate around the experience using their controller. The experience was built for the HSC Vive Pro with no more tangled chords. Combining this state-of-the-art technology with our high-quality capture, users can get closer to the documents than they can in real life. We now have this incredible tool with a combination of music, story and narration that encourages users to immerse themselves in the tour to learn and discover. This has resulted in engaging and educational trip that can be taken at the user's pace. The feedback is that people love it. We've been able to take this special exhibition to see the importance of these documents. We look forward to bringing He Tohu to more places throughout New Zealand through the virtual reality experience. Nolera, tata hui hui mai nei. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tata katoa. It's obviously very hard to demonstrate virtual reality when you're not in virtual reality but hopefully you saw in that video some of the screenshots using the 8K texture of the very high-quality experience. That's just the URL to watch the full video on our YouTube channel. It was a very interesting process taking these taonga in a physical space into the virtual reality space but it has been a very positive experience. A lot of people who couldn't get up close and personal to the documents say in the actual experience because of the glass cabinets obviously really found the virtual reality quite interesting and could really get up to the Tohu or the marks of their signatures of Tupinua ancestors which is very interesting as well. So we built this technology and as Hugh Cardin has said we've started to think about where we can partner and take this and the first place it went to was He Tohu Tamaki, the National Library in Tamaki, Makaurau in Auckland. So I'm going to hand over Rene now to kind of talk about the He Tohu VR in practice. Cool. Sorry, thanks Jared. As Jared mentioned we did decide to pilot this in He Tohu Tamaki so as part of that what we really, the first thing that we came up with is that we really needed to contextualise the learning that goes around it so it couldn't just be it on itself and one of the things that we did is we partnered with Ngāti Whātou Ōrāke in co-designing the learning environment that would surround this because we are wanting to educate both teachers and also kids in this space around these really important documents and we had to have that context in which the He Tohu VR would sit. So this was at the opening and it was really it really was a I suppose a joint partnership in the design of the space. You'll see some of the images in the background there were images that were chosen in collaboration or in partnership with Ngāti Whātou Ōrāke really we wanted to tell some of those local stories that relate to the three documents around He Tohu Tamaki and we had that as a grounding space. What it looks like though in practice when we get kids in there we've got two VR systems set up, we're using the expensive one that the guys were showing earlier in the previous presentation and they are wireless and we've got two areas set up, I don't know if I can get a little laser and basically it's in a three metre square on both sides of the room and so what we've done is we've set it up because it is one of the challenges that we had with VR is it's a very individual activity. You've got a one-on-one, it's a one person looking at the screen in the VR headset. We've done some sort of little hacks to get around that but really in a nutshell it does come to one-to-one so we had to work out how we could manage large groups of students, this is a very large group of students that we did run through an education program and so what we did was we created a whole lot of learning activities that go around the side of that as well. When it comes to working with the kids in VR we went with a slightly older group and we sort of put a limit for the last group or the last presentation said they put the limit at five. We went for a little bit older at around about eight so eight was sort of and also depending on the size of the kids as well because the headset is quite large with the high-tech one and it is quite heavy so they need to be able to fit it on and they don't want to fall over with it and this is Sandy going out and this is a lovely picture of me but you'll see in the background there is with the kids what we'll do is we'll have one kid going through the VR experience and then I'll be hopefully facilitatively working with the other kids and just showing them actually what the other person is seeing on the large screen but it's not quite the same unless you're actually in that experience. We had to sort of come up with a way the whole experience takes around about six minutes in total to go through and really what we had to do was we'd hack it because we're using the narrated version so you go from one document to the next or one sheet to the next and we came up with a methodology for actually getting these kids to experience it have a look at it, get down and get really up and close to the documents themselves and have a little story or a narration that sat around that and then that would be tied into some of the learning activities that would happen afterwards. Again going through is it really is quite a it requires facilitation. It's not just a learning experience that is just set up and go. What we've found is to really get the nutrition or whatever with regards to what's needed for a true good learning experience, we really needed to make sure that there was that facilitation that sat around it. One of the things that did come up actually with regards to the learning space is when we were talking to Ngāti Whātou Ōrākī is one of their desires was to have the learning space as a safe place to have some of these difficult discussions around te tiriti, te hifaka, te hifaka patanga and the women's suffrage petition and it came to, we did have some images of protest that were suggesting it because it came through the door but they did really ask that we reconsider that and we ended up, I used one of my images of a waipa past stream which flows through the area that the National Library is located and what that really did is that gives that grounding of water, of why and really made it into a safe space to actually this is sort of the tone that we're going to have these discussions is actually let's just ground it's OK and it is a safe place to have these discussions with the kids. The feedback that we've had from the kids sorry, I'll just bring it up on my computer because it's not on this presentation has been quite interesting in the teachers we are taking teachers through this as well so we're running sessions at the moment around teaching te tiriti to directly to teachers and that's been quite successful but one of the key things is that the feedback that's come back from the teachers is VR is seen as a way of engaging the students with the three of the key culture and heritage tonga allows children to experience 3D and adds another dimension to learning that was from the deaf education teachers and it really is what we're finding is that is a real target audience is kids with learning needs or difficulties or disabilities because it does put them in an immersive sense and it does touch on to the other senses real life experience it makes the documents real for students and makes the treaty more real and physical and excellent as an innovative learning tool VR is very cool and makes info much more accessible was very cool how you could go right up close to the documents one of my favourite stages in the narrated type thing we're getting the students to do is when we come to the women's suffrage petition is because you can actually get down on the ground and really look at the size of the roles so we do get kids crawling on the ground having a look at actually the size trying to touch the top and it really is quite getting them to engage with their bodies and try and understand actually the size or the significance and scale of that document being able to see the actual documents without the cost of going to Wellington and that was definitely part of that is to try and make that more accessible to kids and to teachers and to general public we are extending this beyond teachers as well, we've been approached by the University of Auckland by the business school and later this month we're going to have the first of about six or seven sessions so we're actually taking all 300 of their university staff through a learning experience based around Hihotoho and that's really to place, grounding because what the university is doing is they're wanting all of their faculties to incorporate to Tiriti properly into their curriculum and the way they teach. The challenge that they face is that around about 70 odd percent or more of their lecturers, especially in the business schools are not from New Zealand and then the ones that are from New Zealand are also facing you know that have a view of Tiriti and so what we're doing is we're trying to come in and use this experience as sort of like a grounding for them to then carry on some professional development for their educators but in that sort of what this really does and it's what I've found with regards to the VR, is it is that opportunity to actually ground yourself about the discussions that are about to happen. So it's really putting you in touch almost physically in a sort of virtual way with the documents that are sort of a really good discussion point to have with kids and educators. As Jared mentioned we do have an app hopefully that's coming out soon and that's going to make it more accessible again. So that's going to be a VR app that won't require glasses but a 360 degree view where you can actually access the documents from anyone with an iOS device or an Android device. The issue around that or the challenge that's going to be around that is how do we contextualise it and that's great it's going to give people access to it but how do we contextualise the learning and the other things around that and that's something that we're continuing to work with. We've developed a number of learning activities that go alongside this that educators can use around not just the VR but also around just the three foundation documents themselves anyway. That's not the right one. The app is going to come soon. So we're going to open it up to some questions because that's how we're going to roll. So does anyone have any questions about it? Definitely silence. I think Renee's point about having some context around it is really important because the last thing Hitohi Wellington wanted to do was just go somewhere else and plonk it down and be like hey here's a cool thing and it's all about Wellington. So working with Ngati Fata Orakei was a really nice experience and we hope that this might lead to some further other relationships whether it's at Tūrunga Library or we now know that Pukariki has a full suite of VR so what's the Taranaki story around these three taonga so that's I think how we're treating this technology is to enable some of that wider context that wider discussion as well. Yeah. Can I ask technical elements to choosing VR and also sourcing the company or who would develop it? What kind of process did you go through in seeing who could do this in New Zealand and did you have conversations with a number of potential producers or was there an obvious fit and within the context, the overall context is you've got to have sensitivity towards the material how did you get that across to Damans in partnership with the producers? Yeah, it's a very good question definitely. MIX Studios is here in Wellington so that was helpful. We haven't had Lorraine Jones who's the project manager or who in the audience do you want to answer that question or? Hi, thank you. There was a project in Wellington with other people who had developed VR of various venues in Wellington obviously called again Positively Wellington no, Virtual Wellington something like that. As a promo put on by Positively Wellington so we were part of that they chose to Papa and ask in a few other venues and did various versions of VR and put that together so MIX had already been in work with us as part of that partnership and so they had already done the first round of the work so then we got a better build done through them and we've used it in various ways since and now we're using it as part of the app. What are your other questions there? Just in relation to ensuring that the context and how it was managed in creating the VR around your sensitivities towards the documents was there a level of consultation with us? I'll pass it back to Jared because he was the curator and there was a whole team of us working on it from various fields. That's a good point obviously for more people behind the scenes. That ka wananata was very important and obviously any discussions about the development of Hitohu and various products or experiences had to go through quite a rigorous process we've maintained that relationship with the Iwi Chiers and obviously working with Ngati Fata Ora as well it took time to make sure we're building that relationship and ensuring that the Tamaki Hitohu story was an equal part of that as well. Luckily I think Hitohu right from the beginning has had that type of working ingrained so it wasn't a new thing to do it just felt normal. Of course relationships take time and so the opening of the pilot in Tamaki was pushed back but that's important too as you say the context and the importance of the documents and the Toohu in there it was important to do the right thing. Just on that note though we initially decided to engage just with Ngati Fata Ora in the first instance because there are 14 Iwi that we do need to engage with up in Tamaki we engage with them just simply because we are on that land and we're on the land that belong to them but the intention is is next as we start going to other Iwi start having those conversations start surfacing their stories that they weren't told as well so this is not a static thing so it's bringing those additional context around and the additional stories and histories of Tamaki as a whole and starting to construct that but we started first initially with Ngati Fata Orake and then we hope to move on to Ngati Pa Ngati Mana Hurdi and the others as well as time goes on to start collecting those stories because that's something Ngati Fata Orake were very explicit about was that they could tell their story and absolutely 100% they were telling their story and working with us to tell that story it's then up to us to then go up and start bridging the relationships with other Iwi and other interested parties like women's groups as well around what other stories we want told and we really did make the description that Jared always used is we set the stage up there to tell the stories and then we start and that's what we're starting to do starting to set that stage to have those discussions There are plans and ideas that you could totally expand the learning with the VR so you could actually build in hyperlinks and when you look at the document a signature might come up and then photos might come in or you might jump off to that biography that's been crowd sourced so there is the potential for doing that in VR and that's something we would like to explore as well One of the challenges we did have with the VR and the suffrage petition in particular is that the photographs were taken at a point in time so we are stuck on those sheets in Timaru indefinitely so one of the things we're looking at is other ways to actually surface on other interactives in the space the other parts of the suffrage petition and also looking at ways we could perhaps tie into that sort of thing as well If only it was on her top if it was on the Tamaki sheet it would be great but that's right we just have to show it in Tamaru Cool Thank you everyone So we're breaking now for afternoon tea and then we're back down to telling the theatres for the final part of the forum but if you want to give these guys a hand