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

Visitors’ satisfaction and perceived affective qualities towards museums: the impact of recreational areas

Questo studio indaga il ruolo svolto dai fattori ambientali sulla valutazione di una visita al museo da parte degli utenti. È stata condotta un’indagine empirica per rilevare la soddisfazione dei visitatori e la valutazione dell'esperienza museale, con un'attenzione particolare alle aree ricreative (negozio di souvenir e ristorante/bar). Un campione di 160 visitatori di due musei di Roma (50% italiani e 50% madrelingua inglese) ha completato un questionario comprendente scale sulle qualità affettive dei luoghi (Russell & Pratt, 1980), sulla soddisfazione e sulle motivazioni della visita. I risultati hanno mostrato che le aree ricreative, in particolare il negozio di souvenir, facilitano la creazione di una relazione positiva tra il visitatore e l'ambiente museale. La valutazione degli utenti è stata anche associata a differenze linguistiche e relative alle motivazioni alla base della visita.This study investigates the role played by environmental factors on users’ evaluation of a museum visit. An empirical research was carried out to detect visitors’ satisfaction and assessment of museum experience, with a special focus onto its recreational areas (i.e., gift shop and restaurant/cafeteria). A sample of 160 visitors of two museums of Rome (50% Italians and 50% English mother tongue) completed a questionnaire including scales on affective qualities of places (Russell & Pratt, 1980), satisfaction towards the visit, and motives for the visit. Results showed the relevance of recreational areas, especially the gift shop, in facilitating the creation of a positive relationship between the visitor and the museum environment. Users’ assessment was also associated to differences in visitors’ mother tongue, age, educational level and motives underlying the visit

The Hedonic Experience of Enjoyment and Its Relationship to Informal Learning: A Study of Museum Websites

Online hedonic experiences are increasingly of interest in both research and practice. In particular, it has been proposed that ‘traditional usability approaches are too limited and must be extended to encompass enjoyment’ (Blythe and Wright 2003, p.xvi). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among: (i) website design features; (ii) user’s experience of enjoyment; and (iii) informal learning such as that occurring with a museum website. A cross-over experimental design was employed with web pages from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan. Results indicated that, as expected, a multimedia game-based ‘lesson’ led to both more enjoyment and more learning than a text-based ‘lesson’. With text-based pages more enjoyment also meant more learning. The situation was complicated, however, with the game-based pages, as results were not in the expected direction. The study points to the need for more research in this complex area

Gaming versus storytelling: understanding children’s interactive experiences in a museum setting

Museum’s audiences are increasingly looking for compelling expe‐ riences where, besides learning, engagement and enjoyment are key success factors. While gaming and storytelling are considered to be common approaches to engage audiences with a museum’s collections, a formal comparison of the two has not been found in literature. In this paper, we present the design and compa‐ rative study of two distinct interventions, namely a mobile game and a mobile story that were designed to engage a young audience with the exhibit of the local natural history museum. Focusing on the same scientific content derived from the museum’s collection, we compare the effects of both interactive experiences on a group of children. When comparing engagement, enjoyment and learning outcomes, we correlate results with data derived from observations and skin conductance biofeedback. The data collected so far suggest that children are 27% more excited when using the game application compared with the story driven one. Moreover, we find that children’s excitement peaks when encountering selected artefacts presented in the museum exhibit. Finally, children’s learning nearly doubled (44%) when using the game based experience versus the story. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of our findings and by proposing potential future improvements.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Millennial cultural consumers : Co-creating value through brand communities

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise millennial cultural consumers (MCCs) to bring together strands of consumer theory with branding theory to consider how to attract and retain younger audiences in arts organisations. With that the authors single out for attention how 'brand community' theory might apply.This paper contributes to the knowledge development of such concepts as value and brand communities. It also provides an explanation of these concepts connecting academic thought on value with pressing management challenges for arts organisations, suggesting ways to apply brand community thinking to innovatively conceptualised MCCs.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

The power of immersive technologies: a sociopsychological analysis of the relationship between immersive environments, storytelling, sentiment, and the impact on user experience

This dissertation initially focused on exploring the potential of immersive technologies for the distant future. However, the emergence of the COVID-19 virus in late 2019 disrupted the world, causing a pause in many areas. Nevertheless, the butterfly effect of the pandemic spurred the development of immersive technologies, resulting in the rise of the metaverse, web3, non-fungible tokens (NFT), and avatars, which are gaining increasing popularity. The excitement for the metaverse is growing in both academia and industry, leading to new avenues of research, digital marketing, video games, tourism, and social media. This dissertation explores this rapidly emerging technological revolution and its effects on user experience (UX)

We Don’t Connect – Negotiations between Usability, User and Art Experience in Online Art Interaction

Art and its conceptualization enable a richer understanding of human computer interaction (HCI). User experience (UX), usability and art experience (AE) have extensive traditions of scholarship. UX and AE especially, have rarely been combined. While systematic approaches to identifying contrasts between the types of experience are lacking, there is also a lag in academic knowledge on how UX and AE relate to one another in the action context of HCI. This paper presents a study in which UX and perceived usability, were investigated in the context of online art experience. The study’s participants (N=128) responded to a questionnaire based on an adapted model of interactive art systems while experiencing an online art exhibition. Results revealed three significant correlations: 1) the impact of usability on the sense of immersion; 2) how immersion influenced the art experience; and 3) how the viewer’s background (skills and knowledge) affects art experience in digital spaces

We Don’t Connect – Negotiations between Usability, User and Art Experience in Online Art Interaction

Art and its conceptualization enable a richer understanding of human computer interaction (HCI). User experience (UX), usability and art experience (AE) have extensive traditions of scholarship. UX and AE especially, have rarely been combined. While systematic approaches to identifying contrasts between the types of experience are lacking, there is also a lag in academic knowledge on how UX and AE relate to one another in the action context of HCI. This paper presents a study in which UX and perceived usability, were investigated in the context of online art experience. The study’s participants (N=128) responded to a questionnaire based on an adapted model of interactive art systems while experiencing an online art exhibition. Results revealed three significant correlations: 1) the impact of usability on the sense of immersion; 2) how immersion influenced the art experience; and 3) how the viewer’s background (skills and knowledge) affects art experience in digital spaces.©2022 International Conference on Information Systems Development.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed