The Exhibition of Oceans A History of the ʻImmersive Exhibitionʼ at Public Aquariums from the 19th to the 21st Century

This paper aims to trace the history of the ‘immersive exhibition’ at public aquariums from the 19th to the 21st century, with reference to technological developments as well as the social and cultural background of these exhibits. We also take a look at what these kinds of exhibitions might look like in the near future.In this paper, we also consider the ‘reality’ presented by aquarium exhibitions. The simulated seascape cannot seem ‘realistic’ unless it meets visitors\u27 expectations. Therefore, aquarists have over time tried to reconstruct’ oceans’ so that visitors would feel as if the exhibition were ‘real’. The first section of this paper focuses on the features of early immersive exhibitions from the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century, comparing them with other visual cultural forms, such as the panorama. The second section treats aquariums from the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century. We have selected here representative aquariums in Western and Eastern countries and analyse their exhibition styles. In the last section, which features the advent of new exhibitions that apply VR technology, we concisely discuss the exhibition that may appear in the near future

3D Reconstruction, Digital Twinning, and Virtual Reality: Architectural Heritage Applications

Virtual Reality proposes different innovative solutions for the fruition of tangible, intangible, or no longer existing Cultural Heritage. The representation of architectural artifacts through virtual 3D models framed in immersive and interactive virtual environments allows building new paths of knowledge. This kind of narrative feeds the fruition, the understanding, and the involvement of the user. The article presents different examples of VR applied in the CH field, highlighting the VR capacities, foreshadowing possible future developments in the specific domain. The first case study describes the reconstructive digital modeling and the prototype application of VR aimed at rendering the interior space of the provisional hall of the First Italian Parliament, no longer existing, for the use of visitors to Palazzo Carignano in Turin. The second case study concerns the Charterhouse of Pisa in Calci and deals with two VR experiences realized for a new visit tour: 3D reconstruction of the illusory space depicted in a quadraturist frescoes and 3D representation of the layout of the cloister in its most important historical phases. The third case study deals with the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Carpi through a 3D interoperable BIM model and the new communication tool called “during time Digital Twin”, which uses a combination of VR and AR

Learning in a Mixed Reality System in the Context of ‚Industrie 4.0‘

This contribution in the field of innovative approaches to training and education in technical subjects focuses on the potential of modern teaching and learning environments. The contribution is based on a theoretical introduction to Mixed Reality Systems and virtual teaching and learning systems, and as such provides an overview of current research regarding modern learning environments. In particular, it takes a close look at motivational effects in the context of web-based learning structures, human-object interactions, gamification and immersion. The article discusses both technical, user-relevant and pedagogical aspects as well as suggestions for further research in the context of Ausbildung 4.0.Keywords: Industry 4.0, Vocational Training 4.0, Mixed Reality System, virtual learning AcknowledgementThe author would like to thank the ChinaScholarshipCouncil(CSC) for the financial support (No. 201406030091)

Interactive product browsing and configuration using remote augmented reality sales services

Real-time remote sales assistance is an underdeveloped component of online sales services. Solutions involving web page text chat, telephony and video support prove problematic when seeking to remotely guide customers in their sales processes, especially with configurations of physically complex artefacts. Recently, there has been great interest in the application of virtual worlds and augmented reality to create synthetic environments for remote sales of physical artefacts. However, there is a lack of analysis and development of appropriate software services to support these processes. We extend our previous work with the detailed design of configuration context services to support the management of an interactive sales session using augmented reality. We detail the context and configuration services required, presenting a novel data service streaming configuration information to the vendor for business analytics. We expect that a fully implemented configuration management service, based on our design, will improve the remote sales experience for both customers and vendors alike via analysis of the streamed information