Comparison of engagement and emotional responses of older and younger adults interacting with 3D cultural heritage artefacts on personal devices

The availability of advanced software and less expensive hardware allows museums to preserve and share artefacts digitally. As a result, museums are frequently making their collections accessible online as interactive, 3D models. This could lead to the unique situation of viewing the digital artefact before the physical artefact. Experiencing artefacts digitally outside of the museum on personal devices may affect the user's ability to emotionally connect to the artefacts. This study examines how two target populations of young adults (18–21 years) and the elderly (65 years and older) responded to seeing cultural heritage artefacts in three different modalities: augmented reality on a tablet, 3D models on a laptop, and then physical artefacts. Specifically, the time spent, enjoyment, and emotional responses were analysed. Results revealed that regardless of age, the digital modalities were enjoyable and encouraged emotional responses. Seeing the physical artefacts after the digital ones did not lessen their enjoyment or emotions felt. These findings aim to provide an insight into the effectiveness of 3D artefacts viewed on personal devices and artefacts shown outside of the museum for encouraging emotional responses from older and younger people

Older and Younger Adults' Interactions with 3D Digital Cultural Heritage Artefacts

The availability of advanced software allows museums to preserve and share artefacts digitally, and as a result, museums are frequently making their collections accessible online as interactive, 3D models. Since this could lead to the unique situation of viewing the digital artefact before the physical artefact, more research is needed concerning how viewing and interacting with artefacts outside of a museum affects emotional connections to artefacts and how meaning is given to them. Furthermore, users may have varying degrees of technology skills, which could also influence the way they make emotional connections and meaning from interactions with digital artefacts. This study contributes to existing research by exploring the way older adults (65 years and older) and young adults (18-21 years), two groups of users with diverse technology skills and museum experience, emotionally connect and give meaning to digital artefacts. Interaction with digital artefacts will be through two digital modalities: an Augmented Reality app (AR) on a tablet and 3D models on a website using a laptop. Their subsequent viewing of the physical artefacts will also be examined. Video recordings and questionnaire data, including enjoyment and emotional responses, were analysed quantitatively. Utilising the think-aloud method, participants verbalised their thoughts and feelings while interacting with the artefacts. These comments were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively to understand how participants construct meaning from their interactions with artefacts. Results revealed that regardless of age and digital modality, participants made emotional connections with the digital artefacts, and meaning emerged from their interactions. Seeing the physical artefacts after the digital ones still prompted participants to experience emotions; they were not passive when giving meaning to physical artefacts. The results aim to provide insight into how older and younger adults experience two important aspects of a museum artefact experience, emotion and meaning, when first interacting with 3D artefacts on devices outside of a museum

Teaching with Digital 3D Models of Minerals and Rocks

The disruption to geoscience curricula due to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the difficulty of making mineral and rock samples accessible to students online rather than through traditional lab classes. In spring 2020, our community had to adapt rapidly to remote instruction; this transition amplified existing disparities in access to geoscience education but can be a catalyst to increase accessibility and flexibility in instruction permanently. Fortunately, a rich collection of 3D mineral and rock samples is being generated by a community of digital modelers (e.g., Perkins et al., 2019)

Design and Development Approach for an Interactive Virtual Museum with Haptic Glove Technology

With a rise in the use Virtual Reality (VR) applications in museums and exhibition displays, digital heritage has still shown limitations in what a visitor can experience from the intersection of technology and history. Traditionally, interpretative narrative within the museum has been communicated through text panels offering limited context from a largely connoisseurly perspective. In addition to these interactive digital resources are often data base orientated via touch screen technologies with no multisensory immersion. This paper addresses the digital changes in these educational landscapes and the way it is being handled to co-create digital tools for exhibitions to educate and entertain museum visitors. This paper explores the use of haptic technology in conjunction with virtual reality to facilitate multi-faceted modes of interpretation, that offer novel access to an artefact's history from a range of perspectives. It also provides evidence of increased visitor engagement with a ceramic display through these immersive methods to communicate a narrative. This research bridges the gap between history and technology to offer an immersive experience of visiting a museum virtually and providing an intimate one-one experience to interact with artefacts and learn about history. As its focus, this research digitally reconstructs a collection of East-Asian ceramics bequeathed by Ernest Thornhill in 1944 to North Staffordshire Technical College (Now known as Staffordshire University). The digital prototype was developed to replicate the museum environment without the restrictions to access artefacts and handle them. This experience offers visual insights to contextualise the history of a ceramic to be utlised as an education tool to enhance learning within a museum setting. Evidence showed a significantly positive response to this prototype in museum and gallery settings, responses revealed these methods of interaction did assist in learning about ceramics, with a distinct majority of participants confirming these installations would encourage future visits, shaping the possibilities of how history can be combined with technology to create new and innovative solutions to learn about an artefact

Augmenting the field experience: a student-led comparison of techniques and technologies

In this study we report on our experiences of creating and running a student fieldtrip exercise which allowed students to compare a range of approaches to the design of technologies for augmenting landscape scenes. The main study site is around Keswick in the English Lake District, Cumbria, UK, an attractive upland environment popular with tourists and walkers. The aim of the exercise for the students was to assess the effectiveness of various forms of geographic information in augmenting real landscape scenes, as mediated through a range of techniques and technologies. These techniques were: computer-generated acetate overlays showing annotated wireframe views from certain key points; a custom-designed application running on a PDA; a mediascape running on the mScape software on a GPS-enabled mobile phone; Google Earth on a tablet PC; and a head-mounted in-field Virtual Reality system. Each group of students had all five techniques available to them, and were tasked with comparing them in the context of creating a visitor guide to the area centred on the field centre. Here we summarise their findings and reflect upon some of the broader research questions emerging from the project

Introduction to location-based mobile learning

[About the book] The report follows on from a 2-day workshop funded by the STELLAR Network of Excellence as part of their 2009 Alpine Rendez-Vous workshop series and is edited by Elizabeth Brown with a foreword from Mike Sharples. Contributors have provided examples of innovative and exciting research projects and practical applications for mobile learning in a location-sensitive setting, including the sharing of good practice and the key findings that have resulted from this work. There is also a debate about whether location-based and contextual learning results in shallower learning strategies and a section detailing the future challenges for location-based learning

Nuevas tecnologías de visualización para la mejora de la representación arquitectónica en educación

La present memòria de Tesi aborda propostes metodològiques per a l'ús de noves tecnologies de Realitat Augmentada per a la millora competencial de l'estudiant universitari d'Arquitectura i Arquitectura Tècnica en l'expressió gràfica i de l’espai de projectes. La tesi s'ha realitzat a través de casos d'estudi duts a terme en els últims vuit anys amb els estudiants de les assignatures de Tècniques de Representació I i II i Sistemes de Representació I i II dels graus prèviament comentats. Els projectes resultants s'han estudiat des de diversos punts de vista com per exemple la interacció, usabilitat, accessibilitat, motivació i satisfacció que el treball amb aquestes propostes ha generat en els alumnes. Les innovacions tecnològiques han modificat substancialment els mètodes de treball en l'àmbit docent i han permès observar la fàcil adaptació dels estudiants i la seva atracció per aquestes innovacions, la qual cosa finalment ha comportat una millorar curricular. Els articles presentats en la tesi per compendio mostren els resultats i processos de treball en la implementació de les propostes metodològiques.La presente memoria de Tesis aborda propuestas metodológicas para el uso de nuevas tecnologías de Realidad Aumentada para la mejora competencial del estudiante universitario de Arquitectura y Arquitectura Técnica en la expresión gráfica y espacial de proyectos. La tesis se ha realizado a través de casos de estudio llevados a cabo en los últimos ocho años con los estudiantes de las asignaturas de Técnicas de Representación I y II y Sistemas de Representación I y II de los grados previamente comentados. Los proyectos resultantes se han estudiado desde diversos puntos de vista como por ejemplo la interacción, usabilidad, accesibilidad, motivación y satisfacción que el trabajo con dichas propuestas ha generado en los alumnos. Las innovaciones tecnológicas han modificado sustancialmente los métodos de trabajo en el ámbito docente y han permitido observar la fácil adaptación de los estudiantes y su atracción por estas innovaciones, lo que finalmente ha conllevado una mejorar curricular. Los artículos presentados en la tesis por compendio muestran los resultados y procesos de trabajo en la implementación de las propuestas metodológicas.The memory of this thesis deals with methodological proposals for the use of new technologies of augmented reality for the competence improvement of University students of architecture and technical architecture in the graphic and spatial expression of projects. The thesis has been carried out through case studies carried out in the last eight years with the students of the subjects of techniques of representation I and II of the previously mentioned degree representation systems. The resulting projects have been studied from various points of view as for example interaction, usability, accessibility, motivation and satisfaction that working with these proposals has generated in the students. Technological innovations have changed the working methods in the teaching field and have allowed to observe the easy adaptation of the students and their attraction to these innovations, which has finally led to a improve curriculum. The papers presented in the thesis by compendium show results and work processes in the implementation of the methodological proposals