# An Evaluation of the Effects of a Virtual Museum on Users' Attitudes towards Cultural Heritage
###### Abstract  
(1) Background: Several opportunities have appeared for the dissemination of culture and heritage thanks in part to the widespread use of information and communications technologies. Virtual museums have appeared as innovative technological products but often lack an evaluation of the impact that they have and their success in achieving their purpose. In this sense, this work seeks to evaluate the impact of a virtual museum on users' attitudes toward cultural heritage. (2) Methods: We used a factorial design of 2 (direction of thoughts: positive vs. negative) \(\times\) 2 (presence level: high vs. low) \(\times\) 2 (virtual museum vs. interactive website). (3) Results: Attitudes toward heritage can change as a function of a multimedia experience, thought favorability, and presence. In a virtual museum, when general attitudes are evaluated, a sense of high psychological presence reduces the effect that thoughts (especially when negative) have on attitudes. However, in the case of visiting an interactive website, the effect of the direction of thoughts on attitudes occurred regardless of conditions of high or low presence. Similar tendencies are observed for specific attitudinal objects. (4) Conclusion: A virtual museum can have different effects depending on the interaction of important variables from the virtual reality literature and not only the classic main effects. Recommendations for interventions and future practical and theoretical work are presented. virtual museum; cultural heritage; virtual environments; interaction techniques; software development; attitude change; ELM +
Footnote †: journal: _Sci. Through different techniques such as photogrammetry [9] and the use of 3D scanners, historical pieces can be preserved in a digital 3D format, retaining their characteristics and textures [10]. After this process, many museums, such as the National Museum of Natural History of Chile [11], have published their pieces on websites such as Sketchfab [12], among others. For a review of a full guide of virtual heritage, see [13]. In this context, several opportunities have appeared for the dissemination of culture and heritage among websites, interactive experiences such as video games, virtual [7; 14] and augmented reality [15], and serious games [8], to name a few. Traditionally, the way to appreciate this tangible heritage was to visit the museums and other cultural institutions in person. The use of virtual technologies and digital heritage is also relevant to the idea of a virtual museum, even more considering that the Internet offers new ways to spread and distribute information [16]. With these factors in mind (namely the utilization of technologies and advances in digitization processes), we developed a virtual museum [7] that includes several pieces from a local network of museums through a 3D digitization process. This virtual museum has a VR version for Oculus Go [17] and Quest [18] devices, and we also made this experience available in a desktop version due to the pervasiveness of computers. The purpose is to use technology to disseminate and increase people's positive evaluations (or positive attitudes) toward cultural heritage and toward visiting physical museums. However, what products such as a virtual museum often lack is an evaluation of the impact that they have and their success in achieving their purpose. In this sense, this work also seeks to evaluate the impact of a virtual museum on users' attitudes toward cultural heritage and visiting physical museums using three important variables as factors. First, an important amount of studies on attitudes and virtual reality propose that positive attitudes depend on an increase in presence, that is, an increase in people's sense of \"being there\" [19; 20].