Harrison Forsyth

My development philosophy when creating VR programs, conducting 3D scans, making GIS maps, AI conversational agents, or even making a simple database is to ensure that the use-case of the technology always addresses or solves a problem in the research. This can be best summarized by the phrase “don’t create solutions for problems that don’t exist”. As a developer and researcher, I live by this statement. For example, 3D scanning is great for archaeology because excavation is a destructive process and with 3D scans we can now visualize past excavations in 3D and improve imaging capabilities beyond that of simple photography. Likewise, VR training for archaeology provides a sense of immersion comparable to actually being on-site, without the prohibitive costs of travel and relative inaccessibility of archaeological materials in the classroom. Another use-case for 3D scanning includes preserving ephemeral or changing landscapes of the city. A project recording street art/graffiti, for example, would benefit greatly from 3D scanning and VR visualization because it allows for the entire context of street art to be captured in the form of a digital twin, which can be revisited in 3D. This last example improves upon the limitations of conventional photo archives and provides future scholars with more information about the city. In all of these cases, problems of research have been addressed and research problems have been addressed. In this way, researchers can avoid making a gimmick of technology and provide a proper use-case for their innovative solutions.