Museum Experience Design: A Modern Storytelling Methodology

In this paper we propose a new direction for design, in the context of the theme “Next Digital Technologies in Arts and Culture”, by employing modern methods based on Interaction Design, Interactive Storytelling and Artificial Intelligence. Focusing on Cultural Heritage, we propose a new paradigm for Museum Experience Design, facilitating on the one hand traditional visual and multimedia communication and, on the other, a new type of interaction with artefacts, in the form of a Storytelling Experience. Museums are increasingly being transformed into hybrid spaces, where virtual (digital) information coexists with tangible artefacts. In this context, “Next Digital Technologies” play a new role, providing methods to increase cultural accessibility and enhance experience. Not only is the goal to convey stories hidden inside artefacts, as well as items or objects connected to them, but it is also to pave the way for the creation of new ones through an interactive museum experience that continues after the museum visit ends. Social sharing, in particular, can greatly increase the value of dissemination

Ethic Reflections about Service Robotics, from Human Protection to Enhancement: Case Study on Cultural Heritage

In a vision of future implications of human‐robot interactions, it is vital to investigate how computer ethics and specifically roboethics could help to enhance human’s life. In this chapter, the role of design expertise will be emphasized by setting multiple disciplines into a constructive dialogue. The reflections will take into consideration different themes, such as acceptability and aesthetics, but above all the ability to generate value and meaning in different contexts. These contexts could find a description in the concept of human enhancement, connected through each other with the skills of the design research. The methodology of the design research will find applicability in the case study of Virgil, where a roboethic approach is contextualized into a cultural heritage field. In this field, it is shown how the ethical approach will bring a benefit to local communities, but at large to any social and cultural strategies involved in the stakeholders’ network

Ethic Reflections About Service Robotics, From Human Protection to Enhancement. Case Study on Cultural Heritage

In a vision of future implications of human robot interactions, is vital to investigate how computer ethics and specifically, roboethics could help to enhance Human’s life. In this chapter will be emphasized the role of design expertise by setting into a constructive dialogue multiple disciplines. The reflections will take into consideration different themes, such as acceptability and aesthetics, but above all the ability to generate value and meaning in different contexts. These contexts could find a description in the concept of human enhancement, connected through each other with the skills of the design research. The methodology of the design research will find applicability in the case study of Virgil, where a robo-ethic approach is contextualized into a Cultural heritage field. In this field is showed how the ethical approach, will bring a benefit to local communities, but at large to any social and cultural strategies involved in the stakeholders’ network

AI in Museums: Reflections, Perspectives and Applications

Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly important topic in the cultural sector. While museums have long focused on building digital object databases, the existing data can now become a field of application for machine learning, deep learning and foundation model approaches. This goes hand in hand with new artistic practices, curation tools, visitor analytics, chatbots, automatic translations and tailor-made text generation. With a decidedly interdisciplinary approach, the volume brings together a wide range of critical reflections, practical perspectives and concrete applications of artificial intelligence in museums, and provides an overview of the current state of the debate

WORKING TOGETHER Conservation and safeguarding of industrial and technological heritage

publishersversionpublishe

Augmented and Virtual Reality for the promotion of the cultural heritage: analysis of museum mission and visitor experience

The thesis discusses the role of Augmented and Virtual Reality technology for the promotion of the cultural heritage, considering both the museum mission and the visitor experience. The research framework represents an integration of the Contextual Model of Learning developed in the field of Museum Visitor Studies, and the cultural-historical Activity Theory, so to consider the different human, environmental and technological dimensions that determine the visitor experience. The research includes two studies. The first study is a qualitative investigation performed at the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome, in order to explore the "design for use" and the "design in use", by collecting data through ethnographic methods and analyzing data through the Service Design Thinking methodology. The second study is an investigation of the museum audience performed using an online questionnaire, to complement and validate the results from study 1. The thesis discusses the results related to the technology as engagement factor, the artifacts ecology and the social interaction among visitors

Enhancing the museum experience with a sustainable solution based on contextual information obtained from an on-line analysis of users’ behaviour

Human computer interaction has evolved in the last years in order to enhance users’ experiences and provide more intuitive and usable systems. A major leap through in this scenario is obtained by embedding, in the physical environment, sensors capable of detecting and processing users’ context (position, pose, gaze, ...). Feeded by the so collected information flows, user interface paradigms may shift from stereotyped gestures on physical devices, to more direct and intuitive ones that reduce the semantic gap between the action and the corresponding system reaction or even anticipate the user’s needs, thus limiting the overall learning effort and increasing user satisfaction. In order to make this process effective, the context of the user (i.e. where s/he is, what is s/he doing, who s/he is, what are her/his preferences and also actual perception and needs) must be properly understood. While collecting data on some aspects can be easy, interpreting them all in a meaningful way in order to improve the overall user experience is much harder. This is more evident when we consider informal learning environments like museums, i.e. places that are designed to elicit visitor response towards the artifacts on display and the cultural themes proposed. In such a situation, in fact, the system should adapt to the attention paid by the user choosing the appropriate content for the user’s purposes, presenting an intuitive interface to navigate it. My research goal is focused on collecting, in a simple,unobtrusive, and sustainable way, contextual information about the visitors with the purpose of creating more engaging and personalized experiences

Proceedings of the 1st joint workshop on Smart Connected and Wearable Things 2016

These are the Proceedings of the 1st joint workshop on Smart Connected and Wearable Things (SCWT'2016, Co-located with IUI 2016). The SCWT workshop integrates the SmartObjects and IoWT workshops. It focusses on the advanced interactions with smart objects in the context of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), and on the increasing popularity of wearables as advanced means to facilitate such interactions

Development of a decision support system framework for cultural heritage management

Decision support systems (DSSs) have been traditionally identified as useful information technology tools in a variety of fields, including the context of cultural heritage. However, to the best of our knowledge, no prior study has developed a DSS framework that incorporates all the main decision areas simultaneously in the context of cultural heritage. We fill this gap by focusing on design-science research and specifically by developing a DSS framework whose features support all the main decision areas for the sustainable management of cultural assets in a comprehensive manner. The main decision-making areas considered in our study encompass demand manage-ment, segmentation and communication, pricing, space management, and services management. For these areas, we select appropriate decision-making supporting techniques and data management solutions. The development of our framework, in the form of a web-based system, results in an architectural solution that is able to satisfy critical requirements such as ease of use and response time. We present an application of the innovative DSS framework to a museum and discuss the main managerial implications and future improvements