The Heritage Jam
Frequently asked questions
What is a 'Jam'?
A “jam” is a short prototyping event which focusses on innovation and creativity around a central theme. Jams have strong roots in the video-game creative practice although increasingly they are being used across academic and other industry areas. For examples of other jams check out the Global Games Jam or Brains Eden.
What is 'Heritage Jam'?
The Heritage Jam is a short-term event which challenges participants to create a heritage interpretation based around a central theme. It is a unique opportunity for talented people to come together, push their skills, challenge their ways of working, inject new ideas into the interpretation of history and archaeology, and grow the heritage industry overall.
When is the Heritage Jam?
The Heritage Jam will take place on 10 and 11 June 2024 at the University of Leeds.
What are the Social Media Platforms for the Event?
Can I start working straight away?
Yes! You can start working as soon as the theme is announced – if you are coming to the in-person jam you will need to declare what you have been working on prior to the event.
How do I submit my entry?
Email your project along with a brief bio and paradata to the #THJ email heritagejamyork@gmail.com.
Do I Need to Have a Team for the Event?
No! You do not need to have a team for the event – you can compete as an individual in both the Online and in-person events.
Do I Need Specific Skills To Participate?
No! The Heritage Jam is open for anyone, with any skills, at any level to participate in. Draw, write, bake or make whatever you want to with whatever skills, materials and ideas you desire! Collaborating with others through team events is a great way to practice skills, experiment with new techniques or learn from experts. Check out our resources page for useful links to get you started and remember that our social media and email accounts are always open for questions.
Do I Need To Start From Scratch?
No! You are allowed to start creating from a base-code template, provided you declare it in your documentation and provide the source for it in your submission. If you are working from a base-code template you are encouraged to post a public link to it so that others can see and leverage it as well! After all – the jam is about experimenting, collaborating and innovating together.
Base-code is a template which has the basic visual tools or code set up and ready for further development, for example, if you were making a game a base-code template might be a set of FPS scripts which you build upon, tweak and add further assets to during the jam.
Do I Need To Submit a Complete, Operational and Polished Outcome?
No! The Heritage Jam accepts submissions at all levels of creation – obviously for the piece to be judged it needs to be able to be opened, viewed and interacted with as appropriate – the spirit of the jam however is experimentation and innovation, which is a tall order for such a short amount of time! Prototyping a smaller project or creating a bigger, but less totally polished outcome is totally fine – just be sure to talk about it in your paradata submissions!
Who Owns the Intellectual Property of Submissions to The Heritage Jam?
The team/makers of the visualisations hold all IP rights. However, The Heritage Jam may use the games for demonstration purposes and the outcomes will be hosted in the Jam Gallery. All outcomes must be posted in the condition they are in as of the close of the event , including final project, executables, source code (where applicable), and paradata documentation. Third party tools and software may be used in the projects and need not be uploaded or shared, however, clear instructions must be provided as to how to obtain and install any third party software that is necessary for running or further developing the projects.
What is Paradata?
Among the documents used to critically inform heritage visualisation, paradata are details on the processes and methods behind the building and interpretation of our visual objects. The London Charter describes them as “documentation of the evaluative, analytical, deductive, interpretative and creative decisions made in the course of … visualisation” to allow a clear understanding of how the visualisation came into being. For more info on paradata be sure to check out our resources page.
Got a question which has not been answered? Feel free to get in touch via email or social media!