Abstract
Digital storytelling platforms have proven to be a great way of bringing cultural heritage closer to people. What lacks is a deeper understanding of the user experience of such systems, especially in multi-platform digital storytelling. For the last three years, we have been developing a project called Spotlight Heritage Timisoara, which is at its core a digital storytelling platform for the city of Timisoara (Romania), soon to be European Capital of Culture in 2023. The project consists of a website, mobile applications, and interactive museographic and street exhibitions. This paper presents a multi-platform usability evaluation study which employed semi-structured interviews, observations, think-aloud protocol, SUS questionnaire, Net Promoter Score and Product Reaction Cards to gather insights from 105 participants and reveal usability problems in the Spotlight Heritage context. We found out that the four platforms, i.e., interactive touchscreen table, desktop/laptop, mobile and Augmented Reality, have very good usability scores, are considered accessible and useful, work seamlessly together, and create user satisfaction and loyalty, across demographic groups, having the potential to bring people closer to cultural heritage.
Highlights
Digital Storytelling is a successful combination between the ancient and time-proven art of telling a story and the possibilities of technology today
We have described the technical design and implementation of a multiplatform digital storytelling concept called Spotlight Heritage, a 3-year project that we developed in Timisoara (Romania), European Capital of Culture in 2023
The digital architecture of the concept consists in applications which run on interactive touchscreen tables, desktop/laptop, mobile devices, and Augmented Reality
Summary
Digital Storytelling is a successful combination between the ancient and time-proven art of telling a story and the possibilities of technology today. It has been applied in various domains, one of the most interesting areas being the Cultural Heritage, where it has proven its capabilities of bringing heritage elements closer to people. Originating in the arts community, Digital Storytelling has been adapted to work very well in healthcare, business, education, research, or cultural heritage [2,3]. The CDS digital stories are personal reflections on a subject, are revealing insights of the author, are narrating a lived experience, are based on photos and soundtracks, are short in length (for brevity), and are about self-expression and self-awareness (over concerns of publication and audience) [4]. Cultural Heritage, in Bill Ivey’s words, “tells us where we came from by preserving and presenting voices from the past, grounding us in the linkages of family, community, ethnicity, and nationality, giving us our creative vocabulary” [6]
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