�Breaking the glass : preserving social history in virtual environments

Abstract

New media technologies play an important role in the evolution of our society. Traditional museums and heritage sites have evolved from the 'cabinets of curiosity' that focused mainly on the authority of the voice organising content, to the places that offer interactivity as a means to experience historical and cultural events of the past. They attempt to break down the division between visitors and historical artefacts, employing modern technologies that allow the audience to perceive a range of perspectives of the historical event. In this paper, we discuss virtual reconstruction and interactive storytelling techniques as a research methodology and educational and presentation practices for cultural heritage sites. We present the Narrating the Past project as a case study, in order to illustrate recent changes in the preservation of social history and guided tourist trails that aim to make the visitor's experience more than just an architectural walk through.Keywords: interactive storytelling; virtual reconstructions; heritage sites; social history; accessibility; digital preservation.Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Kuksa, I. and Tuck, D. (2011) ''Breaking the glass': preserving social history in virtual environments', Int. J. Arts and Technology, Vol. 4, No. 4, Biographical notes: Iryna Kuksa is a scholar interested in practice-based research. The focus of her academic work lies in the dialogue among design, education and new media technologies. She explores the role of multimedia within the field of theatre studies, art and cultural heritage research and investigates how novel methodologies, including 3D reconstruction of historical artefacts, can be applied to pedagogical practices. She is interested in designing and developing new visual research and learning strategies, in order to enhance learners' experiences through the medium of ICTs, and in researching user experiences in virtual learning environments, such as Second Life virtual community.Deborah Tuck has a filmmaking background and worked on broadcast productions as a Director and Director of Photography. Currently, she is Preserving social history in virtual environments393 developing audiovisual displays using 360 filming techniques for use in portable display domes. Her current research area involves interactive narrative environments, which explores the potential for virtual technologies as a storytelling medium. In her research, she investigates new possibilities for narrative and new ways of using this form for public display. Areas involved include audiovisual theory, game strategies, visualisation technologies and interface design.

Technology and museum visitor experiences: a four stage model of evolution

“…For instance, it segmented Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) to Augmented Reality (AR) HMD, Virtual Reality (VR) HMD, and Mixed Reality (MR) HMD. However, a selection of studies in the review did not state explicitly the fine-grained distinctions between technologies (Amitrano et al 2018 ; Kéfi and Pallud 2011 ; Kuflik et al 2015 ; Kuksa and Tuck 2011 ; Pallud and Monod 2010 ; Sylaiou et al 2010 ), thus, a classification was made according to a list of technologies classified by Ch’ng et al ( 2019 ) and Mohd Noor Shah and Ghazali ( 2018 ) which were based on the functionality of technologies. Drawing on this analytical framework, five types of technology were displayed in Table 7 .…”

“…;Kéfi and Pallud 2011;Kuflik et al 2015;Kuksa and Tuck 2011;Pallud and Monod 2010;Sylaiou et al 2010), thus, a classification was made according to a list of technologies classified by Ch'ng et al (2019) and Mohd Noor Shah and Ghazali (2018) which were based on the functionality of technologies. Drawing on this analytical framework, five types of technology were displayed in Table 7.…”