Cultural Engagement in Virtual Heritage Environments with Inbuilt Interactive Evaluation Mechanisms

My initial premise is that virtual heritage environments currently do not provide a sense of 'cultural' engagement, and, secondly, that is it important to fulfill these needs. Indeed, how can we develop virtual environments for cultural applications that successfully evoke a sense of engagement or immersion? This paper suggests that the above issue has been indirectly addressed by entertainment software design. A proposed solution to the issue of cultural presence is thus to apply the interactive mechanisms used in games (social agents, maps, dynamic environments, levels of interaction constraint, and taskbased artefactual use) to virtual heritage environments. The hypothesis is that the resulting environment will allow for a more culturally immersive learning environment. Virtual environments also often lack adequate feedback mechanisms. A proposed secondary solution is that designers and researchers of virtual environment can use the above interactive mechanisms for the evaluation of user engagement without simultaneously interrupting the user's feeling of engagement

Online Exploration of Mayan Culture

This paper discusses various interactive techniques for online exploration of archaeological reconstructions using a specific JavaScript and XML based application. Specifically this paper focuses on a current research reconstruction of the Mayan city of Palenque set in the Chiapas, Mexico, which aims to evaluate user engagement immersion and understanding of certain "embedded" cultural artifacts and settings. The testbed for the ongoing research is the evaluation of a virtual archaeology project in Palenque Mexico using theories of cultural immersion as well as computer game engine technology and techniques

The design and application of wayfinding in physically and virtual immersive environnments

Thesis (M.A. (Interactive Digital Media))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2016.The focus of this research paper is on the relationship between wayfinding and interactive, immersive environments. Wayfinding systems inherently exist to assist people on a journey to a desired destination. Interactive immersive environments have introduced a new paradigm, in which users are becoming active participants within both physical and virtual environments. The merging of wayfinding with immersive environments could thus present potential to propel wayfinding to a new level. The effectiveness and applications of wayfinding systems within three immersive environments is therefore determined by looking at the design of informational wayfinding, the ease of navigability within immersive environments and the adaptation and use of wayfinding techniques within four case studies. The three immersive environments chosen to be examined within this paper are: physically immersive environments, digital physically immersive environments and virtual immersive environments. These environments are represented by four case studies which include Menlyn Park Shopping Centre's newly updated wayfinding system, Find Your Way Essex, a virtual wayfinding mobile application, StreetMuseum: Museum of London a purely digital mobile application and Honeywell - Virtual Museum Tour, a virtual wayfinding experience that relies fully on the GoogleCardboard device.GR201