On Saturday, 7 April 2018, NUS Libraries hosted more than 50 participants of the Alumni Leaders’ Forum at the Central Library. They were introduced to emerging technologies at the Mixed Reality/ Tech Showcase Room and the Digital Scholarship Lab.
![Collage of photos of the two rooms](https://blog.nus.edu.sg/linus/files/2018/04/collage01-1fddxeo-1024x1024.jpg)
The Digital Scholarship Lab and Tech Showcase & Mixed Reality/ Tech Showcase Room being prepared for the Alumni Leader’s Forum.
The alumni had a chance to learn more about digital scholarship and what NUS Libraries has been doing in collaboration with various departments to enhance and organize various forms of data into digital formats such as maps, Southeast Asian writings, traditional Southeast Asian theatre and meteorological records.
![](https://blog.nus.edu.sg/linus/files/2018/04/collage02v2-vho90b-1024x1024.jpg)
From top: Alumni arriving at Central Library; listening to the librarians present the technologies in the two rooms; trying out the different mixed reality technologies.
Some brave alumni also put on goggles and backpacks to immerse themselves in a mixed reality world, where they were brought to a futuristic MRT train, a medieval setting where they could fight with swords (using a special handheld device) and stroll through an MRT station in UTown (we can only hope!).
![](https://blog.nus.edu.sg/linus/files/2018/04/collage04-1v0it9s-1024x1024.jpg)
Top: Yikang explains what Digital Scholarship is. Bottom left: Wendy explains how the 3D printer works. Bottom right: Ifthikar introduces the mixed reality technologies to an alumni.
The alumni had many questions for the librarians presenting the technologies, and were amazed at what librarians do nowadays. In the Digital Scholarship Lab, Yikang presented on the various projects that the NUS Libraries has been collaborating in, such as mapping correlations between European writings on Southeast Asia dating back the 1500s. Some of the alumni wanted to know if the data provided is publicly available, and if programming was required to create the data visualisations.
Ifthikar introduced the green room in the Mixed Reality/ Tech Showcase Room that allows multiple people to immerse themselves in a virtual environment. Wendy and Boon Hwee (NUS Libraries’ System Analyst) also introduced the various other equipment, such as a 3D scanner, a Swivl and a Hololens. The alumni were fascinated by the green room and other technologies. Some of their questions were: What is a 3D scanner? How does iBeacon work? How do you create a 3D model before printing?
Do you have similar questions? To get answers, keep a lookout for our next two posts, as we explore the Digital Scholarship Lab and the Mixed Reality/ Tech Showcase Room!
thanks for info