This presentation will cover my current research as it relates to the digitization of tangible cultural heritage. It will firstly present ongoing research into the landscape of 3D models of Indigenous belongings within Canada. With insights into model generation, public interactivity, and metadata, the project has far-reaching implications about the nature of digitization as it relates to digital colonialism and data sovereignty. I will also introduce a related project, which is the development of an online space to present 3D models and associated learning resources. Since much tangible heritage in 3D form appears in databases populated with user-designed models ranging from commercial products to mythical creatures, the development of such a space is needed: especially one that is being created through careful consideration of the social and ethical implications that accompany the digitization of cultural heritage. In the presentation of both, I will demonstrate that there is still much work to be done to ensure that digitized heritage can be a lens to appreciating culture(s) in an ethical yet engaging way.

Bio: Dr. Cara Grace Tremain is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Archaeology at Simon Fraser University. She received her Ph.D. in Archaeology in 2017 from the University of Calgary, her M.A. in Anthropology in 2009 from Trent University, and her B.A. in Archaeology in 2007 from University College London. Her expertise is in the provenance of museum collections, the antiquities market, Mesoamerican archaeology, and digital technologies as they relate to cultural heritage. She is also interested in outreach and community collaborations, and is currently working in partnership with Burnaby Village Museum to provide accessible engagement opportunities centred on archaeology. She has held professional roles at various museums in England and Canada including most recently her time as Curator of Learning and Community Engagement at The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford.

Her research on collections has been published in venues such as 'Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals', and 'The International Journal of Cultural Property', as well as edited volumes including 'Contextualizing Museum Collections at the Smithsonian Institution' (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press 2022). Her work on the antiquities market has been featured in 'Art Crime in Context' (Springer 2022) and in her co-edited volume 'The Market for Mesoamerica: Reflections on the Sale of Pre-Columbian Antiquities' (University Press of Florida 2019).

She is interested in digital technologies as a means of designing engaging pedagogical methods, and to connect the public with cultural heritage. For an upcoming exhibition at SFU's Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, she has co-ordinated the replication of several artifacts through 3D scanning and 3D printing. To accompany the exhibition she is also supervising the development of an Augmented Reality application by an M.A. Student in SFU’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology.