Virtual Guidance using Mixed Reality in Historical Places and Museums

Mixed Reality (MR) is one of the most disruptive technologies that shows potential in many application domains, particularly in the tourism and cultural heritage sector. MR using the latest headsets with the highest capabilities introduces a new visual platform that can change people’s visual experience. This thesis introduces a HoloLens-based mixed reality guidance system for museums and historical places. This new guidance form considers the inclusiveness of the necessary and optimised functionalities, visual and audio guiding abilities, essential roles of a guide, and the related social interactions in the real-time. A mixed reality guide, dubbed ‘MuseumEye’ was designed and developed for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, to overcome challenges currently facing the museum, e.g. lack of guiding methods, limited information signposted on the exhibits, lack of visitor engagement resulting in less time spent in the museum compared to other museums with similar capacity and significance. These problems motivated the researcher to conduct an exploratory study to investigate the museum environment and guiding methods by interviewing 10 participants and observing 20 visitors. ‘MuseumEye’ was built based on a literature review of immersive systems in museums and the findings of an exploratory study that reveals visitor behaviours and the nature of guidance in the museum. This project increased levels of engagement and the length of time visitors spend in museums, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in particular, using the mixed reality technology that provides visitors with additional visual, audio information and computer-generated images at various levels of details and via different media. This research introduces the guidelines of designing immersive reality guide applications using the techniques of spatial mapping, designing the multimedia and UI, and designing interactions for exploratory purposes. The main contributions of this study include various theoretical contributions: 1) creating a new form of guidance that enhances the museum experience through developing a mixed reality system; 2) a theoretical framework that assesses mixed reality guidance systems in terms of perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, interactivity, the roles of a guide and the likelihood of future use; 3) the Ambient Information Visualisation Concept for increasing visitor engagement through better presenting information and enhancing communication and interaction between visitors and exhibits; and a practical contribution in creating a mixed reality guidance system that reshapes the museum space, enhances visitors’ experience and significantly increases the length of time they spend in the museum. The evaluation comprised of quantitative surveys (171 participants and 9 experts) and qualitative observation (51 participants) using MuseumEye in their tours. The results showed positive responses for all measured aspects and compares these to similar studies. The observation results showed that visitors who use MuseumEye spent four times the duration visitors spent without guides or with human guides in front of exhibited items. The quantitative results showed significant correlations between the measured constructs (perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, multimedia and UI, interactivity) and the likelihood of future use when the roles of guide mediate the relations. Moreover, the ‘perceived guidance’ is the most influential construct on the likelihood of future use of MuseumEye. The results also revealed a high likelihood of future use, which ensures the sustainability of adopting mixed reality technology in museums. This thesis shows the potential of mixed reality guides in the museum sector that reshape the museum space and offers endless possibilities for museums and heritage sites

Virtual Guidance using Mixed Reality in Historical Places and Museums

Mixed Reality (MR) is one of the most disruptive technologies that shows potential in many application domains, particularly in the tourism and cultural heritage sector. MR using the latest headsets with the highest capabilities introduces a new visual platform that can change people’s visual experience. This thesis introduces a HoloLens-based mixed reality guidance system for museums and historical places. This new guidance form considers the inclusiveness of the necessary and optimised functionalities, visual and audio guiding abilities, essential roles of a guide, and the related social interactions in the real-time. A mixed reality guide, dubbed ‘MuseumEye’ was designed and developed for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, to overcome challenges currently facing the museum, e.g. lack of guiding methods, limited information signposted on the exhibits, lack of visitor engagement resulting in less time spent in the museum compared to other museums with similar capacity and significance. These problems motivated the researcher to conduct an exploratory study to investigate the museum environment and guiding methods by interviewing 10 participants and observing 20 visitors. ‘MuseumEye’ was built based on a literature review of immersive systems in museums and the findings of an exploratory study that reveals visitor behaviours and the nature of guidance in the museum. This project increased levels of engagement and the length of time visitors spend in museums, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in particular, using the mixed reality technology that provides visitors with additional visual, audio information and computer-generated images at various levels of details and via different media. This research introduces the guidelines of designing immersive reality guide applications using the techniques of spatial mapping, designing the multimedia and UI, and designing interactions for exploratory purposes. The main contributions of this study include various theoretical contributions: 1) creating a new form of guidance that enhances the museum experience through developing a mixed reality system; 2) a theoretical framework that assesses mixed reality guidance systems in terms of perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, interactivity, the roles of a guide and the likelihood of future use; 3) the Ambient Information Visualisation Concept for increasing visitor engagement through better presenting information and enhancing communication and interaction between visitors and exhibits; and a practical contribution in creating a mixed reality guidance system that reshapes the museum space, enhances visitors’ experience and significantly increases the length of time they spend in the museum. The evaluation comprised of quantitative surveys (171 participants and 9 experts) and qualitative observation (51 participants) using MuseumEye in their tours. The results showed positive responses for all measured aspects and compares these to similar studies. The observation results showed that visitors who use MuseumEye spent four times the duration visitors spent without guides or with human guides in front of exhibited items. The quantitative results showed significant correlations between the measured constructs (perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, multimedia and UI, interactivity) and the likelihood of future use when the roles of guide mediate the relations. Moreover, the ‘perceived guidance’ is the most influential construct on the likelihood of future use of MuseumEye. The results also revealed a high likelihood of future use, which ensures the sustainability of adopting mixed reality technology in museums. This thesis shows the potential of mixed reality guides in the museum sector that reshape the museum space and offers endless possibilities for museums and heritage sites

Towards a new hospital architecture: an exploration of the relationship between hospital space and technology

Present urban acute NHS hospitals are rigid architectural structures composed of spatial and medical planning requirements that are underpinned by complex inter-related relationships. One assumed relationship is medical technology’s affect upon hospital space. There’s limited research exploring the relationship between NHS hospital space and medical technologies. Furthermore, little is known about the implications of emerging technologies (ETs) on future urban acute NHS hospital space. This study investigates the link between hospital space and medical technology to visualise the spatial consequences of incorporating anticipated medical ETs into future urban acute NHS hospitals. A unique single futures prospective methodology is adopted with a mixed methods approach. This includes historical research, a quantitative investigation of four London case studies and a literature exploration of three medical ETs (biotechnology, robotics and cyborgization). Primary data generated from this study forms the basis for creating scenarios of future urban acute hospital environments. Findings reveal that medical technologies impact directly on hospital space, thus, confirming the existence of a link between hospital space and medical technologies. Results also reveal that even without nanotechnology progression, medical technologies decrease in equipment size during the course of their development. This trend contradicts recent medical planning practice which ‘super-sizes’ high-spec hospital rooms (see Chapter 3). Additionally, a campus-styled hospital typology is determined as the preferred flexible design solution for creating sustainable 21st century urban acute NHS hospitals. Findings lead to recommendations that guide medical planners with the future-proofing of acute hospital space by providing insight and alternative medical planning solutions that incorporate medical ETs into future urban acute NHS hospitals

Wicked Problems in Interface Design: Reflections on the Theories and Practices of Remediation

This project sets out to investigate the ways in which media technology designers might be helped through employing frameworks of understanding from the field of media studies. The overarching goal of this study is to probe the contributory matrix of factors that play a role in the development of a technology interface and its usage. This goal is worked upon by tracing the diverse factors that come into play while remediating a pre-existing medium like oral storytelling onto a digital media interface. Drawing from relevant media theories on determinism and remediation, the transactional linkage between media technology evolution and socio-cultural conventions is established through the juxtaposition of technological determinism and social-constructivism. This linkage is thereafter used to question the conventional paradigm in design practices where the underlying role of pre-existing media technologies and media cultures in the shaping of a new media interface and its usage is overlooked. This assertion about design practices is then explored through an interface development initiative where oral storytelling practices that employed orality as the dominant medium were remediated into a digital interface through developing a virtual 3D avatar who tells a story to the user. Both eye-tracking technology and questionnaires were used as measurement tools to gauge the users’ response to the interface. Exposing the underlying complexity inherent in the process of remediation was guided by the paradigm of ‘wicked problems’ in design thinking. The methodological stance for this study also drew inspiration from the idea of social-constructivism which suggests chronicling the underlying socio- cultural factors that affect the development and use of a new media technology. The features of orality, literacy and virtuality media cultures as laid out by medium theorists were understood as cultural variables whose underlying effects on the development and the reception of the new media interface were explored. The findings of the study indicate that the conventional assumptions about ‘immersion’ and ‘distraction’ in a real-life oral storytelling performance are inadequate to explain the user responses when the oral storyteller is remediated into a digital interface. The wickedness in remediation design problems is compounded by the fact that user reception of a given media technology and the content that is conveyed through it may vary with time. The reception of a media technology interface is shaped indirectly by the emerging conventions of the virtual culture and also by the pre-existing cultures. Media technology designers need to use a broader matrix of analysis where their assumptions and results are positioned within a continuum of media evolution that has multiple socio-technical dimensions as contributory factors.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 201

Teaching Children with Developmental Disabilities to Operate Portable Media Players for Leisure and Learning Purposes

Social, communication, academic, and leisure skills are important for healthy development and a productive life. Individuals with developmental disabilities, however, have impairments that may affect their ability to acquire these skills or may not have had the opportunity to learn them. Compared to peers, these individuals may require additional or modified instruction to acquire new skills. A number of teaching techniques have been examined in the special education literature but as new technology, such as portable devices, become available, further research is needed to examine the effectiveness of interventions employing this new technology. The studies in this thesis examined the use of portable multimedia devices like the iPod Touch® and iPad® in combination with video modelling to teach leisure, academic and social skills to individuals with developmental disabilities. In the first two studies, students with severe intellectual disability were shown a video modelling instruction on an iPod Touch teaching them to operate the same iPod to watch video clips and listen to music. In the third study, a video modelling instruction was presented on an iPad to teach two students with Asperger syndrome how to use the spell-check function on a computer word processor. In the final study, a Social StoryTM presentation and a video modelling segment were presented on an iPad to demonstrate to two students with Asperger syndrome how to greet adults at school. An important aspect of these studies is that they afforded some degree of self-determination to the students by giving them a chance to have an input in the learning process (e.g. whether they would like to participate, how they prefer to learn, their favourite stimuli). Self-determination has been linked to a better quality of life and more positive academic, leisure, and independent living outcomes. Interventions promoting self-determination for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism are, therefore, paramount. The data from all studies suggest video modelling and portable devices can be successfully used to teach a range of skills to children with developmental disabilities. The devices were not only effective as teaching tools but also provided the participants with opportunities for leisure activities. The use of portable technology allowed for efficient intervention delivery and may have had the additional advantage of being motivating to the participants. The studies also illustrate how the same procedures can be successfully used to teach children with lower and higher cognitive abilities