One Day at the Sands: Exploring Las Vegas' Intangible Heritage through Virtual Reality

Abstract

The construction, negotiation and dissemination of cultural heritage in the digital era can take advantage of several approaches, including Virtual Reality (VR). Leveraging on the provision of contextualized multimedia content, VR can foster awareness about the histories of specific times and places, encouraging personal interpretative processes.This paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of "One Day at the Sands", a VR application aimed at conveying the atmosphere of one of the most famous casinos in Las Vegas from the 1950s onwards. First, we collected a digital database, including a wide range of historical material; then, we developed a presentation medium that allows viewers to navigate the virtual reconstructions and access the archival material following their curiosity and interests. User tests underlined the capability of the application to facilitate a deep and meaningful exploration of the contents reinforcing the argument that virtual reality solutions represent valuable tools to engender awareness and explorative attitudes towards heritage.

With New Eyes I See: embodiment, empathy and silence in digital heritage interpretation

“…As Damala et al note 'we know surprisingly little about interactive Cultural Heritage experiences intending to promote a positive emotional reaction ' (2013, 124). Nevertheless there are claims that they might be able to heighten visitors' emotional engagement with heritage, and that this is in and of itself a good thing (Martina et al 2015). Such claims have been explored and problematized in, for example, Mazel et al 2012 andGalani et al 2013. The focus of the investigation into immersive digital heritage has shifted in recent years to the capacities of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies (Yoon et al 2012;Keil et al 2013; Petrelli et al 2013; Woolford and Dunn 2013; Schraffenberger and van der Heide 2014; Martina et al 2015).…”

Promoting Historical Thinking in Schools through Low Fidelity, Low-Cost, Easily Reproduceable, Tangible and Embodied Interactions

“…In such occasions, students can spend a lot of time exploring the boundless contents of the ever-expanding virtual history museums from the comfort of their own school or home [19]. Lately, there is a new trend on examining digital heritage through the affordances of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) [22][23][24]. For example, students can visit historical places, and with the help of their mobiles, they can see information or depictions of buildings and frescoes that no longer exist [25], [26].…”