{"id":2677,"date":"2025-11-24T01:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T01:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medhieval.com\/classes\/deepmapping\/?page_id=2677"},"modified":"2025-11-24T22:06:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T22:06:57","slug":"methods","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/medhieval.com\/classes\/deepmapping\/inside-the-faribault-house\/methods\/","title":{"rendered":"Methods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From the Commonplace Book:<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n
\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As part of this project, we both had the opportunity to learn how to work with new technologies and tools for engaging with digital humanities. Here, we discuss our process and experiences building our deliverables for RCHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Architectural Model (Lucy)<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I used the architectural modeling tool SketchUp<\/a> to reimagine the Alexander Faribault house at different points in time. I started by uploading historical floor plans from the 1950s remodel of the house to the software. After I made these plans to-scale, I traced the walls, floors, doors, and windows of the house. I then rendered the flat sketch in 3D. Continuing with this tool, I repeated this process to create the second floor of the house by stitching the corresponding floor plan on top of the existing model. I additionally created floors and ceilings to link these models, as well as rendered the basement of the house. I then created an alternate version of the second floor to visualize the shift from bedrooms to a museum space that took place using current floor plans. By using distinct layers, it is possible to show the house in different stages of development by turning on and off the West Wing addition in its entirety, as well as its different interior phases. Check out the model here.<\/a> In the fly-through video below, you can see these layers demonstrating changes to the house over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Future steps for this project might include adding the vertical faces of the house to the model, and incorporating features like actual doors to bring a greater level of detail. Images could also be stitched to the model to bring the house to life. Eventually, the model could be situated in a recreation of its original environment to more fully imagine its historical role.

For an example of historical digital humanities research that more fully engages this architectural modeling technique, please see: Susannah Ottaway and Austin Mason, \u201cReconsidering Poor Law Institutions by Virtually Reconstructing and Re-Viewing an Eighteenth-Century Workhouse,\u201d The Historical Journal<\/em> 64, no. 3 (2021): 557\u201382, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0018246X20000448<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For tutorials to get started with SketchUp, please see: Introduction Tutorial<\/a> and Floorplans to 3D Models Tutorial<\/a>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout this process, I referenced historical records and articles to gain insight into the social as well as physical changes to the house over time. I investigated the major players and events in the house\u2019s history using these documents. When possible, I identified ways to visually communicate this information in a way more suitable for the StoryMap format that I chose to illustrate this spatial narrative. With this context, I integrated historical information with the architectural model that I developed in a digital StoryMap format to communicate this story in an accessible, interactive way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panoramic House Tour (Brett)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My work was making the interior tour of the house. I worked with 360 panoramic images processing and also in developing a scan of the interior of the house\u2013 all with PolyCam, a scanning app. Photos were compiled and turned into an interactive, educational tour, using Thinglink, an educational, immersive software for making presentations and virtual tours. PolyCam can be downloaded for free here<\/a>. Thinglink may require a fee to use; Carleton has a Higher Ed “Department” license that allows up to 10 students to use Thinglink. Access Thinglink here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 3D scan of the interior was done by using an upgraded version of PolyCam that supported higher quality models, and I walked through every room, checking every blind spot and hidden spots, making sure to get a good scan of all the artifacts in the house. The phone I used in this case was my instructor Austin Mason\u2019s phone, which had the upgraded paid subscription of PolyCam, which offers more features for this high intensity mapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panoramic photos were taken by going into the center of each room and slowly turning in a circle. At the Alexander Faribault House, Lucy did this with my phone, using the free plan of PolyCam. The Lidar and photo scanning capabilities of a modern iPhone were good enough to accommodate PolyCam.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

 The panoramic images of each of the rooms were incorporated through Thinglink to make an interactive digital tour of the Alexander Faribault house. In my historical work, I studied the artifacts that accumulated in the house over time, looking at the original paintings and furniture as well as the added contributions from other families in the town of Faribault to the collection in the museum today. This research was compiled in a photo essay, and also is featured on the Thinglink digital tour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process of making the Thinglink tour consisted of many layers of simple steps. Each panoramic photo taken with the free PolyCam was downloaded as a SkyCam photo, which is a bulbous representation of a room. Thinglink is able to recognize these photos and create a 3D circular \u201cscene,\u201d where you can add \u201ctags.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tags are small circular dots that can be used to create a transit, where you can move to another image; a text label, where you can add a label of an object within an image; a media file, any image, GIF, or video, with space for contextual information; and many other functions. I relied on using these tags to mark interesting artifacts, add relevant photos of what the rooms looked like in a different time period, and to create a web of connections between the rooms. All of these tags on each panoramic scene culminated into a virtual tour, where you can pan around a screen by pointing, clicking, and dragging, with little tidbits of information provided in a playful and inviting way. I added links when appropriate, for those curious to do a deeper dive into any topics on the numerous artifacts within the house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 1994 study done by an architectural class from the University of Minnesota included floorplans of the modern, refurbished house, and those floorplans are included in the top right corner of the Thinglink tour, with transit tags to show where a user is, within the Faribault House.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Behind the scenes of the ThingLink creation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The research I did on the accumulation of artifacts and the caretakers who spoke for them allowed me to provide little stories along the journey, just as a real tour may. It is important to note that each room of the house (except for the caretaker\u2019s apartment area) was scanned, so make sure to check every room out! There is interesting information in every little nook and cranny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of this project, we both had the opportunity to learn how to work with new technologies and tools for engaging with digital humanities. Here, we discuss our process and experiences building our deliverables for RCHS. Architectural Model (Lucy) I used the architectural modeling tool SketchUp to reimagine the Alexander Faribault house at different points in time. I started by uploading historical floor plans from the 1950s remodel of<\/p>\n

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