The Against Erasure project, delivered a 3D digital model reconstruction of Manus Island Offshore Processing Centre, for use in teaching and learning, via a multidisciplinary Canvas Teaching Resource in the humanities and social sciences. The digital model is a "Simulation" of an historical site, supported by Seekbeak activities, reflecting learner engagement and learning environments that support innovative teaching and learning The 3D digital reconstruction preserves an historical record of the detention centre on Manus Island, where thousands of refugees were imprisoned under Australia’s harsh offshore processing regime. After its 2017 closure to comply with PNG laws, the centre was dismantled. Today, the jungle has overtaken the site, as if it had never existed. Yet several men died there, due to homicide, self-harm, suicide, or untreated medical conditions. Preserving a record of the site was important. (Loughnan et al, 2021; Giannacopoulos and Loughnan, 2020).The simulation is resonant of the work of Forensic Architecture, which adopts an archeological approach to the digital representation of sites of state-sponsored violence, providing ‘forensic’ evidence of human rights violations. The digitally reconstructured site delivers rich insights into the impacts of systemic injustice, through concepts like ‘performation’, showing how digital technology can enhance memory through the (re)creation of place (Mandelossi, 2021). (re) Through ‘performation’, place is ’actualised in the digital sphere. However its representation is also the effect of those engaged in its re-creation. That is, these digital sites are ‘never just an imitation or a reproduction of the physical place to which they refer. Rather, the physical place is staged through an interaction with the virtual place.' The Against Erasure simulation, shows that 'we do things with places, as the work of Forensic Architecture (discussed below) convincingly shows. The digital does something with place and can enhance it by adding layers of meaning allowed by the specific affordances of digital media.This project is a significant example of how learning technologies can advance research, of current research being used in teaching, and the nexus between research and teaching for restorative justice purposes. The Against Erasure project presents a 3D digital reconstruction of the Manus Island Offshore Processing Centre, developed as a multidisciplinary teaching resource for humanities and social sciences. The model preserves an historical record of the now-dismantled detention centre, where thousands of refugees were imprisoned under Australia's offshore processing regime. Despite limited access to official documents, the reconstruction was created using archival materials, interviews, Google Maps, film footage, and audio recordings. The accompanying Canvas community site demonstrates research-led teaching, utilising H5P, Seekbeak, and other learning technologies to contextualise the model across disciplines and delivery modes. Students engage in co-constructing interactive hotspots, becoming active contributors to the simulated site.In 2024 and 2025, students applied methods described above for a 3rd year Arts subject: Digital Humanities and the Social Sciences. It was clear that the simulation functioned as a provocation, with student feedback indicated that this simulation was quite distinct from other simulations: they weren’t just working with a simulator in an abstract way. Rather, they were engaged in contributing human dimensions to the simulation, through Seekbeak activities, becoming active participants in countering historical erasure. The model prompted students to consider the value of simulation, not just as a digital tool, but as a technique of memorialisation, honouring past suffering, and institutional violence, especially when the physical site has disappeared, and there is no concrete reminder of that history. This is an example of a ‘digital’ site of conscience. Students were also co-creators of the model, as noted above (methods), in which their engagement also reflected the idea of performation as an effect of such digital simulations. Although simulation techniques are common in the sciences, it is relatively rare to see them used in the humanities and social sciences. This is the only known 3D model of the detention centre, making it a significant contribution to collective knowledge about the facility and its location. It functions as a historical reminder of the suffering of those imprisoned there as especially, in the face of the Australia’s refusal to admit to its complicity in this violence. Students are asked to consider the value of simulating the former prison in 3D, including what is enabled by the 3D graphics, the critical implications of 3D modelling for scholarship in Criminology and Memory Studies and how the critical perspectives Criminology and Memory Studies have transformed the use of 3D modelling. This project is a significant example of how learning technologies can advance research, of current research being used in teaching, and the nexus between research and teaching for restorative justice purposes.
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