Search Results (50)

This study investigates the integration of digital technologies in leading European museums to enhance heritage interpretation, increase visitor engagement, and contribute to sustainable tourism. As museums increasingly adapt to the digital age, they seek innovative solutions to enrich the visitor experience while promoting sustainability. This research uses a content analysis approach to examine the strategies employed by four prominent museums—the Louvre, the British Museum, the Prado Museum, and the Rijksmuseum. Key digital initiatives, including virtual tours, educational apps, and online collections, are identified as central components of their efforts to improve accessibility, facilitate interactive learning, and attract a wider global audience. Our findings highlight that these digital innovations not only provide visitors with more engaging and informative experiences but also align with sustainability objectives such as reducing carbon footprints and supporting cultural preservation. This study concludes that by leveraging smart technologies, museums are evolving into dynamic, globally connected institutions that strike a balance between conservation and visitor engagement, thereby fostering a more sustainable and inclusive approach to heritage tourism. Full article

In the digital era, user-generated online reviews serve as a valuable resource for understanding visitor experiences in cultural institutions. This study analyses sentiments and thematic trends in TripAdvisor reviews of mountain museums, using Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modelling and sentiment analysis. A dataset of 2157 reviews from ten museums was classified into local and non-local perspectives, revealing significant differences in visitor expectations. Findings indicate that local visitors prioritize historical authenticity and educational value, whereas non-local visitors emphasize aesthetic appeal, interactivity, and cultural immersion. Sentiment analysis highlights generally positive perceptions, with business travellers and groups of friends reporting the highest satisfaction levels. Comparative analysis across visitor types reveals distinct engagement patterns, with families valuing child-friendly exhibits, couples seeking cultural enrichment, and solo travellers focusing on intellectual depth. These insights inform strategic recommendations for museum management, including multilingual content, interactive elements, and guided tours dedicated to specific visitor profiles. Despite limitations related to lack of real-time feedback, this research demonstrates the potential of sentiment analysis in enhancing museum experiences. Future studies should integrate multimodal analysis and real-time tracking to further refine visitor experience evaluation. Full article

The research contributes to developing and implementing four tourist hubs in Salamanca, León, and Zamora (Spain) territories and the District of Guarda (Portugal). These hubs will act as innovation pivots promoting innovative, sustainable, and inclusive rural tourism and creating specific territorial ecosystems in each region. The main objective is to boost new economic activities and generate employment, especially for priority groups, through smart specialisation and strengthening local economies. The research also focuses on strengthening tourism value chains, making them more competitive and resilient, emphasising accessibility and inclusion. Within a focus group methodology, a SOAR analysis was undertaken. Three stakeholder groups from Portugal and Spain participated in this study: consumers, distributors/marketing professionals (tour operators, tourist offices), and producers (hotels, restaurants, and museums). They participated in collaborative activities within the SOAR framework to understand the needs of tourists, especially those with reduced mobility, and to identify barriers and opportunities for innovation in the sector. The results offer a framework for tourism providers to develop Accessible and Inclusive Rural Tourism Ecosystems by enhancing understanding and improving accessibility for groups with specific needs. It outlines actionable methods for creating inclusive tourism hubs as “innovation pivots,” establishing performance metrics, and fostering stakeholder collaboration to guide evidence-based policies. Full article

Museum education involves using a museum’s resources and collections to facilitate learning for diverse audiences. It includes activities like tours, workshops, and interactive exhibits that promote active, inquiry-based learning. Focused on accessibility and inclusivity, museum education aims to engage visitors, enhance their understanding, and foster a deeper appreciation for cultural, historical, or scientific content to foster active citizenship and lifelong learning in a non-formal learning context. Museum education uses collections and exhibits to engage audiences through hands-on, inquiry-based learning. By integrating digital tools and interactive technologies, it enhances learning through immersive and distance-based experiences. This approach promotes active engagement, critical thinking, and meaning-making, transforming traditional teaching methods. Museums serve as inclusive spaces where knowledge—embodied in artifacts and digital mediators—supports cognitive, emotional, and social development, fostering deeper connections with culture and history. Full article

Virtual Reality (VR) technology has revolutionized the preservation and interpretation of heritage sites. This study focuses on developing an immersive 360-degree virtual tour (VT) for the USS Drum Submarine Museum in Mobile, Alabama, USA, incorporating oral histories to enhance the accessibility and visitor experiences. The project addresses the need for innovative methods to present maritime history effectively. Using Matterport technology, detailed 3D imagery of the USS Drum was captured and processed, integrating multimedia elements and oral histories from a veteran USS Drum crew member to provide a richer historical narrative. A user experience study gathered feedback from virtual visitors, who offered quantitative and qualitative responses. The research findings indicate that the VT significantly enhances visitor engagement and historical understanding, with high satisfaction rates for visual quality and oral histories, though some users experienced technical challenges and difficulties. This study demonstrates the potential of combining immersive VTs with oral histories to create engaging educational experiences, preserving the USS Drum’s legacy and making it accessible to a broader audience, including those unable to visit in person. Furthermore, this project sets a precedent for museums to leverage digital tools in preserving and promoting maritime heritage and oral histories. Full article

Virtual mineralogical museums can help visitors construct and enhance their personal scientific mineral models through the information they incorporate. For this to be possible, they must contain a series of key aspects related to minerals’ properties (chemical and physical), use and origin, and the relationships between them. In this study, 38 sites are analyzed, their main characteristics identified, and their educational value assessed, to verify whether all the key aspects considered for the construction of an appropriate and complete mineral model are present. Photographs and mineral files predominate over 3D models and 3D tours. In many of the sites aimed at university students or geoscience experts, there are abundant data about mineral properties, but not in those aimed at a broad public audience. Data about the uses and relationship between uses, extraction, and mineral properties are seldom included. Even if connectivity is very high in all the sites, there are no elements that can be used to test if there has been a knowledge gain after visiting them. The results show that there is still a lot of information missing for this type of resources to be truly helpful for the general population and, specifically, for educational uses. Full article

The Metaverse and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies have combined to fundamentally change the nature of digital sociability. Our understanding of social interaction needs to be reevaluated as the Metaverse’s influence spreads into more areas of daily life, such as AI-driven gaming, interactive training companions, museum exhibits, personalized fitness coaching, virtual mental health assistance, language translation services, virtual tour guiding, and virtual conferencing. This study analyzes how NLP is changing social relationships in these Metaverse applications. We examine how NLP algorithms influence societal norms, individual behaviors, interpersonal connections, and improve the user experience using a multi-method approach incorporating user surveys and sentiment analysis. Our study’s findings show how NLP can enhance interactive experiences while also pointing out related issues like potential bias and moral problems. Our study provides a foundational analysis, shedding light on the challenges of negotiating a social environment in the Metaverse that is molded by cutting-edge NLP. It offers stakeholders in academia and public policy essential assistance that helps them understand and manage the complex ramifications of this changing socio-technological paradigm. Full article

The project, developed by a team of Una Quantum, consists of the digital renovation of the Archaeological Civic Museum of the Municipality of Collelongo (AQ) through the realisation of its website. The action plan aimed to highlight the essential role of open software and open workflow in the field of cultural heritage research and management, focusing on the use of programmes for 3D reconstruction, the creation of virtual tours and GIS (geographical information system) and WebGIS software (LeafletJS V.1.7.1). The website is structured using a modern and dynamic user-friendly interface which is subdivided into three main sections: the virtual tour, the online catalogue and web maps. Full article

This study presents the background and the evaluation of integrating eXtended Reality (XR) in the permanent exhibition at the Tomato Industrial Museum “D. Nomikos”. This paper firstly provides the context of this study by outlining the methodological, technological, and museological approaches undertaken to integrate XR in a quest to enhance visitors’ meaningful engagement with the industrial heritage-related exhibition. Storytelling and narration are key elements of the museum’s museological design through audio tours and interactive AR-based visualization n of the machinery’s role and function. This paper presents and discusses the design of the evaluation methodology employed in the context of pertinent methods and approaches used in related research. This study investigates the effectiveness of XR for audience engagement and the added value that such technologies offer to the user experience as well as possible improvements. The main method adopted for gathering quantitative data is the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ), and for qualitative data, through semi-structured interviews. Moreover, the findings are analyzed, interpreted, and discussed. Based on a case study, this paper offers a broader discussion of the challenges and prospects connected to the quest of employing emerging technologies and assessing their impact on visitors’ museum experience, reaching conclusions for future directions in the field. Full article

In recent years, the teaching and learning of history have been transformed by the incorporation of active methodologies and digital tools. Virtual reality (VR) is one such tool that is being increasingly used in classrooms. It allows students to visit and experience spaces from other historical periods, even those that have been lost. However, due to its relatively slow adoption in formal educational settings, there is still a paucity of scientific references where this type of experience has been empirically tested to prove its potential benefits. Further research on this issue is therefore needed. This study presents a comparative analysis of the didactic use of historical heritage from the Roman period using two different methodological strategies: an educational visit to a museum and a virtual tour via electronic devices. The main objective is to compare the effectiveness of these two methods in terms of usability, learning outcomes, and emotional responses. The study was conducted with 51 primary school teachers in training. Data were collected using two ad hoc questionnaires, which were based on a previous one. A hybrid analysis methodology was adopted, with SPSS used for interpreting the quantitative data and Atlas Ti for the qualitative information. The results indicate that the two methodologies were perceived by future teachers as valuable resources for learning and teaching history. The emotions they evoked were primarily curiosity, joy, and motivation, with only minor occurrences of frustration, nervousness, or fear. The experience gained from this first application will make it possible to extend the study to other educational levels, to enrich the conclusions obtained and to evaluate the potential scope of using this combination of methods to develop historical competences and improve heritage education. Full article

The aim of this paper is to assess the accessibility of flagship cultural attractions—that is, museums located in Krakow, a city with a rich historical heritage included in the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List and distinguished by being a recipient of the Access City Award—for people with disabilities. This research shows the degree to which these museums have been adapted to receive visitors with disabilities. Assessments were also conducted with regard to access to the museums’ websites and the possibility for virtual tours of their collections. Out of a total of 50 museums, 31 were selected for this study, both leading museums in terms of attendance, such as Wawel Royal Castle, the National Museum, the Museum of Krakow, and the Wieliczka Salt Mine, and smaller ones such as the Aviation Museum. The research results indicate that Krakow museums are well-prepared for receiving people with physical disabilities and seniors but are less well adapted to receiving visually impaired and blind people and hearing-impaired and deaf people. Analysis of the museums’ websites showed that they are well-prepared in terms of compatibility and comprehensibility but that they received worse assessment scores with regard to their perceivability and functionality. Visitors to the museums are principally adults, adolescents, and seniors. People with disabilities make up 10% of all visitors. Full article

To promote the acceptance of robots in society, it is crucial to design systems exhibiting adaptive behavior. This is particularly needed in various social domains (e.g., cultural heritage, healthcare, education). Despite significant advancements in adaptability within Human-Robot Interaction and Social Robotics, research in these fields has overlooked the essential task of analyzing the robot’s cognitive processes and their implications for intelligent interaction (e.g., adaptive behavior, personalization). This study investigates human users’ satisfaction when interacting with a robot whose decision-making process is guided by a computational cognitive model integrating the principles of adjustable social autonomy. We designed a within-subjects experimental study in the domain of Cultural Heritage, where users (e.g., museum visitors) interacted with the humanoid robot Nao. The robot’s task was to provide the user with a museum exhibition to visit. The robot adopted the delegated task by exerting some degree of discretion, which required different levels of autonomy in the task adoption, relying on its capability to have a theory of mind. The results indicated that as the robot’s level of autonomy in task adoption increased, user satisfaction with the robot decreased, whereas their satisfaction with the tour itself improved. Results highlight the potential of adjustable social autonomy as a paradigm for developing autonomous adaptive social robots that can improve user experiences in multiple HRI real domains. Full article

The emergence of new technologies has dynamized the way in which cultural heritage is documented, preserved, and passed on to new generations; something that determines a paradigm shift in terms of research in this field. Most operations now also have access to the virtual component. In this context, the current study aimed to make accessible through virtual and augmented reality one of the most interesting objectives belonging to the Jewish cultural heritage built in Art Nouveau style in the municipality of Oradea (Romania), which currently functions as a La Belle Epoque Museum. In the study, the techniques of terrestrial, aerial photogrammetry, and terrestrial laser scanning were used to remodel, in a three-dimensional format, as faithful as possible and usable in different applications, the special architecture of the exterior of the monument. This information was doubled by making the interior of the monument accessible through a complete and complex series of panoramic images interconnected within a virtual tour that will be made available to tourists interested in discovering the Darvas-La Roche House. The virtual tour, which includes both graphic, textual, and audio information, represents an innovative approach for the buildings built in Art Nouveau style in the municipality of Oradea, representing a virtual bridge for better promotion of the tourist destination and for the awareness of the local people regarding the importance of preserving and appreciating the local cultural heritage. This is all the more important as this is the first initiative to make the Art Nouveau buildings in Oradea Municipality accessible to the general public in an innovative way. Full article

For the first time in the literature, this study provides an analysis of the activities of two major architectural–archeological missions that investigated the architectural heritage of the Armenian Highlands: the Russian Ani Archaeological Expedition (1892–1893 and 1904–1917) and the Italian academic programs of the Universities of Rome and Venice and that of Milan Polytechnic (from 1966 to the 1980s). In this article, the results of the conducted research are compared, and their contribution to the development of the history of medieval architecture is evaluated. The differences in the results are related to the chronological distance between the missions, as well as the main focus of each work: the activities of the Russians are primarily archeological, while those of the Italian groups are architectural. The head of the Ani Institute, Nikolay Marr, set himself the task of exhibiting the original artifacts in the museum he had created in the medieval capital of Armenia, Ani, while the Italian professors relied on photography for both permanent and touring exhibitions. The second mission was in unspoken contact with the first, forming a kind of time-stretched dialog. Although, by the 1970s, almost none of the participants in Marr’s expedition remained alive, his scientific works were periodically being published, with some still waiting their turn in the scientific archives. Full article