Abstract

Where immersive museum and digital heritage experiences exist, they are often only available for limited project timespans and they do not generally connect to other similar experiences and artefacts, nor connect to physical museums or heritage locations. This paper presents work in progress toward the design of a prototype virtual interconnected curation space for improving the connectedness of different heritage experiences and engagements with different cultural artefacts and histories. A ’vintage’ Mesopotamian serious game is explored as an exemplar interaction and candidate engagement. Experience and usability evaluations are identified and filtered to create a tractable assessment for participant testing that also aims to estimate heritage engagement.

Abstract

This paper surveys twenty years of published works and implementations of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and 3D repositories relevant to ancient Mesopotamia. Results are sorted according to type, relevance to cuneiform, evaluation, and availability. Of the eleven published works and five applications that satisfied the inclusion criteria, only one involved immersive VR, seven were related to cuneiform, only two were open source and there was little reporting of evaluation. The paper explores the design, development, and evaluation challenges involved in the creation of immersive, educational, and engaging 3D, AR, and VR experiences and looks ahead to future opportunities such as AI-assisted content generation.

Abstract

This paper summarises a programme of research motivated by the challenge of achieving engaging 3D virtual experiences for small heritage artefacts, the sorts of artefacts that mare difficult to display and may be easily overlooked in museum settings. The challenges are i) a lack of easy-to-use, low-cost solutions for acquiring all around, textured 3D models of small form-factor objects and ii) the inherent challenge of achieving engaging and connected virtual experiences for artefacts that are not visibly striking. The paper summarises the research challenges and outlines the research case study - a virtual reality experience for ‘cuneiform tablets’, ancient written records impressed on handheld clay ‘tablets’.

Abstract

This paper accompanies an Interactions Gallery exhibit of interfaces to 3D artefacts at the 2022 BCS Human- Computer Interaction (HCI) Conference. The exhibit introduces cuneiform, humankind’s earliest writing, showing visitors how the cuneiform script evolved over millennia and how web-based 3D viewer interfaces for cuneiform artefacts have evolved much more recently from a progenitor originally demonstrated five years ago at the 2017 BCS HCI Conference Interactions Gallery. Visitors to the exhibit will also see how the 3D viewer interface has been adapted for different purposes and how it continues to evolve in functionality.

Abstract

In this paper we reflect on the interplay and the disconnects between real and virtual heritage experiences, and the fragmented nature of digital experiences. We consider the important engagement potential that virtual interactions bring to small less visible artefacts, like clay cuneiform tablets, and, with case study examples, we imagine museums of the future where engagements unite, blend and reinforce rich heritage experiences.

Abstract

This paper presents an Augmented Reality (AR) project for the curation of virtual museum ‘takeouts’ and DIY exhibitions. The project’s outputs include novel AR app technology demonstrators to support co-design with museum users and stakeholders - the goal being to create useful and easy-to-use AR apps for scholars, citizen scientists and the interested public. The apps were designed for users to create, display, animate and interact with exhibitions of selected 3D artefacts that could, for example, reflect academic specialisms for sharing with fellow researchers, support curators in exhibition planning or enable friends and students to share eclectic favourites from museum visits. The overarching project ambition was to create AR apps to support research, engagement and education, and to enable interactive and personalized visualizations of individual artefacts as well as reconstructed forms. As presented in the paper, these forms are exemplified in the AR apps with 3D models of a cuneiform envelope and its tablet contents, viewable either as i) separate artefacts or ii) in their reconstructed enveloped form, with the AR apps enabling animated opening and ‘X-ray views’ of the contents within. In this way, the apps can enable users to visualize individual objects and reconstructions that could, for example, incorporate artefacts held in different museums.

Abstract

This review surveys the literature relevant to open source VR development. It encompasses both software and hardware requirements and observes the lack of easy to follow guides for creating open source VR applications. The review also encompasses a brief history of VR hardware, relevant literature for VR usage in Education and Digital Heritage, and closes with a review of VR immersion.

My Undergraduate Dissertation

Abstract

In this paper, the creation of a functional prototype system called the Road Hazard Proximity Alert system is discussed. This system allows users to report road hazards using a smartphone app, which communicates with a SQLite database. This means that hazards can be reported to other users that are driving, so they know to avoid the area or be more cautious.