Digitizing Dunhuang Cultural Heritage: A User Evaluation of Mogao Cave Panorama Digital Library

Abstract

Purpose: This study is a user evaluation on the usability of the Mogao Cave Panorama Digital Library (DL), aiming to measure its effectiveness from the users' perspective and to propose suggestions for improvement.Design/methodology/approach: Usability tests were conducted based on a framework of evaluation criteria and a set of information seeking tasks designed for the Dunhuang cultural heritage, and interviews were conducted for soliciting in-depth opinions from participants. Findings:The results of the usability tests indicate that the DL was more efficient in supporting simple information seeking tasks than those of higher-complexity levels. Statistical tests reveal that there were correlations among dimensions of usability criteria and user effectiveness measures. Moreover, interview discourses exposed specific usability issues of the DL. Research limitations:This research is based on a relatively small sample size, resulting in a limited representativeness of user diversity. A larger sample size is needed for a systematic cross group comparison. Practical implications:This study evaluated the usability of the Mogao Cave Panorama DL and proposed suggestions for its improvement for better experience. The results also provide a reference to other cultural heritage DLs with panorama functions. Originality/value:This study is one of the first evaluating cultural heritage DLs from the perspective of user experience. It provides methodological references for relevant studies: the evaluation framework, the designed information seeking tasks, and the interview questions can be adopted or adapted in evaluating other visually centric DLs of cultural heritage.

Usability Evaluation of E-Dunhuang Cultural Heritage Digital Library

“…The comparison of quantitative results from the study by Hu et al (2017a) is also provided in Table 3, where the same evaluation framework was applied to evaluate the panorama collection of Mogao Cave. Results of Mann-Whitney U-test showed that visual appearance (p = 0.047), content (p = 0.006), and two-way communication (p < 0.001) showed significant improvement from user evaluation on the panorama collection.…”

“…Afterward, the participants were individually interviewed with a set of open-ended questions on the basis of the criteria for sharing their experience and views in detail. This study followed the framework established in the study of evaluating the Mogao Cave panorama collection (Hu et al, 2017a), where a set of nine user tasks were designed specifically for Dunhuang heritage, ranging from simple factual tasks to more complex tasks involving comparisons and judgments (Appendix). An advantage of adopting this framework was to be able to compare the results to those in the study by Hu et al (2017a).…”

“…However, this collection only provides minimum text labels and no text description, limiting the scope and depth of support for users. The panorama collection was recently evaluated by Hu and colleagues (Hu, Ho & Qiao, 2017a) in terms of user experience, which helped identify usability issues and suggested ways of improving the collection. The panorama views are also included in the e-Dunhuang digital library as 2 http://tour.dha.ac.cn/ one of its featured functions, while e-Dunhuang presents much richer metadata and descriptions, as well as more browsing and searching functions.…”

User‐Centered evaluation of metadata schema for nonmovable cultural heritage: Murals and stone cave temples

“…Participants were categorized into two groups: professionals (N 5 18) and the general public (N 5 12). The sample sizes are in line with previous studies on usercentered metadata evaluation, namely, 17 cultural heritage experts as interviewees in Amin et al (2008), 14 users in different groups in Hu et al (2017), and 33 survey respondents in Zhang and Li (2008). The group of professionals included researchers and scholars in related fields such as art history, Buddhist study, and ancient architecture, as well as those who had jobs related to cultural heritage, such as teachers, journalists, graphic designers, and cultural heritage librarians.…”

Enhancing scholar supportive data: Surveying the landscape of information resources for digital dunhuang

“…Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes is the largest site of Buddhist art in the world, as well as world cultural heritage listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The concept of digital Dunhuang was put forward in the 1990s, aiming for preserving and promoting the precious Dunhuang heritage using digital tools (Hu, Ho, & Qiao, ). Digital Dunhuang has successively implemented a series of projects, and a large number of digital resources have been built through data collection, processing, storage and management.…”