Immersive Interactive Virtual Reality in the Museum

The use of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technology is a relatively recent trend enjoyed almost exclusively by the academic, military, and industrial research and development communities. However, as VR technologies mature, research is expanding from the military and scientific visualisation realm into more multidisciplinary areas, such as education, art, culture, and the humanities. As representative institutions involved in the research and presentation of these fields, museums, cultural centres, and entertainment venues may be in a better position to make use of advanced virtual reality technologies in order to investigate their educational potential while effectively shaping how they deliver public education and recreation. This paper will discuss the issues involved in using state-of-the-art interactive virtual environments in cultural public spaces by presenting the virtual environments developed for learners of all ages at the Foundation of the Hellenic World (FHW), a cultural heritage institution of informal education located in Athens. Virtual Reality in the Museum The development of new interactive technologies has inevitably impacted the more traditional sciences and arts. This is more evident in the case of novel interactive technologies that fascinate the broad public, as has always been the case with virtual reality. The blending of disciplines and the evolution of techniques has brought forth the need for better modes of communication. Consequently, virtual reality interfaces, interaction techniques, and devices have improved greatly in order to provide more natural and obvious modes of interaction and motivational elements. Nevertheless, the prohibitive costs and inaccessibility of VR technologies, coupled with issues of usability, staff training, operation, and maintenance, present important drawbacks for the use of VR in public spaces, making it difficult to incorporate in dwindling museum or school budgets. In spite of these concerns and objections regarding the appropriateness and educational efficacy of virtual reality, there remain compelling reasons for believing that VR environments for the broad public warrant serious investigation and can provide strong tools for learning. Institutions of informal education, such as museums, research, and cultural centres are in a better position to make use of such advanced systems and investigate their educational potential while effectively shaping how they deliver public entertainment and education. Of particular interest to museums in the use of virtual reality displays and computergenerated interactive experiences is the fact that they can allow visitors to travel through space and time without stepping out of the museum building [5]. The potential to transcend the physical location of the built environment and the growing sense of the educative function of the museum juxtaposed with the commercial pressure has lead museums to consider virtual reality as a necessary component in the arsenal of tools to educate, entertain, and dazzle [8]. When used for cultural heritage purposes, a virtual reality exhibit may give scholars a completely new way of communicating the scientific results of archaeological investigation within the scientific community, improving also the way in which these results are communicated to the public [3]. In addition to the fairly photorealistic representation of places, people, and sites that do not exist, never existed, or may not be easily experienced, there are two basic advantages offered by virtual reality programs: the immersive experience and interactive capabilities that characterize this medium. Immersion is the illusion of being in the projected world, being surrounded by the image and sound in a way, which makes you believe that you are really there. It offers a "better than real life" or "better than being there" experience. Interaction refers to the fact that members of the audience are not merely a viewer of the realistic scenery, but can actively participate in the program and determine what their experience will be. Since the content displayed in VR exhibits is not predetermined or pre-recorded, but generated in "real-time", the audience is able to interact with the programs and define their behavior. If, for example, the program exhibited is the journey through an ancient city, museum visitors can choose the path through the city just as in a real tour. They may also "knock" on doors to enter buildings, or fly up high to view the city from above with the use of simple devices such as a joystick. Although virtual reality suffers immensely from media hyperbole and thus has not lived up to its promises, the development of VR systems is evolving and gaining territory in the museum world for many of the reasons mentioned above.