New Dimensions In Testimony Will Soon Substitute Holocaust Survivors (+VIDEO)
According to the data from the San Francisco’s Tauber Holocaust Library and Education Program an estimated 6 to 10 percent of Holocaust survivors die every year; 500,000 Holocaust survivors remain worldwide; their average age is 79; about 120,000 of those are living in the United States. Thus aging Holocaust survivor population decreases gradually and one of the crucial issues addressed by the USC scientists in this connection is history preservation. Researchers are now working on the creation of life-size 3D holograms that can answer viewer questions through Siri-like voice-recognition technology.The full-body hologram of a speaker, their digital representation, is a project of New Dimensions in Testimony, a high-tech initiative to record survivors’ first-person accounts for interactive 3D exhibits that live on long after the storytellers have passed. The project is based on light-stage technology developed by ICT to record interviews using multiple cameras for high-fidelity playback. Paul Debevec, a professor of computer science at USC and associate director of graphics research at the school’s Institute for Creative Technologies, claims that it’s going to be far more engaging and moving than if they’re just up there on a video screen. Of course even the most advanced technology can’t substitute the experience of hearing a survivor’s story in person, but in future in-person testimonials can become a sound alternative at schools and museums.
Via:news.cnet.com
