Virtual Museum Research Articles

Designing the Virtual Museum with Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Abstract In the 2020 video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the player builds the collection of the impressive Animal Crossing Museum (ACM). Exploring the visitor experience of this video game museum’s art wing from the perspective of museum professionals allows for the discovery of inventive ways to deepen connection with museum patrons in the virtual space. The ACM is more successful at engaging visitors than traditional virtual museums. It meets visitor needs by offering an immersive, interactive experience, and depends on direct action from the visitor to expand and grow its collection and space. By taking lessons from the player interaction design of the ACM, virtual museums can be designed to meet the psychological needs of visitors and build long-lasting relationships between the visitor and the institution. From the text, this essay proposes seven lessons for designing virtual museums: start with visitor experience at the center of virtual museum design, allow the visitor to collaborate on the creation of the virtual museum, make the virtual museum a habit with intermittent rewards and increased access over time, build social interaction into the virtual museum, add an avatar, show off curator personality, and address colonial roots of museums.

The Effect of Historical Places Through Virtual Museums on Students' Academic Achievement And Attitudes Towards The Course In Social Sciences Course Concept Teaching

This research, 7. the classroom social studies course was conducted in order to determine the effect of historical sites on students' academic achievements and attitudes towards the course through virtual museums in concept teaching. In line with the aim, 20 concepts included in the social studies curriculum were selected. A 20-question academic achievement test was prepared and applied to be applied to students in relation to these concepts. In addition, a 35-item attitude scale was applied to determine the students' attitudes towards the Social studies course. The study group of the research consists of 40 7th grade students (20 experimental, 20 control). The study was carried out over a total period of 3 weeks. The experimental group was taught concepts through virtual museums in historical places, and the control group was taught according to the Social Studies curriculum. SPSS, which is a statistical analysis program, was used for the analysis of quantitative data. In the measurements related to the research, dependent and independent variable t test, mean, standard deviation values were calculated. According to the results of the analysis, it has been determined that the use of virtual museums with historical sites in social studies course concept teaching enables more effective learning compared to traditional methods and creates significant differences in students' attitudes towards social studies course.

Teaching poetry using Instagram: An international, interdisciplinary study with adolescents mobilizing literacy and the arts

Young people engage daily with various social media platforms to communicate with each other across the globe. Adolescents not only share text, but also use images and sound to express themselves on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to provide access to user-created content. The recent emergence of InstaPoetry—poetry with images on Instagram—has been part of such communication and provides a good entry point into adolescents’ engagement with literature and the arts. Limited research exists, however, on how this literate practice, paired with virtual and in-person museum visits, influences young people’s self-expression. In this article, we offer ways of integrating and involving these dynamic dimensions into research projects based on four sites of inquiry located in Canada and Australia. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, this research project provides concrete avenues to investigate teachers’ methods to foster adolescents’ engagement with literature and the arts (i.e., contextual design, procedures, environment) in (post) COVID-19 times.

Digital Archives for Academic Heritage: Tools and Processing Environments for the Museum Metaverse and Scientific Dissemination

Abstract. In recent years the digital visualisation techniques, including 3D digital models of indoor spaces, saw an exponential increase in their applications, both in the fields of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) and of Cultural Heritage (CH). This growth is mainly due to the increasing affordability of tools for the acquisition and elaboration of three-dimensional digital survey/data management and to their increasing ‘user friendliness’.The research proposes a further step on research started some years ago by our group about the exploration of indoor mapping for the creation of the 3D virtual museum of our Institution, starting with the realisation of a virtual model of the university’s spaces (departments and halls). At first, the virtual museum will host the Curioni Digital Collection, which consist of circa 140 wooden models of building details, bridges, tunnels, and vaults designed by prof. G. Curioni during the second half of the XIX century as teaching aids for the Construction and Structural Design classes. A comparison between two main tools to support management and diffusion of geometrical, alphanumerical, and topological data will be given (Matterport and Unity). The parallel approach considering two tools is to provide a digital twin of a real collection placed in a real space, and, on the other hand, to use a real historical university space, virtualized, to host a virtual collection.

Introducing Digitized Cultural Heritage to Wider Audiences by Employing Virtual and Augmented Reality Experiences: The Case of the v-Corfu Project

In recent years, cultural projects utilizing digital applications and immersive technologies (VR, AR, MR) have grown significantly, enhancing cultural heritage experiences. Research emphasizes the importance of usability, user experience, and accessibility, yet holistic approaches remain underexplored and many projects fail to reach their audience. This article aims to bridge this gap by presenting a complete workflow including systematic requirements analysis, design guidelines, and development solutions based on knowledge extracted from previous relevant projects. The article focuses on virtual museums covering key challenges including compatibility, accessibility, usability, navigation, interaction, computational performance and graphics quality, and provides a design schema for integrating virtual museums into such projects. Following this approach, a number of applications are presented. Their performance with respect to the aforementioned key challenges is evaluated. Users are invited to assess them, providing positive results. To assess the virtual museum’s ability to attract a broader audience beyond the usual target group, a group of underserved minorities are also invited to use and evaluate it, generating encouraging outcomes. Concluding, results show that the presented workflow succeeds in yielding high-quality applications for cultural heritage communication and attraction of wider audiences, and outlines directions for further improvements in digitized heritage applications.

Human-Centric Virtual Museum: Redefining the Museum Experience Through Immersive and Interactive Environments

Virtual Museums present a novel approach for audiences to experience cultural content. This paper proposes two new concepts of virtual museums: Human-Centric Virtual Museum, which emphasizes audience interaction experiences, and Content-Centric Virtual Museum, which focuses more on the digitized display of real museum collections and content. With the widespread application of extended reality (XR) technology in this field, people are increasingly inclined towards experiencing highly interactive Human-Centric Virtual Museums. However, evaluating these from a user cognition perspective warrants further investigation. To address this, we design and implement three fundamental forms: Mobile Application (MA), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR), and evaluate comprehensive user experiences, including satisfaction, cognitive load, emotional involvement, presence, interactivity, degree of participation and potential negative impact. The experimental results show that in terms of satisfaction and cognitive load, users generally find the MR mode easier to understand and operate. Regarding emotional involvement, audiences in the VR and MR modes are more likely to focus on the current content. Concerning presence, the MR mode enables audiences to perceive the real spatial location, thereby increasing their immersion. Furthermore, compared to the MA mode, both MR and VR modes exhibit stronger interactivity, providing audiences with a more immersive exhibition experience. However, the VR mode may also cause users to feel discomfort during use.

Gamification of virtual museum curation: a case study of Chinese bronze wares

Museums, which are among the most popular science institutions outside schools, are usually used to display and introduce historical culture and cultural relics to tourists. Text and audio explanations are used by traditional museums to popularize historical knowledge and science for tourists, and general interactive systems are based on desktops. This learning method is relatively boring in terms of experience. As a result, tourists have no desire or interest in actively exploring and learning about bronze ware, so they only have a basic understanding about bronze ware. Since most tourists are familiar with games, they are more likely to be attracted by game content and will actively explore and interact with it. In addition, a certain degree of reality is created by virtual reality technology and an immersive experience through head-mounted devices is provided to users. In this paper, we take Chinese bronzes as the research objects. We first use 3D laser scanners to obtain bronze models ; then, we build a virtual museum environment, and we finally design a virtual reality curation game based on this bronze digital museum. This game offers visitors an immersive museum roaming and bronze ware interactive experience. Through a combination of text, video learning, and games, visitors’ curiosity and desire to explore bronze ware are stimulated, and their understanding and ability to remember bronze ware knowledge can be deepened. In terms of cultural heritage, this game is also conducive to the spread of traditional Chinese bronze culture throughout the world.

Escaping the Bondage of Bullying: A Game-based Learning Approach

School bullying is a phenomenon of great concern worldwide, with profound implications for the emotional development of those involved. Leveraging the interactive nature of game-based learning provides a unique opportunity for active student engagement that goes beyond traditional pedagogical methods. This article aims to explore students' perceptions of bullying and present a digital game as an alternative educational approach to raising students' awareness, empathy, and empowerment. Furthermore, it will be demonstrated how an art-based virtual museum game engages students in exploring and understanding the phenomenon. A needs assessment on bullying was conducted on a student population sample during the school year 2023 - 2024. Subsequently, a digital 3D escape room type game (named "e-BOB") was used, which was redesigned and reconstructed by the students from an initial project within the Panhellenic Students Competition of Onassis Foundation "Hack the Art: Yiannoulis Halepas". The game was developed using Unity, Blender, and Krita platforms and is set in an art museum. Players interact with the sculptor's exhibits through micro-scenarios and quizzes drawn from the sculptor's life and artwork that tackle the issue of bullying. Key game features include goal achievement within a time limit and discovery of hidden elements. The analysis of the needs assessment data found that all students had been involved in bullying behaviors either as victims, perpetrators or observers. The majority of students focused mainly on direct forms of bullying and less on indirect forms, and most were unable to distinguish bullying from 'simple teasing', demeaning bullying behavior. Those at greater risk are the ones who show some element of differentiation in relation to the stereotypes of the social context in which they live. Several students indicated that the school environment needs to address the issue sufficiently. Finally, the game contributed to students' empathy about bullying, enhancing their self-reflection and managing strategies. Raising awareness, mental empowerment, and empathy for bullying requires dynamic and innovative approaches. With its potential for self-awareness and student activation, game-based learning should be incorporated into educational programs for bullying prevention and management within schools.

Administrative Law in the Era of Digital Technologies: New Opportunities for the Saving of Cultural Heritage and Public Education

The rapid development of digital technologies has transformed various aspects of human life, including the save and promotion of cultural heritage. The present article explores the intersection of administrative law and digital technologies in relation to the protection of cultural heritage and public education. The study aims to analyze the role of administrative law in providing a legal framework for the utilization of digital technologies to safeguard cultural heritage, address the challenges arising from the adoption of new technologies, and promote public education on the importance of saving historical values. The article begins by examining the innovative methods employed in the save of cultural heritage, such as virtual museums, augmented and virtual reality technologies, and artificial intelligence. The role of administrative law in facilitating the integration of these technologies into the save process is emphasized, as it provides the necessary legal support and guidance to ensure their effective and responsible use. Next, the article delves into the primary challenges and problems faced by the cultural heritage sector in adopting digital technologies. These include issues related to data privacy and security, intellectual property rights, and the need for harmonization between national and international legal frameworks. The article highlights the importance of administrative law in addressing these challenges and ensuring a balanced approach that respects the rights of all stakeholders. The study then discusses the interaction between technology and law in the context of heritage protection. It analyzes the existing legal frameworks governing the use of digital technologies in the cultural heritage sector and identifies areas for improvement and potential legal developments. The role of administrative law in facilitating international cooperation and collaboration in the save of cultural heritage is also explored. Finally, the article presents an overview of the prospects for the development of digital cultural heritage management. It outlines the potential benefits of integrating digital technologies into the save process, such as increased accessibility and awareness of cultural heritage, as well as the opportunities for public education and engagement. The article concludes by emphasizing the crucial role of administrative law in ensuring that the digital transformation of the cultural heritage sector is carried out responsibly and sustainably.

The Impact and Application of Virtual Museums from the Perspective of Immersive Experience: A Case Study of the Digital Dunhuang Museum in China

The Impact and Application of Virtual Museums from the Perspective of Immersive Experience: A Case Study of the Digital Dunhuang Museum in China

Virtual Platform for Museum: A Case Study with Oman Across Ages Museum

Abstract: The Virtual Platform for Oman across Ages Museum (VPOAAM) is a project initiated in 2015 in Manah, Al Dakhiliyah Governorate, aiming to highlight the unique qualities of the Sultanate of Oman and its features, ancient history, and Renaissance. The project, designed in the shape of mountains, was initiated by His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq the Great. The project is situated on a 300,000 square meter land area with a building area of 66,591 square meters, designed in the shape of mountains. The late Sultan Qaboos bin Said laid the foundation stone for the project, which inspires architectural innovation and showcases the Sultanate of Oman's qualitative transition from its historical splendors to its bright present. Visitors can explore the museum's art and historical collection online, with interactive virtual tours allowing them to interact and learn about art pieces and exhibits. The museum also contains a wide range of multimedia, including images, videos, written texts, and audio information, allowing visitors to interact with antiques and artistic exhibits. These are a glance of the museum we taken as case study to develop the platform with the approval and kind support from the competent authority of the museum. After successful completion of the research project; the output will be the same museum in a virtual platform. This research conducted with a number of items among thousands of physical items in the museum. And the result shows a significant remark to continue and complete the virtual museum platform for the stated museum.

User-centred collection metadata: from images as information to facilitating socio-affective connections

PurposeAs museums and other memory institutions continue to invest considerably in mass-digitising collections and participating in large search portals, it is essential to understand existing and potential users, their motivations and search needs to inform collections’ documentation. In this article, we discuss insights from a collaborative project with National Museums Scotland, set up to enhance the findability of collection images and inform documentation practices by understanding the collections users and their search terms.Design/methodology/approachThe research involved interviews with National Museums Scotland staff, users and non-users of the Museums’ Search our Collections portal encompassing a concept mapping and card sort activity; online surveys and content analysis of user search queries.FindingsThe project revealed that participants are interested in searching the online collections by terms often not represented in collections metadata, including terms related to identity (their own but also others’) and social context (e.g. through seasonal and social events); emotional and sensory interests (e.g. visual characteristics) and narrative themes (e.g. on under-represented histories).Originality/valueBased on the findings, we further theorise the semantic gap in online museum collection metadata. To bridge this gap and cater to how users search, we argue for a paradigm shift in documentation practices: suggesting practitioners should not only view collection images as information but also tap into their rich potential for enabling social and affective connections.

Virtual Mineralogical Museums and Mineral Websites as Learning Agents: Analysis of How Minerals Are Represented

Virtual mineralogical museums can help visitors construct and enhance their personal scientific mineral models through the information they incorporate. For this to be possible, they must contain a series of key aspects related to minerals’ properties (chemical and physical), use and origin, and the relationships between them. In this study, 38 sites are analyzed, their main characteristics identified, and their educational value assessed, to verify whether all the key aspects considered for the construction of an appropriate and complete mineral model are present. Photographs and mineral files predominate over 3D models and 3D tours. In many of the sites aimed at university students or geoscience experts, there are abundant data about mineral properties, but not in those aimed at a broad public audience. Data about the uses and relationship between uses, extraction, and mineral properties are seldom included. Even if connectivity is very high in all the sites, there are no elements that can be used to test if there has been a knowledge gain after visiting them. The results show that there is still a lot of information missing for this type of resources to be truly helpful for the general population and, specifically, for educational uses.

Tourists' Perceptions of Buying Souvenirs in Online Museum Shops

ABSTRACTThe study of online souvenirs has increased in recent years. Considering the importance of tourists' perceptions for souvenir retailers, and the lack of studies on this issue, it is critical to understand tourists' attitudes toward this phenomenon. In general, interviewees expressed neutral or positive attitudes toward online museum stores. Online souvenir purchases did not influence their offline purchases, according to many interviewees. The majority of them still prefer to buy souvenirs in person, despite their favorable attitude toward online souvenir stores. This study provides insights into online and in‐store merchandising in the area of souvenir studies.

A Study on How to Utilize Museum Learning Resources Using Virtual Technology in Chinese Art Education: Focused on the Verification of the Effect of Virtual Museum Education Programs on Art Cognition and Activity Ability

A Study on How to Utilize Museum Learning Resources Using Virtual Technology in Chinese Art Education: Focused on the Verification of the Effect of Virtual Museum Education Programs on Art Cognition and Activity Ability

Authenticity matters: investigating virtual tours’ impact on curiosity and museum visit intentions

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of virtual museum tours on intentions to visit on-site museums. Furthermore, the role of an authentic virtual tour experience and its drivers is examined.Design/methodology/approachThe results of two studies, a field study in collaboration with one of the most renowned museums in Austria (n = 227) and an online survey (n = 153), were analyzed with a series of mediation models.FindingsVisual appeal and narrative quality were significant drivers of an authentic virtual tour experience. Curiosity mediated the positive effect of virtual tour usage intention on on-site museum visit intention.Originality/valueAlthough virtual reality has been considered a promising marketing tool in tourism, no research has explored the drivers of an authentic virtual tour experience. The findings of this study not only add new insights into the role of a virtual tour’s visual appeal and narrative quality in generating authentic experience and thus prompting virtual tour usage intentions but also demonstrate that virtual tours positively impact on-site visit intentions driven by curiosity.

Archaeometa: leveraging blockchain for secure and scalable virtual museums in the metaverse

The rapid evolution of the digital landscape has catalyzed the integration of blockchain technology within the domain of cultural heritage, particularly in virtual museums within the Metaverse. This study introduces ArchaeoMeta, a novel framework designed to leverage blockchain technology to enhance security, authenticity, and visitor interaction in a virtual museum environment. Utilizing smart contracts deployed on the Ethereum Sepolia testnet, the framework manages visitor interactions and secures digital artifacts, addressing challenges associated with scalability and user experience under varying loads. The performance evaluation involved simulating user interactions, scaling up to ten thousand concurrent users, to assess the impact on transaction latency, gas usage, and blockchain size. Findings reveal significant scalability challenges, as transaction latency and blockchain size increased with the number of users, highlighting areas for optimization in managing high user traffic within the blockchain infrastructure. This study contributes to the understanding of blockchain applications in cultural heritage, suggesting that while ArchaeoMeta offers a robust platform for virtual museums, enhancements in scalability through layer-2 solutions or alternative blockchain platforms are essential for its practical implementation. The framework sets a precedent for future research in the convergence of blockchain technology and cultural heritage preservation, promising a transformative impact on how digital cultural experiences are curated and consumed.

Virtual Reconstruction of a New Model of Cultural Heritage Dissemination

According to China's cultural heritage dissemination strategy, China has always had a small scope of cultural heritage dissemination and low awareness of cultural heritage, and it is believed that cultural heritage dissemination is facing a huge dilemma. Based on the Chinese chair, the researchers study the impact of the evolution of Chinese history and technology on the chair, and propose a new way of cultural heritage dissemination of the chair with virtual reality VR technology as the core, realising virtual reconstruction based on the chair, virtual scene reconstruction, increasing the immersive cultural experience, and improving the efficiency of dissemination. The study finds a new model of virtual watch collection, handheld virtual museum dissemination. Using qualitative research, combined with user experience analysis, the user experience of the developed new mode of communication is evaluated through actual sample surveys, and the results of the evaluation obtained positive feedback on the immersion and presence of this new mode, which confirms that this research chair-based virtual reconstruction, virtual watch collection handheld gaming museums can be a new approach to improve the cultural heritage communication service alternatives.

NETIZENS' PERCEPTION OF MUSEUM PUSAKA NIAS AS A TOURISM DESTINATION ON THE FACEBOOK PLATFORM IN GUNUNGSITOLI

This study examines netizens' perceptions of the Nias Heritage Museum as a tourism destination through analysis of comments on the museum's Facebook platform. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, the research analyzes Facebook posts and comments from 2023-2024 to understand how social media users perceive and engage with the museum online. The study employs sociolinguistic analysis to examine language variation, identity expression, cultural context, and language functions in user comments. Findings indicate generally positive perceptions of the museum, with netizens using both Indonesian and the Nias regional language to express cultural pride and identity. The research reveals that posts with diverse language use and strong cultural context generate higher engagement. Additionally, the study demonstrates the effectiveness of Facebook as a promotional tool for the museum, highlighting the platform's ability to reach a wide audience and foster community interaction. This research contributes to understanding digital communication strategies for cultural heritage sites and offers insights for optimizing social media engagement in cultural tourism contexts.

Research on Museum Brand Communication Strategy Based on AISAS Model

With the continuous development of the economy and the improvement of cultural confidence, the cultural demand and consumption scale represented by museum visits are growing rapidly. This study takes Dentsu's AISAS (Attention-Interest-Search-Action-Share) model as the theoretical analysis framework to analyze museum users' consumption behaviors in the Internet era, to explore museum brand communication strategies adapted to the new era. A total of 209 valid questionnaires were received in this study. The research finds that in the new media era with the popularization of the Internet, the behavior of museum users has changed from one-way passive to active searching and sharing. Based on the brand communication of museums, the author puts forward countermeasures and suggestions: multi-channel communication to enhance audience contact and attention; Enrich the content and methods to enhance the interest of the audience; Enrich the information channels to facilitate the audience to take the initiative to obtain information; The combination of physical and virtual museums enhances the convenience of participation; Enhance brand influence, cultivate audience loyalty and enhance sharing initiative.