IIT-M launches 'MovingMemory' app to capture moving models of memory

CHENNAI: Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) on Thursday announced its 'Centre for Memory Studies' has launched a 'MovingMemory' app that uses the technology of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality simultaneously and this app captures various moving models of memory through digital reconstruction.

'MovingMemory' can be accessed either through mobile apps (Android and iOS) or through browser-based platforms, making it uniquely inclusive in quality.

It is a spatial app, developed with the potential to inhabit the metaverse world. The functions of the app enable the user to select any desired avatar and navigate through three-dimensional spaces.

It is embedded with additional layers of video, audio, 3D images and interactive elements which may be used as models for sustainable and heritage-oriented pedagogic and research approaches," said a release from IIT-Madras.

Addressing the inaugural session, the Director of IIT-M, V Kamakoti said, "It is crucial that we foreground the urgent need to incorporate collective memory in our understanding and ability to anticipate policies related to ecological issues such as climate change.

Human as well as non-human forms of memory (such as the memory of water and the memory of nature) such as the Spanish Flu and the 2015 Chennai floods may be studied through interdisciplinary and collaborative formats in order to further memory studies as a discipline."

Lauding the efforts, the Director of American Centre at US consulate general, Seema Massot said, "It is important to explore the various collaborative possibilities between Centre for Memory Studies IIT Madras and the American Centre at the US Consulate Chennai through which issues such as water preservation, climate change, and eco-friendly living may be achieved through digital interactive and immersive models."

This international conference saw around 100 presenting and over 500 non-presenting participants from all across India as well as from the USA, U.K., Germany, New Zealand, Morocco, Canada, Sweden, and Bangladesh, among others.

The Conference aims to examine the various human-centric technologies and policies apropos of cultural memory and sustainable development goals in India as well as globally.