Same same but different - Comparing rendering environments for interactive digital objects

Abstract

Digital cultural heritage in interactive form can take different shapes. It can be either in the form of interactive virtual representations of non-digital objects like buildings or nature, but also as born digital materials like interactive art and video games. To preserve these materials for a long term, we need to perform preservation actions on them. To check the validity of these actions, the original and the preserved form have to be compared. While static information like images or text documents can be migrated to new formats, especially digital objects which are interactive have to be preserved using new rendering environments. In this paper we show how the results of rendering an object in different environments can be compared. We present a workflow with three stages that supports the execution of digital objects in a rendering environment, the application of interactive actions in a standardized way to ensure no deviations due to different interactions, and the XCL Layout processor application that extends the characterized screenshots of the rendering results by adding information about significant areas in the screenshot allowing us to compare the rendering results. We present case studies on interactive fiction and a chess program that show that the approach is valid and that the rendering results can be successfully compared. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.