Designing Spatial UI as a Solution of the Narrow FOV of Microsoft HoloLens: Prototype of Virtual Museum Guide

Since the Augmented Reality (AR) headset ‘Microsoft HoloLens’ released in 2016, the academic and the industrial community witnessed an obvious transformation and changes in the perception of AR applications. Despite this breakthrough, most of the HoloLens users have explicitly reported the narrow field of view (FOV) that crops the virtual augmentation from the viewer’s sight to a small window of 34 degrees (Bimber & Bruns). This limitation can result in losing pre-made functions and visuals in the AR application. Therefore, this study introduced attempts to design a spatial UI representing a way around the narrow FOV that HoloLens suffers from. The UI was a crucial part of AR museum system which was evaluated by 9 experts in HCI, visual communication and museum engaging studies. Results showed a positive feedback on the usability of the system and users’ experience. This method can help HoloLens developers to extend their applications’ functionalities with avoiding missing content

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

Serious Gaming for Behaviour Change: A Systematic Review

Over the years, there has been a significant increase in the adoption of game-based interventions for behaviour change associated with many fields such as health, education, and psychology. This is due to the significance of the players’ intrinsic motivation that is naturally generated to play games and the substantial impact they can have on players. Many review papers measure the effectiveness of the use of gaming on changing behaviours; however, these studies neglect the game features involved in the game design process, which have an impact of stimulating behaviour change. Therefore, this paper aimed to identify game design mechanics and features that are reported to commonly influence behaviour change during and/or after the interventions. This paper identified key theories of behaviour change that inform the game design process, providing insights that can be adopted by game designers for informing considerations on the use of game features for moderating behaviour in their own games

User Experience of Markerless Augmented Reality Applications in Cultural Heritage Museums: ‘MuseumEye’ as a Case Study

This paper explores the User Experience (UX) of Augmented Reality applications in museums. UX as a concept is vital to effective visual communication and interpretation in museums, and to enhance usability during a museum tour. In the project ‘MuseumEye’, the augmentations generated were localized based on a hybrid system that combines of (SLAM) markerless tracking technology and the indoor Beacons or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). These augmentations include a combination of multimedia content and different levels of visual information that required for museum visitors. Using mobile devices to pilot this application, we developed a UX design model that has the ability to evaluate the user experience and usability of the application. This paper focuses on the multidisciplinary outcomes of the project from both a technical and museological perspective based on public responses. A field evaluation of the AR system was conducted after the UX model considered. Twenty-six participants were recruited in Leeds museum and another twenty participants in the Egyptian museum in Cairo. Results showed positive responses on experiencing the system after adopting the UX design model. This study contributes on synthesizing a UX design model for AR applications to reach the optimum levels of user interaction required that reflects ultimately on the entire museum experience

Serious Gaming for Behaviour Change: A Systematic Review

Over the years, there has been a significant increase in the adoption of game-based interventions for changing behaviours associated with many fields such as health, education, and psychology. This is due to the significance of the players’ intrinsic motivation that is naturally generated to play games and the substantial impact they can have on players. Many review papers measure the effectiveness of the use of gaming on changing behaviours; however, these studies neglect the game features involved in the game design process, which have an impact on stimulating behaviour change. Therefore, this paper aimed to identify game design mechanics and features that are reported to commonly influence behaviour change during and/or after the interventions. This paper identified key theories of behaviour change that inform the game design process, providing insights that can be adopted by game designers for informing considerations on the use of game features for moderating behaviour in their own games

Evaluating the Use of Mixed Reality in CSI Training through the Integration of the Task-Technology Fit and Technology Acceptance Model

Despite the emerging literature on adopting Mixed Reality headsets in crime scene investigation ¬, it is still debatable on how to employ these headsets and its application for training purposes in higher education and police academies. Hence, this research presents a novel hybrid theoretical framework that combines the Task-technology Fit and Technology Acceptance Model variables and the most prominent features of MR headsets—immersion, interactivity and mobility. The main objective is to explore young investigators' behavioural intention to adopt MR headsets and their applications for investigation training practices. To validate the developed model, a questionnaire survey was the primary method used to collect data from 160 police academy students using the partial least squares-structural equation modelling technique. The empirical results revealed that task technology fit has a positive impact on the perceived usefulness of MR headset applications and no significant positive impact on the perceived ease of use applications of MR devices. On the contrary, individual technology fit has a positive impact on the perceived ease of use and no significant positive effects were found regarding the perceived usefulness of investigation training purposes. Furthermore, the results indicated that the mobility of MR wearable devices positively influences the perceived ease of use and the perceived usefulness for crime scene practices. The study also addresses the theoretical contributions and practical implications of these outcomes

Ambient Information Visualisation and Visitors' Technology Acceptance of Mixed Reality in Museums

The visualisation of historical information and storytelling in museums is a crucial process for transferring knowledge by directly and simplistically engaging the museum audience. Until recently, technological limitations meant museums were limited to 2D and 3D screen-based information displays. However, advancements in Mixed reality (MR) devices permit the propagation of a virtual overlay that amalgamates both real-world and virtual environments into a single spectrum. These holographical devices project a 3D space around the user which can be augmented with virtual artefacts, thus potentially changing the traditional museum visitor experience. Few research studies focus on utilising this virtual space to generate objects that do not visually inhibit or distract the operator. Therefore, this paper aims to introduce the Ambient Information Visualisation Concept (AIVC) as a new form of storytelling, which can enhance the communication and interactivity between museum visitors and exhibits by measuring and sustaining an optimum spatial environment around the user. Furthermore, this paper investigates the perceptual influences of AIVC on the users’ level of engagement in the museum. This research paper utilises the Microsoft HoloLens, which is one of the most cutting-edge imagining technologies available to date, in order to deploy the AIVC in a historical storytelling scene ‘The Battle’ in the Egyptian department at The Manchester Museum. This research further seeks to measure the user acceptance of the MR prototype by adopting the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The operational approaches investigated in this study include; personal innovativeness (PI), enjoyment (ENJ), usefulness (USF), ease of use (EOU) and willingness of future use (WFU). The population sampling methodology utilised 47 participants from the museum’s daily visitors. Results of this research indicate that the willingness of future usage construct is the primary outcome of this study, followed by the usefulness factor. Further findings conclude that the majority of users found this technology highly engaging and easy to use. The combination of the proposed system and AIVC in museum storytelling has extensive applications in museums, galleries and cultural heritage places to enhance the visitor experience. Keywords: Mixed Reality; Storytelling; Visitor Acceptance; Museum; HMDs; Ambient information visualisation; Microsoft HoloLen

Seamless Crime Scene Reconstruction in Mixed Reality for Investigation Training: A Design and Evaluation Study

Abstract— Investigation training in the real crime scene is a critical component of forensic science education. However, bringing young investigators to real crime scenes is costly and faces significant challenges. Mixed Reality (MR) is one of the most evolving technologies that provide unlimited possibilities for practical activities in the education sector. This paper aims to propose and evaluate a novel design of an MR system using Microsoft HoloLens 2.0 and it is tailored to work in a spatial 3D scanned and reconstructed crime scene. The system was designed to be a costly-effective experience that helps young Kuwait police officers to enhance their investigation skills. The proposed system has been evaluated through system usability, user interaction and performance metrics quantitatively via 44 young police officers, and qualitatively using the Think-aloud protocols via a group of experts. Both groups showed positive levels of usability, user interaction and overall satisfaction with minimal negative feedback. Based on the positive feedback, the system will be taken into the commercialisation stage in the future. Despite the high cost of the MR device, it was stated by experts that the system is needed to be provided as an essential tool for crime scene education and investigation practices