## 3 Results
### Online Platform
#### 3.3.3 Case Study 9: \"The PLUGGY Platform\"  
The PLUGGY platform, developed during the EU-funded project [113], aims to revolutionize engagement with cultural heritage by enabling users to be active creators and curators. Unlike other heritage tools, PLUGGY empowers users to share their cultural heritage via virtual exhibitions, virtual museums, and digital collections (Figure 12). Users can upload high-quality images, videos, text, 3D models, and audio through pluggable applications. The Curatorial Tool allows the creation of curated stories that are accessible via mobile interfaces like augmented reality and geolocation. PLUGGY's source code is open source, encouraging third-party development.  
Figure 12: (a) Storyboard for the PLUGGY platform for social media-curated cultural heritage [114]; (b) PLUGGY platform architecture [113].  
PLUGGY provides two main entry points, the project webpage and the PLUGGY Social Platform, fostering user engagement with cultural heritage. Users can create immersive experiences through curatorial tools and social networking capabilities, combining their content with knowledge from cultural institutions. The modular PLUGGY architecture supports future application development via an API, managing media assets and curated exhibitions. Users can create various exhibition types, including Media Stories, Timelines, and augmented reality (Figure 13). Social interactions include following, likes, comments, and real-time notifications.  
The collaborative PLUGGY project involved collaboration between nine partners, combining the partners' respective expertise from multiple disciplines. Evaluations included interviews, field studies, and usability testing, ensuring comprehensive feedback and a robust final product.  
Evaluation Method and Results  
PLUGGY's development included meticulous formative and summative evaluations (see Table 8). The objectives were to establish evaluation protocols, perform iterative formative evaluations, and conduct summative evaluations on heritage awareness and participation [115]. These were grounded in a triangulated methodology, combining qualitative methods, quantitative methods, and infrastructure metrics, to ensure both usability and long-term cultural impact. This multifaceted approach enhanced the credibility and applicability of the results by drawing on complementary data sources and evaluation perspectives.  
Conclusions of Case Study 9  
In summary, PLUGGY is a pioneering platform that engages users in cultural heritage activities, fostering heritage-centered networks and connecting users with cultural institutions. It emphasizes personalization and community engagement, transforming society's relationship with cultural heritage and exemplifying best practices in user research and development. Persona descriptions guided platform requirements, particularly in helping users choose appropriate licenses for uploaded content. Detailed evaluation results are not provided here, though interested readers can contact Dr. [PERSON] for access to the deliverables and reports on the PLUGGY apps, and refer to the summary by [PERSON] et al. [116].  
Figure 13: Screenshots of a wooden cart modeled with the PLUGGY VR (**a**) and AR (**b**) apps.