=========== HEADER =========== Readme.txt for The Virtual Bethel Experience Item Handle: https://dataworks.iupui.edu/handle/11243/44 Documentation written 2021-11-08 through 2023-03-07 By Raneem Hijazi, Heather Coates Updated 2023-03-07, by Raneem Hijazi =========== SUGGESTED DATA CITATION =========== Please cite this data in the references for any publication which uses it. Wood, Z. M., Copeland, A. J., Dwyer, O. J., McGee-Lockhart, O. J., Mulder, K., Tandy, K. William, A., Yoon, A.. (2022): The Virtual Bethel Experience. IUPUI University Library. [dataset]. https://doi.org/10.7912/D2/30 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Indianapolis Bethel AME Church Virtual Environment created by Zebulun M. Wood & Albert William in collaboration with the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute, the Virtual Freetown Project, the Virtual Bethel Project, the IUPUI UITS Advanced Visualization Lab, IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, Indianapolis Bethel AME Church, and Freetown Village, 2016. If you would like to adopt or adapt this work, contact Zebulun Wood (zwood@iupui.edu). Project title: Bethel AME Church: Capturing the History of Indianapolis' Oldest African American Church Funding agency: Institute of Museum & Librarian Services: Library Services and Technology Act Grants to States, https://www.in.gov/library/files/2016_LSTA_Grants_Summary.pdf Award Period: 2016 Other Funding: Indiana University New Frontiers in the Arts & Humanities Program =========== CREATORS =========== Investigator Name: Zebulun M. Wood Investigator Institution: IUPUI School of Informatics and Computing Investigator Address: 535 W. Michigan Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202-3103 Investigator Email: zwood@iupui.edu Investigator Role (related to this dataset): Project Director Investigator ID (ORCID): Investigator Name: Andrea J. Copeland Investigator Institution: IUPUI School of Informatics and Computing Investigator Address: 535 W. Michigan Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202-3103 Investigator Email: ajapzon@iupui.edu Investigator Name: Owen J. Dwyer Investigator Institution: IUPUI School of Liberal Arts, University College Investigator Address: 425 University Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46202 Investigator Email: odwyer@iupui.edu Investigator Name: Olivia J. McGee-Lockhart Investigator Institution: Bethel A.M.E. Church Keeper of History Investigator Email: olinbrownskin@gmail.com Investigator Name: Kathy Mulder Investigator Institution: Indiana Historical Society Investigator Address: 450 W Ohio St, Indianapolis, IN 46202 Investigator Email: KMulder@indianahistory.org Investigator Name: Kisha Tandy Investigator Institution: Indiana State Museum Investigator Address: 650 W Washington St, Indianapolis, IN 46204 Investigator Email: krtandy@iupui.edu Investigator Name: Albert William Investigator Institution: IUPUI School of Informatics and Computing Investigator Address: 535 W. Michigan Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202-3103 Investigator Email: almwilli@iupui.edu Investigator Name: Ayoung Yoon Investigator Institution: IUPUI School of Informatics and Computing Investigator Address: 535 W. Michigan Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202-3103 Investigator Email: ayyoon@iupui.edu Investigator ID (ORCID): https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3312-1234 =========== PROJECT INFORMATION =========== DATASET Description Virtual Bethel utilizes Virtual Reality as a mode of historical preservation by building 3D models and experiences in which users can explore the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal church even after its physical reconstruction. Bethel is the oldest African American church in the city of Indianapolis, and was once a vital part of a thriving African American community in the heart of the Indiana Avenue Jazz District. The Church was founded in Indianapolis in 1836, and its archive documents a shared heritage and a living community. Over its 180 years of existence, the Bethel AME Church has played a vital role in the Underground Railroad, the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Indiana, the founding of the first formal School for Black Children in Indianapolis, and the development of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in Indianapolis in 1836. As it began to grow it was known as the Indianapolis Station of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Bethel's church building at 414 West Vermont Street was built in 1869 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. The church has been traditionally known for its outreach from hosting the nineteenth-century black state conventions to its social programs including an adult day-care, well-baby clinic, and a credit union during the twentieth century. This collection contains photographs, scrapbooks, and manuscript materials from the church. This digital collection was created through an LSTA 2016 Digitization Grant "Bethel A.M.E. Church: Capturing the History of Indianapolis' Oldest African American Church." The digital partnership was a collaboration between IHS, IUPUI University Library (www.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship), and Bethel A.M.E. Church. From https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll9 DATE(S) of DATA COLLECTION Photography and scanning was completed in September 2017. See the Getting Started Guide for further information. GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION(S) of DATA COLLECTION 2163 N. Illinois Street, Banquet Hall, Indianapolis, IN 46202 GUIDE TO NAVIGATING THIS DATASET We recommend reviewing this readme and the Getting Started Guide before attempting to recreate the experience. You may also want to view the project website at https://bethel.luddy.iupui.edu//. DIRECTORY/FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS Apr4Bethel contains the following: BethelProject_VR.exe - executable VR experience Manifest_NonUFSFiles_Win64.txt BethelProject_VR (directory) Engine (directory) FILE INFORMATION Formats used: .jpg, .cr2, .mov, .stl, .tif, .mp4, .obj, .ztl, .txt, .png, .gigapan, .xlsx, .docx, .info SOFTWARE ## Add version information for each - Retopologizing of the Scan Pixologic Zbrush - 3D Modeling Software Used Autodesk Maya - 3D Unwrapping Software Used Autodesk Maya & Headus UV Layout Pro - 3D Texturing Software Used Adobe Photoshop - Physically Based Rendering Texturing Software Used Allegorithmic Substance Painter & Designer - Game Engines Used Epic Unreal Engine Unity Game Engine for comparison ACCESS & SHARING Reuse of this VR experience and/or the source images and video is available under the terms specified by the original agreement with the Bethel AME congregants. Please see the blank Data Use Agreement for further detail. You can begin the request process by clicking on the Request Access button on the records in IUPUI DataWorks and submitting the brief form. RELATED ITEMS & COLLECTIONS Wood, Z. M., William, A., & Copeland, A. (2019). Virtual Reality for Preservation: Production of Virtual Reality Heritage Spaces in the Classroom. In “3D/VR in the Academic Library: Emerging Practices and Trends”. Available at https://www.clir.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2019/02/Pub-176.pdf Wood, Z. M., William, A., Yoon, A., & Copeland, A. (2018). Virtual Bethel: preservation of Indianapolis’s oldest black church. In Research Methods for the Digital Humanities (pp. 195-210). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96713-4_11 Murillo, A. P., Spotts, L., Copeland, A., Yoon, A., & Wood, Z. M. (2018). Complexities of digital preservation in a virtual reality environment, the case of virtual bethel. International Journal of Digital Curation, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v13i1.631 Copeland, A., Wood, Z., Spotts, L., & Yoon, A. (2018). Learning through virtual reality: Virtual Bethel case study. iConference 2018 Proceedings. Available at http://hdl.handle.net/2142/100230 Copeland, A. The Bethel AME Church Archive: Partners and participants. In Roued-Cunliffe, H., & Copeland, A. (2017). Participatory Heritage. London: Facet Publishing. Collections held by the Indiana Historical Society Bethel A.M.E. Church Records M1240; Bethel A.M.E. Church Addition M1270; Bethel A.M.E. Church Board Minutes F0597; Bethel A.M.E. Church Sunday School Records SC 1438; Stout Family Papers M1280 Digitized surrogates: https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll9 (Bethel A.M.E. Church Collection - Indiana Historical Society Digital Images, https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll9, 2016) Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center 450 West Ohio Street Indianapolis, IN 46202 (317) 232-1882 https://indianahistory.org/ =========== Related publications, presentations, and posters =========== See the Getting Started with Virtual Bethel document that is deposited alongside this readme at https://dataworks.iupui.edu/handle/11243/44 or https://doi.org/10.7912/D2/30. =========== CREDITS =========== Template provided by Indiana University UITS Research Storage, Indiana University Bloomington Libraries, IUPUI University Library