Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Τεχνολογίες Πληροφορικής και ΕπικοινωνιώνΠληροφορική
Author:
Karafotias Georgios
Supervisors info:
Μαρία Ρούσσου, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Πληροφορικής και Τηλεπικοινωνιών, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Design and Development of the Virtual Museum of Informatics and Telecommunications as an Immersive Virtual Living Lab
Translated title:
Design and Development of the Virtual Museum of Informatics and Telecommunications as an Immersive Virtual Living Lab
Summary:
The Museum of Informatics and Telecommunications (MI&T), founded in the fall of 2019, is the most recent addition to the cohort of museums of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. A team of museologists and architects have created plans for renovating and remodeling the Museum’s current space. The plans are based on museological concepts aiming to mold it into a permanent exhibition area with the purpose of showcasing the history of informatics and telecommunications along with the concept of ‘computational thinking’ to the public, and at the same time acting as a ‘living lab’ for scientific research in multiple disciplines and at various (high school, pre- or post-graduate) levels.
This thesis presents the design and development of an immersive interactive virtual version of the MI&T, based on the notion of virtually reconstructing the physical Museum space as it is envisioned to become in the future. The virtual MI&T aspires to evolve as a tool that complements and augments the museum visit by adding a high level of immersion as well as a variety of interactions that would not be possible in the real world, thus leveraging the core attributes of Virtual Reality (VR) technology. To construct the virtual MI&T, an accurate 3D model of the new Museum was created based on the architectural designs. Then, multiple interactions were added to enhance the virtual experience through gamified processes and activities related to informatics and telecommunications. Moreover, to support the physical Museum’s role as a ‘living lab’, its virtual rendition is designed in a modular way that allows the development of supplemental scenes that may serve as experiments or research projects. Three such scenes have been constructed to demonstrate the level of immersion, or ‘presence’, that the virtual environment is able to evoke. They are described in detail in this thesis as examples for future developers that may want to create immersive, interactive, multisensory experiences.
The virtual MI&T was evaluated in an exploratory study with 16 participants from different age groups and backgrounds. Each participant experienced the virtual environment using a mid-tier portable VR headset, the Oculus Quest 2, and then discussed their experience in a semi-structured interview conducted by the researcher. The findings revealed the engagement and educational potential of the virtual museum and its supporting environments (mini-games). However, they also highlighted the areas for improvement, primarily in terms of usability as well as in the enhancement of interactivity and interaction affordances. The ‘open shell’ approach adopted in the design and implementation of the virtual MI&T allows for future designers and developers to follow-up on these improvements and evolve the virtual museum into a dynamic experimental lab that will complement the real Museum.
Main subject category:
Technology - Computer science
Keywords:
virtual museum, cultural technology, immersion, interactivity, human-computer interaction, modular design, VR game, machine learning
