Adaptive, intelligent presentation of information for the museum visitor in PEACH

Abstract

The study of intelligent user interfaces and user modeling and adaptation is well suited for augmenting educational visits to museums. We have defined a novel integrated framework for museum visits and claim that such a framework is essential in such a vast domain that inherently implies complex interactivity. We found that it requires a significant investment in software and hardware infrastructure, design and implementation of intelligent interfaces, and a systematic and iterative evaluation of the design and functionality of user interfaces, involving actual visitors at every stage. We defined and built a suite of interactive and user-adaptive technologies for museum visitors, which was then evaluated at the Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento, Italy: (1) animated agents that help motivate visitors and focus their attention when necessary, (2) automatically generated, adaptive video documentaries on mobile devices, and (3) automatically generated post-visit summaries that reflect the individual interests of visitors as determined by their behavior and choices during their visit. These components are supported by underlying user modeling and inference mechanisms that allow for adaptivity and personalization. Novel software infrastructure allows for agent connectivity and fusion of multiple positioning data streams in the museum space. We conducted several experiments, focusing on various aspects of PEACH. In one, conducted 123 258 O. Stock et al.with 110 visitors, we found evidence that even older users are comfortable interacting with a major component of the system.

Personalization in cultural heritage: the road travelled and the one ahead

“…PEACH (Stock et al, 2007) dynamically created animation-based video clips taking into account the user"s focus of attention. A virtual character migrated to the PDA from a large screen at the beginning of the visit and accompanied the visitor, presenting information, throughout the visit.…”

Non-intrusive Personalisation of the Museum Experience

“…The collected user modelling data were used to deliver personalised information associated with exhibits via audio display. The PEACH project [5] developed a multimedia handheld guide which adapts its user model on the basis of both explicit visitor feedback and implicit observations of a visitor's interactions with the device. This user model was then used to generate personalised multimedia presentations.…”

Secondary Emotions Deduction from Context

“…Given the fact that we used a number of persons (31) that is statistically relevant for a well defined target group, we think that the following results can be generalized in respect to the group's characteristics: age (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25), background (IT&C), gender (balanced), students.…”

“…The work is based on some previous research done in context aware museum guides [19] [20]. Our application has two parts: one is a web based application for profiling the user and the other one is the context aware mobile guide.…”