## 2 Virtual Reality in Cultural Heritage for the Elderly
### Virtual Reality in Cultural Heritage for the Elderly  
Currently, most digital heritage ICT applications are designed with the average young, healthy person in mind [33; 34]. However, cultural institutions are increasingly aiming to include older adults, including those with mild cognitive impairment. While initiatives like the Museum of Cycladic Art's (Greece) VR-guided tours for nursing homes are promising, adapting existing VR applications for the elderly presents unique challenges. Older adults often have a deep personal connection to cultural heritage and can enrich the experience by sharing their own stories and memories related to historical sites and monuments. It is crucial to provide opportunities for them to participate in discussions and interpretations, as well as to design virtual experiences that evoke emotional and sensory responses [35; 36].  
Recent research focused on the therapeutic aspects of combining VR and cultural heritage for the elderly who feel lonely, showing that it could become a powerful tool to increase the wellbeing of this age group [37].  
VR is also used to increase social interactions, and people can interact with others in a network in the virtual world [38; 39]. However, to reach real networked virtual reality solutions, a few challenges need to be addressed, like the capacity of broadband networks, wireless operation, ultra-low latency, client/network access, system deployment, edge computing/cache, and end-to-end reliability [40; 41]. In addition, when multiple users are involved and they need to have real-time experiences, more challenges regarding network performance arise [42]. Apart from the technical limitations, networked VR also allows for more than one user to interact with the system, raising issues of sociality. The opportunities for social interaction and the dynamics of social interactions within such systems are important elements of networked VR [43]. Depending on the conditions, users can have low-end, inexpensive devices, like Google Cardboards, or high-end expensive ones, like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift [42].  
Regarding cultural heritage, networked virtual reality is a relatively underexplored field. Very few works focus on the intersection of cultural heritage and networked virtual experiences. Among the few is the work of [PERSON] et al. [44], focusing on the design and implementation of network VR experiences for the Gyeongju VR Theater. The VR Theater was designed and built to serve as a flexible public platform showcasing VR technology as a novel medium for interactive storytelling. It aimed to present diverse artistic expressions and virtual heritage to the public. To realize this, NAVER employed a distributed micro-kernel architecture, which allowed for the integration of 3D virtual spaces with various interfaces and applications.  
As far as older individuals are concerned, virtual reality has been studied for its potential to be used in medical and/or entertainment services. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [45] gathered qualitative and quantitative data from 114 elderly people on their experiences after using a social VR application. The results indicated that the elderly participants perceived social VR as a means of augmenting their social opportunities through entertainment and interaction. Furthermore, they recognized its potential to address medical needs, including teleconferencing and cognitive decline.  
Regarding older individuals, cultural heritage, and virtual reality, the field seems to be relatively new and research is not vast. Thus, the present work will focus on collecting content requirements for the design of virtual reality to support the cultural experiences of older people. This is performed within the framework of a research project that wishes to create virtual cultural heritage experiences for older people. The project is called Firefly and is briefly presented below.