Digital Projects

Center for Humanities in Extended Reality (CHXR) and eXploR 

Our current work includes the development of a eXploR, digital tool to create and experience immersive historical narratives using extended reality. Following the Getty funded “Hidden in Plain Sight: Reconstructing Lost Histories in Istanbul and Rome” project, my co-directors and I founded the Center for Humanities in Extended Reality (CHXR) in 2025 with support from NJIT Collaborative Research and Innovation Strategic Partnership (CRISP) Investment Grant. This platform places researchers and the public alike in immersive, panoramic environments rich with cultural and historical information and evidence. While one objective is to address erased or hidden histories by creating informed interactions with them, the other is to create a replicable and scalable “interactive narrative framework” for on-site intervention and remote storytelling, allowing users to explore hitherto unknown histories in an immersive environment. In practice, by enabling users to upload their own materials, eXploR supports visualization, annotation, and comparative study across a wide range of research contexts and in the classroom.

Agent-based Modeling in History

Agent-based modelling (ABM) framework that enables researchers to incorporate human or animate subjects and the notion of movement into spatial historical inquiry. The first prototype models the daily and medical routines of the patients and caretakers in Istanbul Toptaşı Asylum in 1911. Since its beginnings in 2018-2019, the project expanded to incorporate machine learning into the initial rule-based simulation, experimenting with supervised learning, decision trees, and model validation along with automated data collection from ABM.

[AI]stanbul

[AI]stanbul is a machine that wants to learn about Istanbul. It acquires and appropriates place-based experiences through natural language and image-based interactions with visitors to the exhibition.

[AI]stanbul was on display during 4th Istanbul Design Biennial between September 22 and November 4, 2018 in Akbank Sanat. [AI]stanbul collected 7000 entries, encompassing personal memories, daily ephemera, and practical information about transportation and places to visit in Istanbul.