Three-dimensional (3D) digitization has been intensively applied to cultural heritage (CH) assets during the past two decades. Because of the advancements in 3D tools and technologies, the massive digitization of CH assets is becoming common in museum practices. 3D digitized CH collections can be used with different narration levels through various 3D technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), 3D printing, and digital screen displays. Despite the versatility of 3D digitization projects, they are currently not adequately focused on end-user experience. The massive 3D digitization is still not reaching the fundamental goals of CH valorization, preservation, and promotion. Museums are not solely interested in digitizing their collections to create repositories of replicas, but they are also eager to use these technologies to promote and raise public awareness about the treasures housed in their collections. Therefore, digitization projects should be more directed toward goals such as (i) attracting visitors to the museum to view the physical CH assets and not just to see their virtual replicas online; (ii) preserving the diversity of values that can be attributed to heritage, which does not solely rely on its materials and appearance but also on the integrity of all its components, its intangible qualities, and the narratives attached to it; (iii) assisting specialists of different fields working with CH objects by merging interdisciplinary data on one platform. However, currently, most literature on 3D technologies for CH focus on either the technical aspects or how to enhance the quality to achieve the most realistic aspect. The information stored in massively 3D digitized CH collections is currently disconnected from their usage, both for the specialists (museum professionals, restorers, researchers, and technicians) and the museum visitors. On the one hand, the massive 3D digitization of the cultural heritage assets represents several challenges in process optimization to create high-quality digital models while working in difficult situations. On the other hand, its practical use for CH valorization, and to design narratives and cultural experiences is lacking in most existing practices. The lack of theoretical foundations before developing and implementing any technology can create problems such as misalignment between different researchers and professionals, slowing down the innovation process, and resulting in a less efficient design of an experience. The attempts made in the past in interactive museum visits made it clear that relying only on the intuition of designers for implementing technologies in a museum can be risky. Analytical tools are needed to foster a more systematic and reflective approach to the design, implementation, and deployment of technology in museums. To deal with these challenges, the interdisciplinary research presented in this thesis aims to evaluate the use of digitized museum artifacts in significant contexts of designing cultural experiences and narratives. The results of this research are a step toward creating a comprehensive framework using quantitative and qualitative research approaches to evaluate best practices in the digitization of CH and its applicability to museum education, museum presentation, CH valorization, research, conservation, and restoration. The proposed framework evaluates the design of user experience with different modes of interaction between people and cultural assets by studying the perception of art. It also incorporates guidelines to efficiently perform 3D digitization of CH assets for designing user experience and interaction. In this research different guidelines and evaluation criteria for an enhanced museum experience were theorized by applying empirical mixed methods research. The interdisciplinary methods and techniques employed in this research evaluate experience design for the use of data that are not easily narratable by traditional methods. The proposed theratical framework suggests various aspects of cultural experience through digital interactions with CH assets and provides possible design choices for such aspects. It is intended to be employed by CH professionals, designers, digital application developers, and researchers to support their decision-making about important criteria for the design, development, and implementation of interactive systems. It will also enable designers and museum professionals to create new forms of exhibition, visitors’ engagement, and museum learning. The research explicitly investigates different modes offered by 3D technologies to merge visual content with varying types of information for designing cultural experiences and creating narratives. The framework proposed in this research aims to evaluate the design of cultural experience to enrich and differentiate the museum visits and assist the professionals in their daily practices. It evaluates the effectiveness of employing 3D technologies to connect narratives with digital models for creating better experiences for museum visitors, researchers, and CH professionals. 3D digitization of museum contents, which has recently become a common practice for complete museum collections, provides the possibility to test the theoretical results of this research in real scenarios. By combining the disciplines of 3D digitization and museum experience design, the resulted framework could be applied for the improved uses of digitized CH in a way that is comprehensible and attractive because of its meticulous nature and emotional aspects. Instead of only focusing on the modality of content delivery to the audiences, this research evaluates new forms of communication languages for researchers and CH professionals. Thus, this research is not only an evaluation of technological applications for museum visitors but also provides solutions for the exhibition design, museum curation, and CH research. By employing the technology for museum experience design and interactive narrative creation, the research will enable cultural institutions to connect with their audiences, bring together different audiences, attract new visitors, enhance visitors’ CH experience, and create new insights into the cultural stories.
La digitalizzazione tridimensionale (3D) è stata largamente applicata ai beni del patrimonio culturale negli ultimi due decenni. Grazie ai progressi negli strumenti e nelle tecnologie 3D, la massiccia digitalizzazione delle risorse dei patrimoni culturali sta diventando sempre più comune nelle pratiche museali. I beni digitalizzati in 3D possono essere utilizzati con diversi livelli di narrazione attraverso varie tecnologie 3D quali: realtà aumentata (AR), realtà virtuale (VR), stampa 3D e display digitali. Nonostante sia chiara l'utilità dei progetti di digitalizzazione 3D, questi non sono adeguatamente focalizzati sull’esperienza dell’utente. L’ampio impiego della digitalizzazione 3D non sta ancora raggiungendo gli obiettivi fondamentali della valorizzazione, conservazione e promozione del patrimonio culturale. I musei non sono solo interessati a digitalizzare le loro collezioni per creare archivi di repliche, ma sono anche desiderosi di utilizzare queste tecnologie per promuovere e sensibilizzare il pubblico sui tesori custoditi. I progetti di digitalizzazione dovrebbero perciò essere più finalizzati verso obiettivi quali: (i) attirare i visitatori al museo per apprezzare le risorse del patrimonio culturale fisicamente e non solo per vedere le loro repliche virtuali online; (ii) preservare i molteplici valori che possono essere attribuiti al patrimonio, che non dipendono solo dai materiali e dall'aspetto, ma anche dall'integrità di tutte le sue componenti, dalle sue qualità intangibili, dalle sue qualità immateriali e le narrazioni ad esso collegate; (iii) aiutare gli specialisti che lavorano in vari settori con oggetti del patrimonio culturale attraverso l’integrazione di dati interdisciplinari su un'unica piattaforma. Tuttavia, attualmente, la maggior parte della letteratura sulle tecnologie 3D per il patrimonio culturale si concentra solamente sugli aspetti tecnici o su come migliorare la qualità per ottenere l'aspetto più realistico possibile. Le informazioni archiviate in collezioni ampiamente digitalizzate in 3D sono attualmente disconnesse dal loro utilizzo sia per gli specialisti (professionisti museali, restauratori, ricercatori e tecnici) sia per i visitatori dei musei. Da un lato, la massiccia digitalizzazione 3D dei beni del patrimonio culturale presenta diverse sfide nell'ottimizzazione dei processi di creazione di modelli digitali di alta qualità mentre si lavora in situazioni difficili. Dall’altra, il suo uso pratico per la valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale, per design della narrazione e la fruizione culturale è carente nella maggior parte delle pratiche esistenti. La mancanza di basi teoriche nello sviluppo ed implementazione di qualsiasi tecnologia può creare problemi di disallineamento tra ricercatori e professionisti diversi rallentando il processo di innovazione e rendendo il design di un'esperienza meno efficiente. I tentativi fatti in passato di visite interattive ai musei hanno chiarito che affidarsi solo all'intuizione dei designer per implementare le tecnologie in un museo può essere rischioso. Sono necessari strumenti analitici per promuovere un approccio più sistematico e riflessivo al design, all’ implementazione e alla diffusione della tecnologia nei musei. Per affrontare queste sfide, la ricerca interdisciplinare presentata in questa tesi mira a valutare l’utilizzo di manufatti museali digitalizzati nei contesti significativi per il design della narrazione e la fruizione culturale. I risultati di questa ricerca sono un passo in avanti verso la creazione di un sistema onnicomprensivo, basato su approcci di ricerca quantitativi e qualitativi, per valutare le migliori pratiche nella digitalizzazione del patrimonio culturale e la loro applicazione all'educazione, valorizzazione, presentazione museale, alla ricerca, alla conservazione ed al restauro. Il framework proposto valuta il design dell’ esperienza utente attraverso diverse modalità di interazione tra persone e i beni culturali con lo studio della percezione dell'arte. Incorpora, inoltre, delle linee guida per eseguire in modo efficiente la digitalizzazione 3D delle risorse patrimoniali per il design dell’ esperienza ed interazione degli utenti. In questa ricerca sono state elaborate diverse linee guida e criteri di valutazione per una migliore esperienza museale, applicando la ricerca empirica con metodi misti. I metodi e le tecniche interdisciplinari impiegati in questa ricerca valutano il design dell'esperienza per l'utilizzo di dati non facilmente comunicabili con i metodi tradizionali. Il quadro proposto suggerisce vari aspetti della fruizione culturale attraverso le interazioni digitali con le risorse dei beni culturali e fornisce possibili scelte di design per tali aspetti. Il framework presentato in questa ricerca è concepita per essere impiegato da professionisti, designer, sviluppatori di applicazioni digitali e ricercatori per supportare il loro processo decisionale su criteri chiave per il design, lo sviluppo e l'implementazione di sistemi interattivi. Consentirà inoltre a designer e professionisti museali di creare nuove forme di esibizione, modalità di coinvolgimento dei visitatori ed apprendimento museale. La ricerca indaga espressamente le diverse modalità offerte dalle tecnologie 3D per unire i contenuti visivi con diversi tipi di informazioni per il design della narrazione e la fruizione culturale. Il framework teorico proposto in questa ricerca mira a valutare modalità innovative di fruizione culturale per arricchire e differenziare le visite museali ed assistere i professionisti nelle loro attività quotidiane. Fornirà a progettisti, sviluppatori e professionisti, gli strumenti per guidare la progettazione di esperienze 3D interattive, sfruttando le potenzialità offerte dalle tecnologie 3D. Valuta l'efficacia dell'impiego di tecnologie 3D per collegare le narrazioni con i modelli digitali e creare esperienze migliori per i visitatori del museo, i ricercatori e i professionisti del patrimonio culturale. La digitalizzazione 3D dei contenuti museali, divenuta recentemente una pratica comune per le collezioni museali complete, offre la possibilità di testare i risultati teorici di questa ricerca in scenari reali. Combinando le discipline della digitalizzazione 3D e design dell'esperienza museale, il framework che ne risulta potrebbe essere applicato per usi migliorati dei patrimoni digitalizzati in modo comprensibile e attraente grazie alla sua natura meticolosa e gli aspetti emotivi. Invece di concentrarsi solo sulla modalità di come i contenuti vengano rilasciati al pubblico, questa ricerca valuta nuove forme di linguaggi di comunicazione per ricercatori e professionisti. Pertanto, questa ricerca non è solo una valutazione delle applicazioni tecnologiche per i visitatori dei musei, ma fornisce anche soluzioni per l'allestimento delle mostre, la cura museale e la ricerca sui beni culturali. Impiegando la tecnologia per il design dell'esperienza museale e la creazione di narrative interattive, la ricerca consentirà alle istituzioni culturali di connettersi con il proprio pubblico, riunire pubblici diversi, attrarre nuovi visitatori, migliorare l'esperienza dei visitatori e stimolare nuove intuizioni nelle narrative culturali.
Enhanced cultural experience based on smart use of 3D digitized cultural heritage artifacts
Malik, Umair Shafqat
2021/2022
Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) digitization has been intensively applied to cultural heritage (CH) assets during the past two decades. Because of the advancements in 3D tools and technologies, the massive digitization of CH assets is becoming common in museum practices. 3D digitized CH collections can be used with different narration levels through various 3D technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), 3D printing, and digital screen displays. Despite the versatility of 3D digitization projects, they are currently not adequately focused on end-user experience. The massive 3D digitization is still not reaching the fundamental goals of CH valorization, preservation, and promotion. Museums are not solely interested in digitizing their collections to create repositories of replicas, but they are also eager to use these technologies to promote and raise public awareness about the treasures housed in their collections. Therefore, digitization projects should be more directed toward goals such as (i) attracting visitors to the museum to view the physical CH assets and not just to see their virtual replicas online; (ii) preserving the diversity of values that can be attributed to heritage, which does not solely rely on its materials and appearance but also on the integrity of all its components, its intangible qualities, and the narratives attached to it; (iii) assisting specialists of different fields working with CH objects by merging interdisciplinary data on one platform. However, currently, most literature on 3D technologies for CH focus on either the technical aspects or how to enhance the quality to achieve the most realistic aspect. The information stored in massively 3D digitized CH collections is currently disconnected from their usage, both for the specialists (museum professionals, restorers, researchers, and technicians) and the museum visitors. On the one hand, the massive 3D digitization of the cultural heritage assets represents several challenges in process optimization to create high-quality digital models while working in difficult situations. On the other hand, its practical use for CH valorization, and to design narratives and cultural experiences is lacking in most existing practices. The lack of theoretical foundations before developing and implementing any technology can create problems such as misalignment between different researchers and professionals, slowing down the innovation process, and resulting in a less efficient design of an experience. The attempts made in the past in interactive museum visits made it clear that relying only on the intuition of designers for implementing technologies in a museum can be risky. Analytical tools are needed to foster a more systematic and reflective approach to the design, implementation, and deployment of technology in museums. To deal with these challenges, the interdisciplinary research presented in this thesis aims to evaluate the use of digitized museum artifacts in significant contexts of designing cultural experiences and narratives. The results of this research are a step toward creating a comprehensive framework using quantitative and qualitative research approaches to evaluate best practices in the digitization of CH and its applicability to museum education, museum presentation, CH valorization, research, conservation, and restoration. The proposed framework evaluates the design of user experience with different modes of interaction between people and cultural assets by studying the perception of art. It also incorporates guidelines to efficiently perform 3D digitization of CH assets for designing user experience and interaction. In this research different guidelines and evaluation criteria for an enhanced museum experience were theorized by applying empirical mixed methods research. The interdisciplinary methods and techniques employed in this research evaluate experience design for the use of data that are not easily narratable by traditional methods. The proposed theratical framework suggests various aspects of cultural experience through digital interactions with CH assets and provides possible design choices for such aspects. It is intended to be employed by CH professionals, designers, digital application developers, and researchers to support their decision-making about important criteria for the design, development, and implementation of interactive systems. It will also enable designers and museum professionals to create new forms of exhibition, visitors’ engagement, and museum learning. The research explicitly investigates different modes offered by 3D technologies to merge visual content with varying types of information for designing cultural experiences and creating narratives. The framework proposed in this research aims to evaluate the design of cultural experience to enrich and differentiate the museum visits and assist the professionals in their daily practices. It evaluates the effectiveness of employing 3D technologies to connect narratives with digital models for creating better experiences for museum visitors, researchers, and CH professionals. 3D digitization of museum contents, which has recently become a common practice for complete museum collections, provides the possibility to test the theoretical results of this research in real scenarios. By combining the disciplines of 3D digitization and museum experience design, the resulted framework could be applied for the improved uses of digitized CH in a way that is comprehensible and attractive because of its meticulous nature and emotional aspects. Instead of only focusing on the modality of content delivery to the audiences, this research evaluates new forms of communication languages for researchers and CH professionals. Thus, this research is not only an evaluation of technological applications for museum visitors but also provides solutions for the exhibition design, museum curation, and CH research. By employing the technology for museum experience design and interactive narrative creation, the research will enable cultural institutions to connect with their audiences, bring together different audiences, attract new visitors, enhance visitors’ CH experience, and create new insights into the cultural stories.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/188715