Tangible cultural analytics: how tangible Augmented Reality can enhance cultural heritage research

Abstract

How do we explore history in a new way? Current digitization and archival methods do not have the richness and versatility necessary for researching cultural heritage. In this paper, the role of augmented reality in cultural heritage research is investigated. Then, a formative study is described and analyzed to gain an understanding of the workflow, desired insights and reported pain points that scholars face when working with cultural heritage collections. Finally, the findings from this study are used to propose design concepts for an augmented reality prototype for searching within a collection of artifacts and visualizing selected artifacts. In conclusion, possible directions for the potential of augmented reality in cultural heritage are discussed.