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Books by Areti Damala

Research paper thumbnail of Special Issue on Advanced Interaction in Cultural Heritage

Advanced Interaction in Cultural Heritage, 2024

Editorial for the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction Special Issue on Advanced I... more Editorial for the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction Special Issue on Advanced Interaction in Cultural Heritage with a critical presentation and overview of the nine works featured in the Special Issue.

Research paper thumbnail of 9 Sustainability and gender equality A co-creation and Communities of Practice approach

Research paper thumbnail of The MUSETECH Model: A comprehensive evaluation framework for museum technology.

Journal of Computing in Cultural Heritage, 2019

Digital technologies are being introduced in museums and other informal learning environments alo... more Digital technologies are being introduced in museums and other informal learning environments alongside more traditional interpretive and communication media. An increasing number of studies has proved the potential of digitally mediated cultural heritage experiences. However, there is still a lot of controversy as to the advantages and disadvantages of introducing the digital into museum settings, primarily related to the risks and investment in terms of time and human and financial resources required. This work introduces the MUSETECH model, a comprehensive framework for evaluating museum technology
before and after its introduction into a museum setting. One of the unique features of our framework is to consider the evaluation of digital technologies from three different perspectives: the cultural heritage professional, cultural heritage institution, and museum visitor. The framework benefited from an extensive review of the current state of the art and from inputs from cultural heritage professionals, designers, and engineers. MUSETECH can be used as a tool for reflection before,
during, and after introducing novel digital media resources. The model covers technologies as diverse as mobile museum guides, Augmented and Virtual Reality applications, hands-on museum interactives, edutainment applications, digitally mediated tangible and embodied experiences, or online approaches used for museum education and learning.

Research paper thumbnail of The MUSETECH Companion: Navigating the Matrix

The “Companion” provides step-by-step guidance to the MUSETECH model, devised as a tool for plann... more The “Companion” provides step-by-step guidance to the MUSETECH model, devised as a tool for planning the evaluation of technologies applied in museums and heritage settings. We use the term “museum technology” to refer to any type of online or onsite interactive, application or installation encountered in museums or other heritage institutions.

The MUSETECH model offers an exhaustive list of 121 Evaluation Criteria that may guide the evaluation of various embodiments of museum technology. Underpinning the model is the belief that planning for successful museum technologies involves three different perspectives. These three perspectives are symbiotic and complementary in planning, deploying and evaluating museum technology. The three different “Perspectives” are the following:
1. The perspective of the Cultural Heritage Professional (CHP)
2. The perspective of the Museum as an Institution (M)
3. The perspective of the Visitor (V)
The model also considers four different phases or constituents in the life-cycle of any museum technology embodiment. We call these “Quartiles”. These are the following:
- The Design Quartile (D)
- The Content Quartile (C)
- The Operation Quartile (Q)
- The Compliance Quartile: (MP)
Each Quartile contains a number of Evaluation Criteria (ECs), thematically grouped in categories, called “Clusters”.

Research paper thumbnail of Cultural Heritage Communities: Technologies and Challenges

Cultural heritage communities of interest have increasingly expanded from cultural heritage profe... more Cultural heritage communities of interest have increasingly expanded from cultural heritage professionals to volunteers, special interest groups and independent citizen-led initiative groups. Digital technology has also increasingly impacted cultural heritage by affording novel experiences of it – it features in a number of activities for all the aforementioned groups, as well as acting as support for visitors to cultural heritage centres.

With different degrees of formality and training, these communities are increasingly defining and taking ownership of what is of value to them, thus reconfiguring the care, communication, interpretation and validation of heritage. Digital technology has played a crucial role in this transformative process.

In a fully international context, cultural heritage practitioners, community champions and academics from different fields of study have contributed to this book. Each chapter brings to the fore the multiple relationships between heritage, communities and technologies as a focus of study and reflection in an inclusive way. Contributions touch upon present and future opportunities for technology, as well as participatory design processes with different stakeholders.

This book brings together ideas from different disciplines, cultures, methods and goals, to inspire scholars and practitioners involved in community heritage projects.

Research paper thumbnail of An introduction to Augmented Reality and Cultural Heritage for curators, art historians and museum educators

La cocina valenciana del Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas. Una relectura a través de la tecnología de Realidad Aumentada, Dec 31, 2013

This contribution aims to provide an Introduction in Augmented Reality (AR) and Cultural Heritage... more This contribution aims to provide an Introduction in Augmented Reality (AR) and Cultural Heritage for museum curators, museum educators, artists and art historians. It can also serve as an introduction for engineers, software and hardware specialists seeking to understand the ways through which AR has so far been applied within Cultural Heritage contexts. The volume was released by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and was made possible through the coordinated efforts of Ana Cabrera Lafuente, Isabel Rodriguez Marco and Cristina Villar Fernandez of the Spanish National Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid (Muceo Nacional de Artes Decorativas).

Research paper thumbnail of Tutorial 1: Adaptive augmented reality (A2R): Where AR meets user's interest

International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality 2012, Nov 5, 2012

Adaptive behavior is one of the main challenges in building computerized systems, especially in t... more Adaptive behavior is one of the main challenges in building computerized systems, especially in the case of systems which are delivering information to the end users. Indeed, since the information overload has become the main drawback for the future development of such systems (cf. Big Data challenge), there is a huge movement in the research community to develop concepts for better adaptation of the form and size of information that will be delivered to a user (usually taking different forms of the personalization).

Papers by Areti Damala

Research paper thumbnail of Sustainability and gender equality

A Community of Practice Approach to Improving Gender Equality in Research, Jul 27, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of A Hands-on Guide To Increasing the Impact of Digital Heritage Projects

Research paper thumbnail of Finding the voice: planning and evaluation of social media in cultural institutions

Cultural institutions have sought to develop social media as a means of engaging with their audie... more Cultural institutions have sought to develop social media as a means of engaging with their audiences. However, there is a lack of guidance about how to effectively evaluate performance. A study was carried out to explore contemporary practices in cultural institutions to better understand the challenges, methods, and strategies. This involved in-depth interviews with social media managers at eight Scottish institutions and a worldwide survey of one hundred organisations. The participants were asked about how they use social media, what their objectives are, and whether use of frameworks, toolkits, and strategies were useful or indeed feasible. Results showed that despite various approaches, many institutions share priorities and challenges. Although some preferred to be flexible, while others more regimented, there is consensus that social media helps deliver on wider institutional goals and strategies. There is also evidence that institutions want to better understand the impact o...

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring the Affective Museum Visiting Experience: Adaptive Augmented Reality (A2R) and Cultural Heritage

International Journal of Heritage in the Digital Era, 2013

Providing engaging interpretation resources for museum and gallery visitors may have a great impa... more Providing engaging interpretation resources for museum and gallery visitors may have a great impact on the overall museum visiting experience all by assisting museums in maintaining long-term relationships with their public. This paper focuses on the ways through which AR can be employed in museum and gallery settings as an interpretation medium. It also introduces a new generation of multimedia guides for the museum visit inspired by the concept of Adaptive Augmented Reality (A2R). Adaptive Augmented Reality (A2R) provides visual and acoustic augmentations that come to supplement the artefact or site viewed by a museum or gallery visitor and monitors the cognitive and affective impact of all interactions of the museum visitor both with the physical and the digital environment. The ultimate goal is to make every museum visit unique, by tailoring an Augmented Reality visit with contents that are susceptible to increase the affective impact of the augmented museum visiting experience ...

Research paper thumbnail of A ubiquitous mobile edutainment application for learning science through play

Museums and the Web 2011, Apr 1, 2011

This paper advances the state of the art in games design of serious pervasive games. We analyze t... more This paper advances the state of the art in games design of serious pervasive games. We analyze the game design of the two serious pervasive games built during the "PLUG, Play Ubiquitous Games and play more" project. We compare their desired objectives to the really completed ones. We then conclude with a section on what serious pervasive game design should be.

Research paper thumbnail of The development of the Gender Equality Audit and Monitoring survey

A Community of Practice Approach to Improving Gender Equality in Research

Research paper thumbnail of A Ubiquitous Mobile Edutainement Application for Learning Science Through Play

Museum and the Web, Apr 1, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of Designing learning activities on computational thinking in public transport environments: some preliminary thoughts

Research paper thumbnail of The Loupe: Tangible Augmented Reality for Learning to Look at Ancient Greek Art

With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types ... more With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types of museums, including history of art and archaeology museums, an ongoing debate has been established: Do these-usually screen-based-museum interactives assist visitors in focusing on museum objects and artefacts? Or do they distract and take away the attention from the real museum objects on display? We present the Loupe, a tangible Augmented Reality prototype in form of a magnifying lens, which allows museum visitors to get information in context about museum artefacts. We detail the design and content creation process that was employed in order to create a thematic tour for the Greek Gallery of Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. An evaluation study with 22 adult participants was carried out, using both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods, so as to explore the utility and usability of the Loupe as well its learning and affective impact. Our findings suggest that the accepta...

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring Contemporary Painting through Spatial Annotations Using RFID Tags

One of the least explored RFID application-domains concerns the areas of entertainment and cultur... more One of the least explored RFID application-domains concerns the areas of entertainment and culture. This paper proposes a mobile application -conceived for and with a contemporary artist- allowing the spatial annotation of paintings and the delivery of multimedia related interpretation material to the concerned public, through the combined use of RFID tags and NFC (Near Field Communication) mobile phones, serving as delivery platforms. The paper reports on the design and implementation of the application as well as on the results of a first, proof-of-concept, evaluation.

Research paper thumbnail of The Loupe: tangible augmented reality for learning to look at Ancient Greek art

Mediterranean Archaeology & Archaeometry, 2016

With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types ... more With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types of museums, including history of art and archaeology museums, an ongoing debate has been established: Do these - usually screen-based - museum interactives assist visitors in focusing on museum objects and artefacts? Or do they distract and take away the attention from the real museum objects on display? We present the Loupe, a tangible Augmented Reality prototype in form of a magnifying lens, which allows museum visitors to get information in context about museum artefacts. We detail the design and content creation process that was employed in order to create a thematic tour for the the Greek Gallery of Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. An evaluation study with 22 adult participants was carried out, using both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methodologies, so as to explore the utility and usability of the Loupe as well its learning and affective impact. Our findings suggest th...

Research paper thumbnail of Augmented Reality Based User Interfaces for Mobile Museum and Exhibition Guides

Research paper thumbnail of Designing learning activities on computational thinking in public transport environments: some preliminary thoughts

Research paper thumbnail of Special Issue on Advanced Interaction in Cultural Heritage

Advanced Interaction in Cultural Heritage, 2024

Editorial for the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction Special Issue on Advanced I... more Editorial for the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction Special Issue on Advanced Interaction in Cultural Heritage with a critical presentation and overview of the nine works featured in the Special Issue.

Research paper thumbnail of 9 Sustainability and gender equality A co-creation and Communities of Practice approach

Research paper thumbnail of The MUSETECH Model: A comprehensive evaluation framework for museum technology.

Journal of Computing in Cultural Heritage, 2019

Digital technologies are being introduced in museums and other informal learning environments alo... more Digital technologies are being introduced in museums and other informal learning environments alongside more traditional interpretive and communication media. An increasing number of studies has proved the potential of digitally mediated cultural heritage experiences. However, there is still a lot of controversy as to the advantages and disadvantages of introducing the digital into museum settings, primarily related to the risks and investment in terms of time and human and financial resources required. This work introduces the MUSETECH model, a comprehensive framework for evaluating museum technology
before and after its introduction into a museum setting. One of the unique features of our framework is to consider the evaluation of digital technologies from three different perspectives: the cultural heritage professional, cultural heritage institution, and museum visitor. The framework benefited from an extensive review of the current state of the art and from inputs from cultural heritage professionals, designers, and engineers. MUSETECH can be used as a tool for reflection before,
during, and after introducing novel digital media resources. The model covers technologies as diverse as mobile museum guides, Augmented and Virtual Reality applications, hands-on museum interactives, edutainment applications, digitally mediated tangible and embodied experiences, or online approaches used for museum education and learning.

Research paper thumbnail of The MUSETECH Companion: Navigating the Matrix

The “Companion” provides step-by-step guidance to the MUSETECH model, devised as a tool for plann... more The “Companion” provides step-by-step guidance to the MUSETECH model, devised as a tool for planning the evaluation of technologies applied in museums and heritage settings. We use the term “museum technology” to refer to any type of online or onsite interactive, application or installation encountered in museums or other heritage institutions.

The MUSETECH model offers an exhaustive list of 121 Evaluation Criteria that may guide the evaluation of various embodiments of museum technology. Underpinning the model is the belief that planning for successful museum technologies involves three different perspectives. These three perspectives are symbiotic and complementary in planning, deploying and evaluating museum technology. The three different “Perspectives” are the following:
1. The perspective of the Cultural Heritage Professional (CHP)
2. The perspective of the Museum as an Institution (M)
3. The perspective of the Visitor (V)
The model also considers four different phases or constituents in the life-cycle of any museum technology embodiment. We call these “Quartiles”. These are the following:
- The Design Quartile (D)
- The Content Quartile (C)
- The Operation Quartile (Q)
- The Compliance Quartile: (MP)
Each Quartile contains a number of Evaluation Criteria (ECs), thematically grouped in categories, called “Clusters”.

Research paper thumbnail of Cultural Heritage Communities: Technologies and Challenges

Cultural heritage communities of interest have increasingly expanded from cultural heritage profe... more Cultural heritage communities of interest have increasingly expanded from cultural heritage professionals to volunteers, special interest groups and independent citizen-led initiative groups. Digital technology has also increasingly impacted cultural heritage by affording novel experiences of it – it features in a number of activities for all the aforementioned groups, as well as acting as support for visitors to cultural heritage centres.

With different degrees of formality and training, these communities are increasingly defining and taking ownership of what is of value to them, thus reconfiguring the care, communication, interpretation and validation of heritage. Digital technology has played a crucial role in this transformative process.

In a fully international context, cultural heritage practitioners, community champions and academics from different fields of study have contributed to this book. Each chapter brings to the fore the multiple relationships between heritage, communities and technologies as a focus of study and reflection in an inclusive way. Contributions touch upon present and future opportunities for technology, as well as participatory design processes with different stakeholders.

This book brings together ideas from different disciplines, cultures, methods and goals, to inspire scholars and practitioners involved in community heritage projects.

Research paper thumbnail of An introduction to Augmented Reality and Cultural Heritage for curators, art historians and museum educators

La cocina valenciana del Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas. Una relectura a través de la tecnología de Realidad Aumentada, Dec 31, 2013

This contribution aims to provide an Introduction in Augmented Reality (AR) and Cultural Heritage... more This contribution aims to provide an Introduction in Augmented Reality (AR) and Cultural Heritage for museum curators, museum educators, artists and art historians. It can also serve as an introduction for engineers, software and hardware specialists seeking to understand the ways through which AR has so far been applied within Cultural Heritage contexts. The volume was released by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and was made possible through the coordinated efforts of Ana Cabrera Lafuente, Isabel Rodriguez Marco and Cristina Villar Fernandez of the Spanish National Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid (Muceo Nacional de Artes Decorativas).

Research paper thumbnail of Tutorial 1: Adaptive augmented reality (A2R): Where AR meets user's interest

International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality 2012, Nov 5, 2012

Adaptive behavior is one of the main challenges in building computerized systems, especially in t... more Adaptive behavior is one of the main challenges in building computerized systems, especially in the case of systems which are delivering information to the end users. Indeed, since the information overload has become the main drawback for the future development of such systems (cf. Big Data challenge), there is a huge movement in the research community to develop concepts for better adaptation of the form and size of information that will be delivered to a user (usually taking different forms of the personalization).

Research paper thumbnail of Sustainability and gender equality

A Community of Practice Approach to Improving Gender Equality in Research, Jul 27, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of A Hands-on Guide To Increasing the Impact of Digital Heritage Projects

Research paper thumbnail of Finding the voice: planning and evaluation of social media in cultural institutions

Cultural institutions have sought to develop social media as a means of engaging with their audie... more Cultural institutions have sought to develop social media as a means of engaging with their audiences. However, there is a lack of guidance about how to effectively evaluate performance. A study was carried out to explore contemporary practices in cultural institutions to better understand the challenges, methods, and strategies. This involved in-depth interviews with social media managers at eight Scottish institutions and a worldwide survey of one hundred organisations. The participants were asked about how they use social media, what their objectives are, and whether use of frameworks, toolkits, and strategies were useful or indeed feasible. Results showed that despite various approaches, many institutions share priorities and challenges. Although some preferred to be flexible, while others more regimented, there is consensus that social media helps deliver on wider institutional goals and strategies. There is also evidence that institutions want to better understand the impact o...

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring the Affective Museum Visiting Experience: Adaptive Augmented Reality (A2R) and Cultural Heritage

International Journal of Heritage in the Digital Era, 2013

Providing engaging interpretation resources for museum and gallery visitors may have a great impa... more Providing engaging interpretation resources for museum and gallery visitors may have a great impact on the overall museum visiting experience all by assisting museums in maintaining long-term relationships with their public. This paper focuses on the ways through which AR can be employed in museum and gallery settings as an interpretation medium. It also introduces a new generation of multimedia guides for the museum visit inspired by the concept of Adaptive Augmented Reality (A2R). Adaptive Augmented Reality (A2R) provides visual and acoustic augmentations that come to supplement the artefact or site viewed by a museum or gallery visitor and monitors the cognitive and affective impact of all interactions of the museum visitor both with the physical and the digital environment. The ultimate goal is to make every museum visit unique, by tailoring an Augmented Reality visit with contents that are susceptible to increase the affective impact of the augmented museum visiting experience ...

Research paper thumbnail of A ubiquitous mobile edutainment application for learning science through play

Museums and the Web 2011, Apr 1, 2011

This paper advances the state of the art in games design of serious pervasive games. We analyze t... more This paper advances the state of the art in games design of serious pervasive games. We analyze the game design of the two serious pervasive games built during the "PLUG, Play Ubiquitous Games and play more" project. We compare their desired objectives to the really completed ones. We then conclude with a section on what serious pervasive game design should be.

Research paper thumbnail of The development of the Gender Equality Audit and Monitoring survey

A Community of Practice Approach to Improving Gender Equality in Research

Research paper thumbnail of A Ubiquitous Mobile Edutainement Application for Learning Science Through Play

Museum and the Web, Apr 1, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of Designing learning activities on computational thinking in public transport environments: some preliminary thoughts

Research paper thumbnail of The Loupe: Tangible Augmented Reality for Learning to Look at Ancient Greek Art

With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types ... more With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types of museums, including history of art and archaeology museums, an ongoing debate has been established: Do these-usually screen-based-museum interactives assist visitors in focusing on museum objects and artefacts? Or do they distract and take away the attention from the real museum objects on display? We present the Loupe, a tangible Augmented Reality prototype in form of a magnifying lens, which allows museum visitors to get information in context about museum artefacts. We detail the design and content creation process that was employed in order to create a thematic tour for the Greek Gallery of Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. An evaluation study with 22 adult participants was carried out, using both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods, so as to explore the utility and usability of the Loupe as well its learning and affective impact. Our findings suggest that the accepta...

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring Contemporary Painting through Spatial Annotations Using RFID Tags

One of the least explored RFID application-domains concerns the areas of entertainment and cultur... more One of the least explored RFID application-domains concerns the areas of entertainment and culture. This paper proposes a mobile application -conceived for and with a contemporary artist- allowing the spatial annotation of paintings and the delivery of multimedia related interpretation material to the concerned public, through the combined use of RFID tags and NFC (Near Field Communication) mobile phones, serving as delivery platforms. The paper reports on the design and implementation of the application as well as on the results of a first, proof-of-concept, evaluation.

Research paper thumbnail of The Loupe: tangible augmented reality for learning to look at Ancient Greek art

Mediterranean Archaeology & Archaeometry, 2016

With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types ... more With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types of museums, including history of art and archaeology museums, an ongoing debate has been established: Do these - usually screen-based - museum interactives assist visitors in focusing on museum objects and artefacts? Or do they distract and take away the attention from the real museum objects on display? We present the Loupe, a tangible Augmented Reality prototype in form of a magnifying lens, which allows museum visitors to get information in context about museum artefacts. We detail the design and content creation process that was employed in order to create a thematic tour for the the Greek Gallery of Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. An evaluation study with 22 adult participants was carried out, using both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methodologies, so as to explore the utility and usability of the Loupe as well its learning and affective impact. Our findings suggest th...

Research paper thumbnail of Augmented Reality Based User Interfaces for Mobile Museum and Exhibition Guides

Research paper thumbnail of Designing learning activities on computational thinking in public transport environments: some preliminary thoughts

Research paper thumbnail of La réalité augmentée adaptative : vers une nouvelle éxperience de visite au musée

Research paper thumbnail of A. Damala, I. Astic, C. Aunis: PLUG, Université Paris Nuit: A Design Reiteration of a Mobile Museum Edutainment Application. In: VAST'10, Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, The 8th EUROGRAPHICS Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage, Short and Project Papers, Paris, France, S...

A. Damala, I. Astic, C. Aunis: PLUG, Université Paris Nuit: A Design Reiteration of a Mobile Museum Edutainment Application. In: VAST'10, Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, The 8th EUROGRAPHICS Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage, Short and Project Papers, Paris, France, S...

Research paper thumbnail of Cultural heritage communities

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Communities and Technologies, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of International Program Committee and Reviewers

2009 Fifth International Joint Conference on INC, IMS and IDC, 2009

Page 1. xi International Program Committee and Reviewers Carlos Andujar Universitat Politècnica d... more Page 1. xi International Program Committee and Reviewers Carlos Andujar Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain Christoph Anthes Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria Dey Arindam University of South Australia, Australia Clemens Arth Graz University of Technology, Austria Mark Ashdown Thales Research and Technology, United Kingdom Ronald Azuma Nokia Research Lab Hollywood, USA Yohan Baillot Simulation3D, USA Istvan Barakonyi Magitech GmbH, Austria Michel Beaudouin University of Paris-Sud, France ...

Research paper thumbnail of ARtSENSE and Manifest.AR: Revisiting Museums in the Public Realm through Emerging Art Practices

A large section of the cultural heritage sector not usually thought of as Cultural Heritage is th... more A large section of the cultural heritage sector not usually thought of as Cultural Heritage is the contemporary and temporary art galleries and spaces. Many such institutions do not have traditional collection mechanisms nor permanent artefacts and exhibitions, but rather a rolling programme constantly in flux. This represents a new challenge in terms of a systemised approach to learning and public engagement strategies, but also offers an opportunity to propose new learning and engagement mechanisms through the prism of its one unique selling point– the artistic creative engagement of artists and art practitioners. This paper examines the potential of Augmented Reality for the museum and gallery visiting experience focusing particularly on the ways through which AR as an emerging technology may inform emerging art practices all by encouraging public participation and engagement with art.

Research paper thumbnail of meSch – Material Encounters with Digital Cultural Heritage

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Adaptive Augmented Reality for Cultural Heritage: ARtSENSE Project

Progress in Cultural Heritage Preservation, 2012

The paper presents the new concept of Adaptive Augmented Reality (A 2 R), employed within the con... more The paper presents the new concept of Adaptive Augmented Reality (A 2 R), employed within the context of the creation of an AR guide for the museum visit, that is being developed in the context of an EU research project. The main objective of the project is to provide a prototype that enables a personalized experience for every individual visitor by adapting to the psychological state of the visitor the content presented through an augmented reality museum guidance system.

Research paper thumbnail of Shaping minds-on and hearts-on digital learning experiences

Visitor Studies: Embracing Change? 2015 Conference of the Visitor Studies Group, March 2015, 2015

Can tangible and embodied interaction encourage a multisensory engagement in Cultural Heritage se... more Can tangible and embodied interaction encourage a multisensory engagement in Cultural Heritage settings? And help us restore an aura of authenticity and materiality in the encounters of museum visitors with digital interpretation media and the real museum objects and artefacts on display?

This contribution focuses on the case study of the EU funded meSch project (material encounters with digital cultural heritage) examining closer the Loupe prototype and a visitor study carried out at Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam.

Research paper thumbnail of THE LOUPE: TANGIBLE AUGMENTED REALITY FOR LEARNING TO LOOK AT ANCIENT GREEK ART

With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types ... more With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types of museums, including history of art and archaeology museums, an ongoing debate has been established: Do these-usually screen-based-museum interactives assist visitors in focusing on museum objects and artefacts? Or do they distract and take away the attention from the real museum objects on display? We present the Loupe, a tangible Augmented Reality prototype in form of a magnifying lens, which allows museum visitors to get information in context about museum artefacts. We detail the design and content creation process that was employed in order to create a thematic tour for the Greek Gallery of Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. An evaluation study with 22 adult participants was carried out, using both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods, so as to explore the utility and usability of the Loupe as well its learning and affective impact. Our findings suggest that the acceptance of the Loupe as a museum interactive and learning resource, was related both with its qualities as a tangible as well as with the structure of the content and the narratives revealed.