INTERACTION AND INFORMATION COMMUNICATION IN VIRTUAL MUSEUMS

This paper presents a virtual museum implementation designed in order to provide effective promotion of the represented cultural heritage objects and also to serve as a prototype of virtual educational museums. The considered virtual museum hosts 3D exhibits representing real cultural heritage artifacts and provides related to the exhibits information. User are able to navigate in it through the use of virtual characters and appropriate information communication methods are provided. The provided communication methods employ rich interaction techniques in order to engage users and enhance the learning process. An important aspect of this paper is the study of the navigational issues arising while navigating spaces of complex structure. Appropriate navigation assistance methods are deployed to reduce users disorientation incidents and a method that provides navigation recommendations is used to support their functionality. The paper also addresses issues related to the use of video game technology for cultural education purposes and provides guidelines on its effective deployment. Finally, tests including users evaluation are conducted in order to examine the effectiveness of the implemented information communication methods and the effectiveness of the provided navigation assistance.