University of California, Los Angeles

Discover Babylon will research and evaluate new approaches for library/museum collaborations to communicate complex concepts using ancient Mesopotamian artifacts in digital form from the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative and the Walters Art Museum in a collaborative effort of staff members from both institutions and from the Learning Federation Project of the Federation of American Scientists.. Participants will walk through a major temple complex, see museum artifacts used by avatars (computer representations of people) in context, and even manipulate artifacts otherwise locked in museum displays. The virtual worlds will be the setting for an educational game that will engage learners with a series of challenges in which success depends on an increasingly sophisticated grasp of Babylonian culture. The research for this prototype will test five questions: (1) Will the use of simulation-based educational games and question management tools affect the participants' understanding of history and their engagement with museum and library collections? (2) Will these tools lead to increased interest in the material for the targeted group (ages 8 to 16)? (3) Will it stimulate discussions and use of museum materials? (4) Which technologies are the most effective tools to virtually reassemble and restore the material culture of Mesopotamia presently spread among widely dispersed collections? (5) Can technology lay the groundwork for building and sustaining collaborations between a museum collection and a digital library, and between museum culture and academic institutions?