Challenges of Mobile Augmented Reality in Museums and Art Galleries for Visitors Suffering From Vision, Speech, and Learning Disabilities

Abstract

In Today's digital world, AR is a tech which imposes layers of virtual segments on the real world. Research Practitioners and Designers in all applications seem to be more concerned about the learning facilities than keeping the visitors engaged in public art exhibitions, Museums, and holiday tourist locations. These ignored circumstances have provoked studies to emphasize more on the usability of Mobile Augmented Reality (M.A.R.) at Art galleries and Museums. According to the recent surveys, the current M.A.R. applications at target locations focus on healthy people without any disabilities, and not on those with disabilities. This chapter recommends major design elements of M.A.R. at museums and art galleries, and highlights all the challenges faced by visitors suffering from visual, speech, and Learning Disorders. The research discusses the 11 vital elements which include Usability, Design, Motivation, Interaction, Perceived control, Satisfaction, Attention, and others involving engagement of M.A.R. necessary for building an effective M.A.R. application for disabled people.

Museums for Older Adults and Mobility-Impaired People: Applying Inclusive Design Principles and Digital Storytelling Guidelines—A Review

“…In the context of museums, mobile applications have been created to assist visitors with various disabilities, including mobility impairments, by providing features such as audio descriptions, GPS navigation, large text options, and voice commands [68,71]. Ribeiro et al [68] also suggest that AXSMap implements the storage and dissemination of data related to wheelchair-accessible amenities in public locations.…”

“…Supporting people with disabilities via audio descriptions, GPS navigation, large text options, and voice commands [68,71].…”

Which Are the Needs of People with Learning Disorders for Inclusive Museums? Design of OLOS®—An Innovative Audio-Visual Technology

“…When talking about learning disorders, virtual museums have been realized as educational tools in scholastic environments, as depicted in [28], rather than to promote the use of virtual and/or augmented reality applications inside the museum itself. Kunjir et al affirmed that the current augmented reality applications in museums and art galleries focus on people without any disorders, recommending to consider the challenges faced by visitors suffering from learning disorders in the future design of immersive technologies for museums [29]. In addition, a recent systematic review affirms that there is still a lack of scientific publications focused on the definition of guidelines for guaranteeing the accessibility of inclusive museums for people with learning disorders [30].…”

Visualizing Educational Information: Primary School Teachers’ Views

“…So, for example, in the studies by Alessandrini & Rosso (2009), Ponners & Piller (2020), Salunkhe, Kaithathara, Darshan, Gowri & Shabarisha (2022) visualization is defined as the process of creating a thought image of an object in consciousness (according to the mechanisms of visual imagination, visual perception, and visual thinking). Kunjir and Patil (2020) consider visualization as a representation of text content in models, pie charts, graphs, maps etc. for ease of understanding.…”