Story Guided Virtual Cultural Heritage Applications

Virtual cultural heritage applications, particularly virtual museums, nowadays include various forms of storytelling. Every object, site or artifact is better perceived and understood through the adjoining story. Interactive applications naturally request the storytelling to become interactive as well. This paper describes the concepts of interactive digital storytelling in our virtual museums and cultural heritage presentations and discusses their advantages and drawbacks recognized through user evaluation. We used digital stories not only to introduce visitors with the context and information on the objects, but also to enhance their navigation through virtual environments with purpose of learning and perceiving maximum amount of offered information

The virtual museum of Stećci

[ES] Los museos virtuales online parecen consolidarse como excelentes plataformas de difusión del patrimonio cultural, especialmente en países con pocos recursos o con dificultades para asumir la conservacion y difusión de su patrimonio. El museo virtual de los Stecci, desarrollado por la Universidad de Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina), es un claro ejemplo de cómo las nuevas tecnologías pueden contribuir a valorizar el patrimonio cultural.[EN] The online virtual museums seem to consolidate as excellent platforms for dissemination of cultural heritage, especially in countries with few resources and hard to take conservation and dissemination of their heritage. The Stecci virtual museum, developed by the University of Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) is a clear example of how new technologies can contribute to enhancing cultural heritage.“The research leading to these results is partly funded by the EU Community's FP7 ICT under the VMusT.net Project (Grant Agreement 270404). The publication reflects only the author’s views and the Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. Neither the V-MusT.net consortium as a whole, nor a certain participant of the V-MusT.net consortium, warrant that the information contained in this document is capable of use, nor that use of the information is free from risk, and accepts no liability for loss or damage suffered by any person using this information”.López-Menchero Bendicho, VM.; Rizvic, S. (2014). El museo virtual de los misteriosos Stećci. Virtual Archaeology Review. 5(11):109-112. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2014.4188OJS109112511RIZVIĆ, S., SADŽAK, A., BUZA, E. & CHALMERS, A. (2008): "Virtual reconstruction and digitalization of cultural heritage sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina", en - Преглед НЦД, vol. 12, pp. 82-90.RIZVIĆ, S., SADŽAK, A., AVDAGIC, Z. & CHALMERS, A. (2006): "Maya sun simulation of bosnian gravestone virtual model", en 4th Eurographics Italian Chapter Conference, pp. 171-175.VEMIC, Dejan (2011): Late medieval tombstones (stecci) in the area of Zabljak (Montenegro), MA Thesis in Medieval Studies. Central European University, Budapest

Actors in VR storytelling

Virtual Reality (VR) storytelling enhances the immersion of users into virtual environments (VE). Its use in virtual cultural heritage presentations helps the revival of the genius loci (the spirit of the place) of cultural monuments. This paper aims to show that the use of actors in VR storytelling adds to the quality of user experience and improves the edutainment value of virtual cultural heritage applications. We will describe the Baiae dry visit application which takes us to a time travel in the city considered by the Roman elite as "Little Rome (Pusilla Roma)" and presently is only partially preserved under the sea.Comment: Pre-print versio

La digitalización 3D de los cementerios de tumbas medievales Stećci en Bosnia y Herzegovina. Primeros resultados

[ES] Entre 2019 y 2021 el equipo de Global Digital Heritage (GDH), en colaboración con la Universidad de Sarajevo y el Museo Nacional de Bosnia y Herzegovina, ha llevado a cabo la digitalización 3D de un importante conjunto de stećci conservados tanto en el Museo Nacional de Bosnia y Herzegovina como en algunos cementerios medievales cercanos a la ciudad de Sarajevo y a la zona oriental de Bosnia. Los cementerios medievales de stećci constituyen un valioso patrimonio arqueológico de gran interés histórico pero poco conocido a nivel internacional pese a que algunos de ellos han sido declarados Patrimonio Mundial en 2016. A pesar de tratarse de un patrimonio en peligro apenas se han acometido trabajos de documentación 3D sistemáticos. Este artículo expone la metodología empleada y los resultados obtenidos por GDH, incluyendo las dificultades que ha sido necesario resolver y los retos que todavía han de abordarse para poder acometer la paulatina digitalización 3D del mayor número posible de cementerios medievales de stećci en Bosnia y Herzegovina. Lopez-Menchero Bendicho, VM.; Maschner, H.; Rizvic, S.; Bujak, E.; Marić, A.; Lepić, A.; Cárdenas Martín-Buitrago, ÁJ. (2023). La digitalización 3D de los cementerios de tumbas medievales Stećci en Bosnia y Herzegovina. Primeros resultados. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 381-389. https://doi.org/10.4995/Icomos2022.2022.1537038138

El museo virtual de los misteriosos Stećci

The online virtual museums seem to consolidate as excellent platforms for dissemination of cultural heritage, especially in countries with few resources and hard to take conservation and dissemination of their heritage. The Stecci virtual museum, developed by the University of Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) is a clear example of how new technologies can contribute to enhancing cultural heritage.Los museos virtuales online parecen consolidarse como excelentes plataformas de difusión del patrimonio cultural, especialmente en países con pocos recursos o con dificultades para asumir la conservacion y difusión de su patrimonio. El museo virtual de los Stecci, desarrollado por la Universidad de Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina), es un claro ejemplo de cómo las nuevas tecnologías pueden contribuir a valorizar el patrimonio cultural

Kyrenia - Hyper Storytelling Pilot Application

A team of multidisciplinary experts from computer science, visual arts, literature, film directing, psychology, communicology and human computer interaction developed a new interactive digital storytelling method - hyper storytelling. Hyper storytelling offers a solution for narrative paradox in introducing motivation factor into interactive digital story. In this paper we present Kyrenia - the first hyper storytelling application. Its purpose is to introduce the Internet users with the oldest sunken ship from 280 B.C., found in 1975 near Kyrenia, Cyprus

Selective rendering in a multi-modal environment

Visual perception is becoming increasingly important in computer graphics. Research on human visual perception has led to the development of perception driven computer graphics techniques, where knowledge of the human visual system and, in particular, its weaknesses are exploited when rendering and displaying 3D graphics. It is well known that many sensory stimuli, including smell, may influence the amount of cognitive resources available to a viewer to perform a visual task. In this paper we investigate the influence smell effects have on the perception of object quality in a rendered image. We show how we can potentially accelerate the rendering of images by directing the viewer's attention towards the source of a smell and selectively rendering at high quality only the smell emitting objects. Other parts of an image can be rendered at a lower quality without the viewer being aware of this quality difference. By doing this, we can significantly reduce rendering time without any loss in the user's perception of delivered quality

Interactive digital storytelling: bringing cultural heritage in a classroom

Interactive digital storytelling is becoming a popular choice for information presentation in many fields. Its application spans from the media industry and business information visualization, through digital cultural heritage, serious games, education, to contemporary theater and visual arts. The benefits of this form of multimedia presentation in education are generally recognized, and several studies which explore and support the opinion have been conducted. In addition to discussing the benefits, we wanted to address the challenges of introducing interactive digital storytelling and serious games in the classroom. The challenge of the inherent ambiguity of edutainment, due to opposing features of education and entertainment, is augmented with different viewpoints of multidisciplinary team members. We specifically address the opposing views on artistic liberty, at one side, and technical constraints and historical facts, on the other. In this paper, we present the first findings related to these questions and hope to initiate further discussions in this area

Assessing User Experience and Cognitive Workload in Virtual Reality Digital Storytelling

This article examines the user experience and cognitive workload in digital storytelling through immersive virtual reality (VR). Specifically, it explores the relationship between various aspects of the user experience and their link to the cognitive workload. The investigation was conducted by means of a large-scale evaluation of an underwater archaeological VR experience that simulated diving into the reconstructions of a submerged ancient site combined with interactive 360° video storytelling. The evaluation included 125 participants from two different geographical locations. Results revealed a strong interdependence between all user experience scales, including presence, immersion, engagement, emotional response, state of flow, subjective judgment, and technological adoption of the VR equipment. Moreover, the sense of presence in VR was strongly related to the reported task performance. The article highlights the importance of understanding the user experience and cognitive workload when creating digital storytelling applications in immersive VR

GCH 2019, Eurographics Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, November 6 - 9, 2019

The Graphics and Cultural Heritage research community has vast experience in interdisciplinary research and in seeking technical innovation which has a societal application. As such, in this 17th edition of the Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage (GCH 2019) we placed special attention on the role of this research community for proposing novel research which underpins the safeguarding of Cultural Heritage in the digital age while addressing the social, environmental and economic challenges. Taking place at the heart of the Balkans, in the city of Sarajevo, this year’s event explores the role of computer graphics and other digital technologies in the preservation and provision of access to cultural heritage which might be vulnerable from natural and man-made threats such as climate change, economic hardship, violence and neglect. The programme includes a variety of research contributions that address these pressing needs. Novel methods for the digitisation of artefacts are presented, including open and end-to-end processes for 3D documentation and reproductions, capturing complex materials, introducing multispectral imaging processes and finding compression methods for images resulting from digitisation processes. The analysis and classification of cultural heritage material is also presented, including methods for the analysis of historical films, analysis of cracks on painted surfaces, classification of clay statuettes, retrieval of painted pottery and the exploration methods for annotated datasets. Engagement with virtual environments is presented through research conducted on virtual museums, and Augmented Reality (AR) to engage the public and Virtual Reality (VR) environments to enable them to experience seismic simulations. 3D design research includes the design of ancient garments and the extraction of 3D scenes from bas-reliefs. Community engagement with cultural heritage is proposed through storytelling mechanisms using technologies such as AR, VR and 3D printed replicas