Vignettes of Computer-based Museum Interactive and Games Software through the Years (original) (raw)
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2017
The use of gaming to provide additional value to cultural experiences, like museums visits, is not novel. The increased possibilities to access the game market opened by online platforms make the communicative and emotional characteristics of digital games an opportunity for promotion. In this paper, we discuss the theoretical foundations of an approach aimed at producing digital games meant to be part of a continuing emotional experience. We draw from psychological and museological research to motivate our view on the relationships between game designers and museum experts. By concentrating on archaeological and art museums, we advocate for the need of a methodological approach to the design of games for museums aimed at promoting the value of cultural experience as it is, thus countering the plethora of technological instalments that often risk averting the attention from the collection.
Mobile games in Museums: from learning through game play to learning through game design
Yiannoutsou, N., Avouris, N., (2012). Mobile games in Museums: from learning through game play to learning through game design, ICOM Education, vol. 23, pp 79- 86 (available in http://ceca.icom.museum/node/203), 2012
This paper investigates aspects of learning in museums through mobile games, i.e games that are played usually by groups of players, using mobile devices that allow interaction with the space and the exhibits and physical mobility of the players. It is argued that playing these games (which usually follow the pattern of scavenger hunt or role playing narratives), results in visitor engagement, motivation and knowledge about museum exhibits. Despite of these positive aspects, it has been observed that learning remains at the level of transfer of factual information about the exhibits. It is argued that in order to enrich the learning experience of game play we need to also involve the visitors in the process of designing mobile games for the museum.
Integrating an Educational Game in a Museum Exhibition – Challenges and Limitations
Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Games Based Learning, 2010
In contrast to developing educational games e.g. for schools, the development of games for museums has to meet even more limitations and specific requirements. These limitations concern the character of the game, its content, its location in the exhibition, its design and interface. In our paper, we present and discuss our experiences and drawbacks in developing an educational computer-based game for the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, a game dealing with the Hanseatic League and the old Hanseatic cog. This game was developed by Digital Media master students of the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven in close cooperation with the responsible museum expert. Demanding a certain amount of the visitors' time and attention, a game risks competing with the exhibition rather than being part of it. Due to this context, the game design has to consider specific requirements and restrictions, concerning not only the game content that has to be (of course) true and serious but also the limited time available for playing, the flow and number of people as well as restrictions on size, sound and its location in the exhibition. Furthermore, a terminal game-in contrast to an exhibition guide-needs to be flexible enough to provide additional value for visitors at different phases of their museum visit: It needs both to engage visitors in applying knowledge acquired in the exhibition as well as to stimulate them exploring the environment more carefully after playing. Trying to master these challenges the game in this project was created in several development cycles, where game prototypes were reviewed by museum experts, tested by school children and optimized according to the evaluation results.
Comparative study of interactive systems in a Museum
Proceedings of the …, 2010
Museums research new ways to offer positive experience to the visitors and encourage them to return, using modern communication and learning tools. To the effect, technologically advanced interactive ICT systems, are placed in modern-day museums. In this paper we describe and compare six different types of museum exhibits, one traditional and five interactive ICT exhibits. The five interactive ICT systems offer different types and level of digital information, different interaction constraints and different types of activities. The exhibits, which are located in the Leventis Municipal Museum in Nicosia, are the following: a traditional map learning activity, a virtual tour projection, a multi-touch table application and three different augmented reality applications. We evaluated the experience of young users with the exhibits and conclude that the experience scores top marks for the interactive ICT systems.
The Museum of Gamers: Unmediated Cultural Heritage Through Gaming
Cultural Heritage in a Changing World
In the 1990s when Nicholas Negroponte published his infamous com-parison between bits and atoms for Wired magazine, it was no longer strange to talk about a new concept for galleries, libraries, archieves and museums (GLAMs). Pointing to a new future for libraries, Negro-ponte was already aware that being digital had its own reality, which was to create ambiguity in relation to the value of physicality or pure materiality, a reality that the world had been accustomed to since the Industrial Age. The Museum of Gamers, as a conceptual proposal we argue for here, sits at the convergence of these contrasting realities. On the one hand, there is a cultural artefact that has a concrete value at-tached to its authenticity. On the other, its digital interpretation has its own systems of values about being. And the visitor cares about a GLAM’s auxillary services as much as the objects. As information is now available everywhere, people expect a new normal from muse-ums besides mere objects and explanatory texts next to them. As the emblematic medium of contemporary societies games offer engage-ment methods. Recent marketing strategies such as loyalty games and gamification prove that use of technology is moving ever closer to video games and game-design methods. The Museum of Gamers is a creation not only for the dissemination of cultural heritage information but also for its production through contemporary media technologies.
Interactive Technologies in Museums
Handbook of Research on Technological Developments for Cultural Heritage and eTourism Applications, 2018
With the constant development of digital means of entertainment – that are easily made available to people and, in most cases, can be used anywhere – nowadays, a visit to a museum have to surround publics with unexpected and interactive experiences, in order to capture their attention and make them want to go to these places, in addition to continue to communicate their collections and promote society education. In this regard, it was discussed in this chapter the actual panorama of interactive technologies used in museums exhibitions worldwide, and there are discussed how these institutions are designing digital installations and utilizing virtual media to enhance the visitors' experience, promoting positive relations between them and their publics. The main conclusion and reflection of the chapter is based on how this new era of technology is allowing increasing physical, cognitive and sensory accessibility, and transforms this kind of experience for disabled publics.
Journal of US-China Public Administration, 2017
The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the state of the art of gaming applications in museums in order to reach audience development and community engagement. After analysing the main challenges concerning the innovation of the museum sector, this review tries to build a theoretical framework linking changes in audiences, museum role, and strategies for visitor involvement to support cultural institutions in achieving their mission and maximizing value creation. The research methodology employs a qualitative exploratory multi-case study. The key concept that emerges from the study, is that the museum is comparing with a variety of audiences in constant evolution, with respect to which is necessary to identify correct and appropriate arrangements for dialogue, declining languages, and tools of mediation in keeping with museum dissemination objectives. Moreover, a museum, to be able to communicate in an appropriate way, must first know how to listen to all its visitors, even (or especially) those of a younger age, often not attracted by history and art but generally gamers who, if appropriately involved, could ultimately represent its visitors of the future. The study aims to be a tool for reflection for cultural institutions which want to revitalize their offering system.
'More like an arcade' -The limitations of playable games in museum exhibitions
Museum & Society,, 2019
This study investigates the relationship between playable, interactive games on original hardware and the representation of game culture using the case of the exhibition GameOn 2.0, often considered to be the largest exhibition of digital games in the West so far. Qualitative interviews with museum staff were used in order to elicit their perspective on the relationship between playability and contextualization. Our results suggest that play as a way of engaging with games as museum objects has limitations which make it necessary to add other means of contextualization in order to afford critical engagement with digital games as cultural heritage. Play excludes visitors who lack necessary gaming skills as well as many genres of games which need longer or different kinds of interaction than a museum can allow for in the context of an exhibition. Moreover, we show that not all games can be exhibited in the same way and that we need to adapt exhibition strategies to individual games and their properties and contexts.