| Centre Name: | 
Centre for Immersive Technology and Creative (CITC) |
| Chairperson: | Dr. Aloysius Yapp |
| Description of Centre: | Heritage and Culture Preservation by New Media/ Immersive Media |
| Research area: |
|
| NO. | NAME | FACULTY | MEMBER |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abdul Malik Bin Ahmad | FCI | Full Membership |
| 2 | Ang Kok Yew | FCI | Full Membership |
| 3 | Annie Wong Kai Sze | FCI | Full Membership |
| 4 | Benedict Ng Boon Yew | FCI | Full Membership |
| 5 | Charanjit Kaur a/p Darshan Singh | FCI | Full Membership |
| 6 | Cheah Shu Xu | FCI | Full Membership |
| 7 | Chen Lee Wan | FCI | Full Membership |
| 8 | Chong Hwei Teeng | FCI | Full Membership |
| 9 | Chow Mee Mooi | FCI | Full Membership |
| 10 | Cynthia Lau Pui-Shan | FCI | Full Membership |
| 11 | Eugene Foo Shyang Eu | FCI | Full Membership |
| 12 | Foo Mei Lee | FCI | Full Membership |
| 13 | Goh Kiang Kuan | FCI | Full Membership |
| 14 | Jeevamalar a/p Kumarasamy | FCI | Full Membership |
| 15 | Kavitha a/p Subaramaniam | FCI | Full Membership |
| 16 | Lau Kah Foo | FCI | Full Membership |
| 17 | Lee Lih Su | FCI | Full Membership |
| 18 | Lim Soo Jin | FCI | Full Membership |
| 19 | Liong Mei Yin | FCI | Full Membership |
| 20 | Mohamad Azri Bin Haji Ahmad | FCI | Full Membership |
| 21 | Mohd Fairuz Bin Ali | FCI | Full Membership |
| 22 | Ng Chan Chai | FCI | Full Membership |
| 23 | Nik Norazira Binti Abdul Aziz | FCI | Full Membership |
| 24 | Santhidran a/l Sinnappan | FCI | Full Membership |
| 25 | Siew Pei Hwa | FCI | Full Membership |
| 26 | Suhaila Binti Ahmad Zaki | FCI | Full Membership |
| 27 | Tai Liang Kwang | FCI | Full Membership |
| 28 | Tan Han Keong | FCI | Full Membership |
| 29 | Tan Hwei Ping | FCI | Full Membership |
| 30 | Thanaseelen a/l K.P. Rajasakran | FCI | Full Membership |
| 31 | Thinavan a/l Periyayya | FCI | Associate Membership |
| 32 | Wan Irma Sabrina binti Idris | FCI | Full Membership |
| 33 | Wang Chain Khiang | FCI | Full Membership |
| 34 | Yang Suk Lan | FCI | Full Membership |
| 35 | Yuen May Chan | FCI | Full Membership |
| 36 | Abdul Malik Bin Ahmad | FCI | Full Membership |
| No. | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-15 December 2019 | Immersive Technology for Heritage & Culture Preservation in Yangon, Myanmar |
| 2 | 27-28 September 2019 | Silver for mobile game projects focusing on cultural, heritage & traditional values |
| 3 | 16-19 May 2019 | FCI lecturers give keynote speech on Immersive Technology |
| No. | Date | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Immersive Technology for Heritage & Culture Preservation in Yangon, Myanmar
Date: 1-15 December 2019 Centre for Immersive Technology and Creativity (CITC) Chairperson Dr Aloysius Yapp and CITC member Lim Chai Kim visited the University of Computer Studies Yangon (UCSY) Myanmar from 1 to 15 December 2019 to share their knowledge in immersive technology, creative media and new media with the USCY community. During the visit, Dr Yapp and Lim participated in several activities such as joint advisory board members for collaboration project proposal preparation, Myanmar Universities’ Student Game Camp Competition, Heritage and religious site visit & fieldwork, Seminars and workshops for UCSY’s undergraduate and postgraduate students and UCSY Game Camp Exhibition. As joint advisory board members for proposal preparation for the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, Yapp and Lim visited UCSY Rector Dr Mie Mie Thet Thwin to discuss the proposal for a project using immersive technology in heritage and culture preservation with local content. Dr Yapp and Lim were invited to share their knowledge in game design and game development by taking the role of organising committee members and judges in an inter-varsity game development competition known as UCSY MWC Lab Game Camp Competition 2019, organised by Mobile and Web Computing (MWC) Lab Chairperson Prof Dr Yadana Thein. In the competition, Dr Yapp assisted in constructing the competition rules and games assessment rubrics. As part of the research fieldwork, Dr Yapp and Lim visited several religious and cultural sites, namely Sule Pagoda, Dala Island (Tsunami victim island), Shwedagon Pagoda and The Karaweik. The fieldwork was completed with a meeting with the President of Mahasi Sasana Monastery to seek collaboration in terms of using translation and immersive technologies to introduce, preserve and promote the heritage and culture of Myanmar. The CITC members conducted a seminar titled “Immersive Technology for Creative Industries” where they presented their work on the Iban Longhouse Virtual Guided Walkthrough (VGW) and Game: Ngasu (which means “Hunting” in the Iban language). The seminar aimed to share and assist MWC lab in structuring and building a proper pipeline in the development of local games and immersive technology products. Through the seminars and workshops, the participants were able to create creative products based on their own local content using the CITC’s pipeline. Aside from that, another seminar was also conducted for the postgraduate students who were about to decide on the title for their research projects. Furthermore, Dr Yapp conducted two drone flying workshops for the UCSY students. UCSY Game Camp Exhibition was organised to feature all game camp students’ hard work through an exhibition. The event started with a keynote speech titled “Gamification and Immersive Technology for Heritage and Cultural Preservation” from Dr Yapp and Lim. In the presentation, they presented CITC’s research which focused specifically on the creative process of developing the Iban Longhouse; followed by a demo of the VGW supported by the game artificial intelligence (AI) developed by UTAR University Research Students (URS). At the exhibition, visitors were invited to test the games developed by the game camp students and vote their favourite games. Dr Yapp and Lim said, “We are grateful to be able to share our knowledge in immersive technology for heritage and culture preservation with the community in UCSY, Myanmar through discussions, seminars and workshops. As an advisor for the game camp competition, we hope the research lab (MWC) will be taking the main role in Myanmar to organise the game competition annually so that more collaborations can be established from this event. In future, we hope to provide and share more knowledge in this area of research with the community in the ASEAN region.” |
From Left: Prof Dr Yadana Thein, Lim, Dr Mie Mie Thet Thwin, Dr Yapp and Dr Tang Enya Kong after the discussion 
Participants preparing for the game competition 
Game exhibition 
From left: Lim, Dr Tang Enya Kong, Prof Yadana, U Thein Htun and Dr Yapp 
Dr Yapp (left) presenting the award to the Best Team prize winner 
Heritage and Religious site visit and fieldwork 
Seminar and competition briefing for game camp students 
Lim conducting the seminar for postgraduate students 
Second row, from right: Dr Yapp (ninth) and Lim (sixth) with the postgraduate students 
Drone flying workshop with students 
Dr Yapp (left) and Lim (right) presenting their keynote speech 
Participants, judges and organising committee members |
| 2 | Silver for mobile game projects focusing on cultural, heritage & traditional values
Date: 1-15 December 2019 Centre for Immersive Technology and Creativity (CITC) Chairperson Dr Aloysius Yapp and CITC member Lim Chai Kim visited the University of Computer Studies Yangon (UCSY) Myanmar from 1 to 15 December 2019 to share their knowledge in immersive technology, creative media and new media with the USCY community. During the visit, Dr Yapp and Lim participated in several activities such as joint advisory board members for collaboration project proposal preparation, Myanmar Universities’ Student Game Camp Competition, Heritage and religious site visit & fieldwork, Seminars and workshops for UCSY’s undergraduate and postgraduate students and UCSY Game Camp Exhibition. As joint advisory board members for proposal preparation for the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, Yapp and Lim visited UCSY Rector Dr Mie Mie Thet Thwin to discuss the proposal for a project using immersive technology in heritage and culture preservation with local content. Dr Yapp and Lim were invited to share their knowledge in game design and game development by taking the role of organising committee members and judges in an inter-varsity game development competition known as UCSY MWC Lab Game Camp Competition 2019, organised by Mobile and Web Computing (MWC) Lab Chairperson Prof Dr Yadana Thein. In the competition, Dr Yapp assisted in constructing the competition rules and games assessment rubrics. As part of the research fieldwork, Dr Yapp and Lim visited several religious and cultural sites, namely Sule Pagoda, Dala Island (Tsunami victim island), Shwedagon Pagoda and The Karaweik. The fieldwork was completed with a meeting with the President of Mahasi Sasana Monastery to seek collaboration in terms of using translation and immersive technologies to introduce, preserve and promote the heritage and culture of Myanmar. The CITC members conducted a seminar titled “Immersive Technology for Creative Industries” where they presented their work on the Iban Longhouse Virtual Guided Walkthrough (VGW) and Game: Ngasu (which means “Hunting” in the Iban language). The seminar aimed to share and assist MWC lab in structuring and building a proper pipeline in the development of local games and immersive technology products. Through the seminars and workshops, the participants were able to create creative products based on their own local content using the CITC’s pipeline. Aside from that, another seminar was also conducted for the postgraduate students who were about to decide on the title for their research projects. Furthermore, Dr Yapp conducted two drone flying workshops for the UCSY students. UCSY Game Camp Exhibition was organised to feature all game camp students’ hard work through an exhibition. The event started with a keynote speech titled “Gamification and Immersive Technology for Heritage and Cultural Preservation” from Dr Yapp and Lim. In the presentation, they presented CITC’s research which focused specifically on the creative process of developing the Iban Longhouse; followed by a demo of the VGW supported by the game artificial intelligence (AI) developed by UTAR University Research Students (URS). At the exhibition, visitors were invited to test the games developed by the game camp students and vote their favourite games. Dr Yapp and Lim said, “We are grateful to be able to share our knowledge in immersive technology for heritage and culture preservation with the community in UCSY, Myanmar through discussions, seminars and workshops. As an advisor for the game camp competition, we hope the research lab (MWC) will be taking the main role in Myanmar to organise the game competition annually so that more collaborations can be established from this event. In future, we hope to provide and share more knowledge in this area of research with the community in the ASEAN region.” It is not always easy to blend modern technology with traditional values and beliefs. Yet, the merge of the two contradicting elements had won three lecturers from UTAR Faculty of Creative Industries (FCI) two Silver Awards at The 2019 Inventors’ Hall of Fame, International Competition of Ideas, Inventions & Innovations (i-fame2019). The competition was held from 27 to 28 September 2019. The competition was organised by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) (Kedah Branch) in its campus. It was organised in collaboration with the Malaysia Design Council (MRM). i-fame2019 aimed to provide an opportunity and a platform for inventors to showcase, exchange ideas and establish global networks for future collaboration. Comprised of inventions, innovation and design competition, the competition was initiated as a support to the recent developments in economy, socio-economic, new development of information technology, scientific discoveries, new financial products and many other innovations that have resulted in new ways of doing business besides utilising technology to work and play. Three FCI lecturers, namely Mohd Fairuz bin Ali, Ng Perng Jeu and Chong Hwei Teeng took up the challenge and presented their projects titled “Educational Mobile Game of Malaysian Traditional Game: Wau” and “A Malaysian Folklore Game Design As A Tool Of Culture Preservation And Entertainment: Toyol” with the aim to bring the traditional game Wau and local myth toyol to the screen of smartphones. The two projects won Silver Awards for Product Prototype and Design Ideation categories respectively. “We run this game using three to four functions and these functions include the introduction to the types of Wau as well as the culture and history behind it. For now the game incorporates three types of Wau, however we hope to include every Wau from every state in Malaysia in the future. The game is simple and fun. You play by avoiding the obstacles,” Fairuz explained how the game titled “Wow the Wau!” from the first project works. Despite the simplicity of the game, in-depth and thorough research was made to ensure the idea and facts are precise, including interviews with Wau practitioners in Kelantan and Kuala Selangor and a visit to museum. Meanwhile, the latter project focused on game design. Titled “Toyol Attack”, the project focused on planning and ideation as well as on ways to execute a good game design in terms of artistic elements such as visual. The team believes that toyol has an equal potential to be as phenomenon as other mythical beings like the goblins and zombies that are well recognised globally. “Both projects aim to preserve the local culture and folklore in digital media. Our project managed to catch the judges’ attention because of its contribution and impact on society. Aside from that, the judges found our projects to be interesting because they represent Malaysia’s identity in the game design,” said Ng. “The paper titled “A Malaysian Folklore Game Design As A Tool Of Culture Preservation And Entertainment: Toyol” was presented at the 3rd International Conference on Creative Media, Design and Technology (REKA 2018), held at Universitas Sebelas Maret in Surakarta, Indonesia and it was published in the Atlantic Press. “We would like to thank UTAR for providing us with UTAR Research Fund (UTARRF) to develop these projects. All these would have not been possible without it,” added Fairuz. Speaking of the challenges, Fairuz said, “Other than programming, the real challenge was to obtain reliable and veridical information. Even some practitioners do not know the history and culture behind the practice. We had to find those who can and it was not easy,” said Fairuz. The “Wow the Wau!” mobile game is expected to be available for the public at the end of 2019. |
Proud winners with their medals and certificates (from left): Ng, Chong and Fairuz 
The “Wow the Wau!” game concept is derived from “Wau Kucing” which is used to scare away evil spirits through the humming sound produced by the Wau 
MRM Director Assoc Prof Dr Mohamad Hariri Abdullah (left) took interest in the topic toyol |
| 3 | FCI lecturers give keynote speech on Immersive Technology
UTAR’s Centre for Immersive Technology and Creativity Chairperson Dr Aloysius Yapp and Faculty of Creative Industries lecturer Lim Chai Kim presented a keynote speech at the 2019 7th International Forum on Industrial Design (IFID 2019) which took place at Luoyang, Henan, China on 16 May 2019 until 19 May 2019. At the forum, Dr Yapp and Lim also showcased their research outcome in Immersive Technology for Industrial Design: Heritage and Culture Preservation. The event started off with an opening ceremony which was held at Luoyang Exhibition and Convention Centre, followed by industrial and product design exhibition visit. The conference was held in Jinkaiyue Hotel. It featured keynote speeches by international researchers, knowledge sharing session, paper presentations and Luoyang Museum guided tour. Dr Yapp said, “I feel blessed. This has been a wonderful journey with the support from UTAR since 2014 for the first VR walkthrough for Iban longhouse Level 01 which was funded by UTARRF and the visionary leadership. To come to this point to share UTAR’s research and values globally is like a dream come true. Just as how I have been inspired, I hope I have also inspired and brought interest among the international researchers toward our research and knowledge building.” He further added, “Overall, it was an impactful knowledge and research exchange event. International researchers were inspired and they showed interest in the research outcome of UTAR’s research team on the Gamification of Traditional Iban longhouse from Sarawak with Virtual Reality/VR Gallery walkthrough.” IFID is an international event attended by international keynote speakers from the Netherlands, South Korea, India, France, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. The event was initiated by Creative Industries Expo 2019 and hosted by the Luoyang Government. The forum is a joint-collaboration between Luoyang Science and Technology Bureau, Luoyang Productivity Promoting Center, Luoyang Creative Industry Design Center, Guangdong Academy of International Academic Exchange, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Lanzhou University of Technology, Henan University of Science and Technology, GOTH DESIGN Co. LTD, Low Carbon Design Society of Hong Kong, Xihua University, North Minzu University, Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Nanchang University, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Hebei Agricultural University and Tropical Agricultural Machinery Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences. |
Group photograph of organisers, keynote speakers and participants at the 7th IFID International Forum and Conference 
Dr Yapp and Lim (left) during the keynote speech session 
Opening Ceremony of Industrial Design Expo 
Dr Yapp (left) and Lim at the expo 
One belt one road booth 
Knowledge sharing and Q&A session among participants 
From left: College of Fine Arts Seoul National University Prof Annie Pedret,Delft University of Technology Prof Imre Horvath, Indian Institute of Technology Prof Avinash Shende, Dr Yapp and Lim during the networking session |