Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Serious Games in Cultural Heritage

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

Hidden Cities

This groundbreaking collection explores the convergence of the spatial and digital turns through a suite of smartphone apps (Hidden Cities) that present research-led itineraries in early modern cities as public history. The Hidden Cities apps have expanded from an initial case example of Renaissance Florence to a further five historic European cities. This collection considers how the medium structures new methodologies for site-based historical research, while also providing a platform for public history experiences that go beyond typical heritage priorities. It also presents guidelines for user experience design that reconciles the interests of researchers and end users. A central section of the volume presents the underpinning original scholarship that shapes the locative app trails, illustrating how historical research can be translated into public-facing work. The final section examines how history, delivered in the format of geolocated apps, offers new opportunities for collaboration and innovation: from the creation of museums without walls, connecting objects in collections to their original settings, to informing decision-making in city tourism management. Hidden Cities is a valuable resource for upper-level undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars across a variety of disciplines including urban history, public history, museum studies, art and architecture, and digital humanities

Navigating places of knowledge:The Modern Devotion and religious experience in late medieval Deventer

This contribution will develop the two main themes of the Hidden Deventer walk: the visible presence of the Modern Devotion in the cityscape and the transmission of knowledge tied to physical spaces or lieux de savoir. Despite their professed ideals of “inwardness” and rejection of the world, the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life remained present in the city centre. By calling attention to the interactions between communities of the Modern Devotion and the city they were a part of, this contribution will emphasize the “public history” of the religious movement and their continued involvement in urban life. In particular, the houses of Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life constituted “places of knowledge” in which knowledge was transmitted and shaped between religious professionals and urban lay people. Relations between family members remained important and aided the transmission of knowledge, as is clearly visible from the prayerbook and testaments of Katharina Kerstkens, the historical guide in the Hidden Deventer app. In addressing the interconnectedness of lieux de savoir, this contribution thus allows new considerations on the transmission of knowledge within late medieval Deventer

New Spaces and Forms of Tourism in Experience Economy

Jedną z najgłośniejszych gospodarczych teorii początku XXI w. jest koncepcja ekonomii doświadczeń B. PINE’A I J. GILMORE’A (1999). Dla branży turystycznej nie jest to nic nowego – od zawsze sprzedaje przecież emocje, przeżycia, marzenia i wspomnienia ściśle związane z podróżowaniem. W ostatnim czasie jednak przykłada się zdecydowanie większą uwagę do profesjonalnego (świadomego i celowego) kształtowania produktów turystycznych silnie nacechowanych emocjami . Wysiłki zmierzające do kreowania oryginalnych doświadczeń turystów obejmują oczywiście nie tylko różnorodne modyfikacje tradycyjnych pakietów turystycznych, ale także poszukiwanie nowych przestrzeni wypoczynku i rozwijanie nowych form turystyki. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest dokonanie przeglądu nowych obszarów turystyczno-rekreacyjnych (np. obszary militarne, nowe obiekty sakralne, tzw. destination centres, przestrzenie: codzienności i przeżyć ekstremalnych) oraz form podróżowania i wypoczynku (np. turystyka kreatywna, wydarzeń, sportowa, kulinarna, ekstremalna). Analizie poddane zostały przede wszystkim te zjawiska, które obecnie szybko zyskują popularność i nierozerwalnie wiążą się z kształtowaniem tzw. triady turystycznych doświadczeń (STASIAK, WŁODARCZYK 2013).One of the best known economic theories of the early 21 st c. is Pine & Gilmore's of the experience economy (1999). This is nothing new for the tourism industry which has always been selling emotions, dreams and memories involving travel. Recently, however, it has become much more important to provide professionally (consciously and purposefully) prepared tourism products, strongly marked with emotion (Stasiak 2013) . Efforts to create original experiences for tourists include not only various modifications of traditional tourism packages, but also a search for new recreation spaces and new forms of tourism. The aim of this article is to review new tourism-recreational areas (e.g. military areas, new churches, so-called 'destination centres', along with ordinary and extreme experience spaces), as well as new forms of travel and recreation (e.g. creative, event, sports, culinary or extreme tourism). The analysis includes those phenomena which above all are currently gaining in popularity as part of the tourist experience triad (STASIAK, WŁODARCZYK 2013)

A Methodology to Produce Augmented-Reality Guided Tours in Museums for Mixed-Reality Headsets

[EN] In recent years, the use of technology in the museum context has changed radically. It has switched from the display of information to offering emotive, immersive, and rich experiences with heritage. Virtual interactive media have the potential to put museums back into a relevant place in our increasingly digital society. The emergence of augmented-reality glasses offers the possibility to test and implement new methodologies compatible with this aim. However, most of the first examples developed in recent years did not take advantage of the possibilities of this new medium. This paper presents a novel methodology for producing mixed-reality applications for museums and heritage sites, with an intuitive, immersive, and natural way of operating. An experimental prototype designed for the archaeological museum of the Almoina is shown in the paper to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed system and methodology of production. In addition, the paper shows the results of several tests.This research was founded by the Generalitat Valenciana (Grant GV/2021/181) and by the Spanish Government (Grant PID2020-117421RB-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033).Martí-Testón, A.; Muñoz García, A.; Solanes Galbis, JE.; Gracia Calandin, LI.; Tornero Montserrat, J. (2021). A Methodology to Produce Augmented-Reality Guided Tours in Museums for Mixed-Reality Headsets. Electronics. 10(23):1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10232956121102