Yale's Digital Media Center to Present 3-D Computer Model of Roman Forum

The Digital Media Center for the Arts at Yale will host a multimedia lecture, “Restoring Trajan’s Forum: A Three-Dimensional Approach for the Early 21st Century,” on Friday, May 8, 3-4:30 p.m., in the Yale University Art Gallery Lecture Hall, 1111 Chapel St. A reception will follow in the gallery’s Sculpture Hall. Both events are free and open to the public.

James E. Packer, professor of classics at Northwestern University, will speak about the UCLA/Getty Model project, a three-dimensional computer model of the restored site of Trajan’s Forum in Rome. He will also explore more general applications of technology to academic research. The project was a collaboration between Packer and William Jepson, director of Computing, Department of Architecture and Urban Design, University of California, Los Angeles, and based on Packer’s analysis of archival documents and archaeological materials in “The Forum of Trajan” (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). The computer model was featured as the cover article in last month’s Archeology magazine.