Heritage as a Design Resource for Virtual Reality

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the popularity and development of technologies that enable and enhance the fidelity of highly immersive experiences. Worldwide, 171 million people are active virtual reality (VR) users, 78% of all Americans are familiar with VR technology, and VR is forecasted to be the fastest-growing content segment from 2020 to 2025 [1]. VR technology undergoes rapid improvement across all layers of the human–computer interaction (HCI) stack (hardware, software, interaction design, content, experience creation), each serving a specific purpose in creating a rich and immersive experience.

These technologies, commonly referred to as mixed reality, enable new spatial user interfaces to emerge and refactor how to embody, interact with, and experience digital content. While these new technological tools are splendid and enable the creation of new experiences, they come embedded with certain priorities of their own. Their development is primarily informed by use and needs in the Global North, leading to a dominant culture, established interaction designs, and priority being given to the mainstream characteristics of the technology, which is akin to standardization.

The realm of cultural heritage has seen this development from close by, but when we discuss cultural heritage, we cannot disregard the multimodal splendor that is manifested through this concept, nor the people who seek to make their entry or footprint in digital heritage communication and content creation in contemporary communities. A fear of cultural homogenization of VR system design or a desire for cultural inspiration places cultural heritage at the center of innovation.

This Special Issue will collate research and design projects that actively use cultural heritage as a resource for VR system design, thereby placing culture and heritage as primary inspirations for technology design.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome.

Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Innovative ways to interact with and experience heritage content;
• Co-design of systems with heritage stakeholders (e.g. museums, indigenous groups, etc.);
• Interfaces that are inclusive of the cultural diversity of users;
• VR applications (e.g., games) that reflect the heritage of vulnerable groups;
• Cultural manifestation and provocation of the technology mainstream in system designs;
• Alternative empirical methods aimed at cultural heritage evaluation;
• Innovative visualization and preservation of tangible cultural heritage through the use of VR and 3D reconstruction;
• The representation of heritage content through VR digital twins, with a focus on scene geometry, lighting, and interactions.

Carefully chosen visuals, in the form of design sketches, system documentation of implementation, and examples from user evaluations are encouraged.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

[1] Ivan Stevanovic. 30 Virtual Reality Statistics for 2024. KommandoTech 2024. Available online: https://kommandotech.com/statistics/virtual-reality-statistics/ (accessed on 11 June 2024).

Dr. Kasper Rodil
Dr. Ivan A. Nikolov
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• virtual reality
• cultural heritage
• diversity
• system designs