Something looks different
When a community builds a collection of over 23,000 3D artefacts, each with their own interlinking stories and derivatives, the platform they are hosted on needs to keep itself up to date.
Since its launch in 2014, Scan the World has become a movement synonymous with disrupting cultural institutions for the greater good of sharing connections through 3D printable, open source heritage. Scan the World is made by humans and encourages anyone with a camera to 3D scan artefacts meaningful to them, in turn creating a 3D printable ecosystem of shared stories and identities.
Since hitting 20,000 uploads earlier this year we took some time to reflect. In creating credibility as a project we lacked the inclusiveness for a global community, and in turn was considered a ‘digital museum’ The COVID-19 pandemic and polarised state of the political landscape brought a need for digital consumption of heritage, and allowed for us to really understand the community’s need for connection and cultural identity.
We started by updating the swathes of old and broken code in order to start building something stable, so much of what you see now is built from scratch. In writing and publishing a manifesto, we wanted to share that we are an ecosystem of purpose, with our core focus on freeing heritage and encouraging freedom and independence through human connection.
Homepage
Not only stopping bots from scraping our full collection, the homepage has given us an opportunity to share our story and vision for the future of this thriving collection of artefacts. New features will be added here, serving as a dashboard for users to know what we’re getting up to.
Taking inspiration from decentralisation, we are building our ‘fragmented’ view. This cloud of interconnecting stories, artefacts and places will soon turn into the primary means of discovering objects and the communities behind them.
Contribute page
In our contribute page, we have connected upload APIs with TRNIO and BeholderVision, two photogrammetry apps made with purpose. As the website develops we want to make it as easy as possible for anyone to contribute to the website, allowing for people to upload 3D objects, stories, renders, animations etc. We have also allowed for people to contribute to us via CryptoCurrency!
The rebrand is the first of many steps that seeks to bring the cultural artefact as the protagonist of its own story, in turn facilitating more direct connections between the global community’s shared cultural heritage. Though currently rudimental, we wanted to share our work in progress as we continue to grow with new features.
We have set-out a roadmap for creating an inclusive and accessible space, which we will use this blog to share tech updates and reasonings behind each of these stages. The blog will also be active in sharing conversations with members of the community, as well as the museum partners we continue to work with to ensure heritage is available to all.
Please write to us any time, we are here for you — the community:
jon@myminifactory.com
elisa@myminifactory.com
