Interacting with Virtual Reconstructions in Museums

Abstract

Starting from our experience in this domain, we discuss some fundamental concepts about the potentialities of the virtual reconstructions of cultural sites inside museums, with a specific focus on the communication needs, the design, the combination of media, the interaction interfaces, and the embodiment. We conceive a virtual reconstruction as a digital ecosystem, whose main peculiarities are (1) 3D reconstruction, (2) inclusivity, and (3) interactivity. A virtual reconstruction, in a wide sense, should integrate different levels of visualization, both realistic and symbolic; 3D models; metadata; storytelling; behaviors; and tools of visualization and interaction, in order to "reconstruct" and communicate a cultural context, an ecosystem where all the information is integrated. Despite the great advancements of the last years in the digitization process, computer graphics techniques, and archiving strategies, a basic limit of most of virtual museums is that they do not fire up the attention and the involvement of the public: they lack stimulating activities for visitors, narratives metaphors, and emotional impact. The interaction interfaces are not always simple to understand and to control in a few minutes, and they can generate a sense of frustration that causes users to abandon the application after a short and superficial approach. No gap should exist between knowledge and communication. But how can we translate the complexity of the knowledge in appealing to users and into simple applications that fit with the public's need? This article focuses on some communication rules and criteria that are often considered of minor importance by the researchers working in the field of digital cultural heritage but that are really essential to cultural transmission, especially inside museums. We believe that a stronger collaboration between research institutions and museums and among different disciplines would be recommended. Given this premise, we present the Etruscanning EU project, developed in 2011-2013, focused on the virtual reconstruction of two important Etruscan tombs of the Orientalizing period: the Regolini-Galassi tomb in Cerveteri and the tomb n.5 of Monte Michele in Veii.

Learning about the past through situatedness, embodied exploration and digital augmentation of cultural heritage sites

“…Despite the different content displayed, enclosed museum exhibitions often tend to follow general design principles (Hornecker et al, 2014) and thus allow a wide range of advanced interfaces and interaction techniques. Recent studies focus particularly on how visitors' learning experience can be supported during the visit in the museum by interacting with large-scale environments (Flynn, 2013;Kenderdine et al, 2014;Kourakis et al, 2012;Pietroni and Adami, 2014;Price et al, 2015), mobile technologies such as tablets and smartphones (Lanir et al, 2016;Rennick-Egglestone et al, 2013), mobile eye tracking technologies (Mokatren et al, 2016), or smart tangible objects (Marshall et al, 2016). In contrast, in the context of designing for outdoor heritage sites, museum experts often have to consider very specific requirements and constraints (Hornecker et al, 2014), e.g.…”

More than Meets the Eye

“…The effort to create virtual and augmented representations of these environments is complex work. Determining which method of storytelling is appropriate for which environment is not a definite science [Pietroni and Adami 2014]. However, there are some consistencies within the literature about designing AR for these environments.…”

“…Museums, galleries, and cultural heritage sites provide tangible connections to past generations, and within these environments exist the ability to study and analyze past cultures and value systems [Ridel et al 2014]. The scientific, anthropological, geographical, and historical aspect of each cultural site or artifact is unique and complex; therefore, the pursuit of technological enhancement must be approached strategically [Pietroni and Adami 2014]. Previously, and currently, there have been multiple efforts in Europe to incorporate virtual reality (VR) and AR technology to revitalize historical cultural artifacts and North America is following that example.…”

Virtual Museums for Landscape Valorization and Communication

“…The application needs to be installed in a closed and silent space/room, because under this conditions the public can concentrate on storytelling and evocation and thus can feel really immersed in the experience. The user can interact through body movements, thanks to the use of markless sensors for motion capture available on the market since 2011, such as Microsoft Kinect (Pietroni and Adami, 2014). One person at a time can guide the system in the interactive area in front of the screens (4x4 m).…”

“…To structure this "direction" novel approaches and communicative formats have been created mixing techniques coming from different disciplines and domains. The interaction mode through the body gestures enriches the attractiveness of the installation, the feeling of embodiment, the active participation and the sensorial immersion inside the landscape (Pietroni and Adami, 2014). The engagement inside the stories comes not only from the script, but also from the visual moods, the colours, the general atmosphere, the lights and soundscapes, the camera movements, that produce another layer of communication.…”