Towards Preserving Digital Culture: An interview with Avinash Changa
Towards Preserving Digital Culture series is a contribution to the Software Heritage initiative supported by INRIA and UNESCO. The primary objective of this series is to underscore the pivotal role of software heritage preservation in mitigating the loss of digital cultural heritage. Through these interviews, we present diverse perspectives to foster discussions on challenges related to technological progress, obsolescence, legal limitations, and preservation complexities, contributing to addressing current field needs.
Hello Avinash! Glad to have you with us! Could you tell us more about yourself!
Hello! Of course, I am a VR-maker, director, Creative Technologist, consultant and international speaker on the topic of Immersive works. Also, I am the founder and CEO of WeMakeVR, with notable productions such as ‘Ashes to Ashes’, ‘Meeting Rembrandt’, ‘Ahorse!’, ‘Angels of Amsterdam’, and most recently “The Saga of Sage”. The piece named “Angels” was part of the official 78th Venice Biennale selection, and the first Dutch VR work ever to be selected for the competition.
Currently, I am working on the next generation of immersive experiences, including new live social VR/Metaverse performances, hybrid theater/music/vr works, educational works, high-end volumetrics, and “shared space” multiuser VR experiences.
What are the main benefits of software preservation?
In the immersive sector, we are currently witnessing rapid hardware evolution, which means we need to put focus on the preservation of not just final compiled builds, but also underlying source code, plugins, shaders, and documentation. These actions will help us safeguards the potential re-compilation of digital works in the future to ensure compatibility with evolving hardware.
What are the challenges and/or obstacles?
Immersive “builds” are designed for specific presentation environments at a given moment, incorporating software components like plugins, SDKs, and shaders tailored to the user platform. Compatibility hinges on using specific versions of these components, making updates crucial as hardware and systems advance.
For instance, the introduction of hand tracking to the Quest 2 headset required developers to update their applications using a specific Oculus SDK version. Ongoing hardware updates, such as improved hand tracking, mandate corresponding software updates for applications to remain functional and take advantage of enhanced features.
Addressing automatic updates by hardware vendors involves updating SDK versions, recompiling applications, and distributing updated versions. This challenge is anticipated in the future as hardware makers continually enhance device functionality through software updates, potentially rendering older VR games or artworks incompatible.
To ensure future presentation capability, preserving more than the Unity or Unreal project is essential; it requires archiving all used components, compiler versions, specific OS versions, codecs, and more. This task is daunting for both individual developers and large studios, particularly for innovative projects that employed unique solutions, making universal restoration challenging. Restoring older projects often involves resolving errors on a case-by-case basis due to the absence of a universal solution.
The Immersive sector, encompassing both development and presentation environments, experiences unprecedented evolution in both software and hardware. This rapid progression, characteristic of an emerging industry, incurs substantial costs for tracking and preserving the diverse states of equipment and software evolution. The significant investments required to stay abreast of this dynamic landscape contribute to the ongoing challenge of keeping knowledge up to date.
What would be your advice on collectively moving forward on software preservation?
The ideal scenario for project preservation involves comprehensive documentation, covering all development aspects. However, time constraints, non-critical nature during development, and the dispersed knowledge involved make this challenging. One option is isolating the project from the internet, but this is impractical and costly, suited only for works not requiring online connectivity.
Another approach is creating a “snapshot” of the development environment, possibly in a virtual machine. However, hardware-specific components may pose challenges, such as variations in visual elements due to different graphics hardware.
The most feasible and future-proof route is to rebuild the project based on original materials, updating only components necessary for device compatibility. This ensures minimal alteration from the original state. For instance, a work designed for Oculus Quest 1 may be playable on Quest 3, but updating the SDK for compatibility becomes essential. This gradual process requires keeping all original software components, including related installation files, in an archive to address potential discontinuations and ensure a smooth update process.
Consider establishing a resource pool akin to seed banks in agriculture for shared preservation of physical components, while utilizing a shared online database or preservation system for digital components. This collaborative approach, involving a consortium of partners, can collectively bear the costs of access and staffing. Additionally, prioritize the use of inherently long-term robust tools in the Immersive technologies domain, such as 3D scans, photogrammetry, and volumetric data. These technologies, stored in standardized 3D-file formats, offer greater resistance to time and software evolution compared to platforms like Unity or Unreal. Emphasizing the preservation value in this area is essential.
Could you recommend us with a blog, article or publication that you particularly appreciated?
Unfortunately I’m not aware of really good, practical publications, but it is good to see that the topic of preservation is on the radar, as this Siggraph-paper indicates, Preserving Virtual Reality, Zeyned Abes, 2023.
Thank you, Avinash, for participating in this interview series!
