Evaluation of a Cultural Heritage Augmented Reality Game

SYLAIOU, Stella, Katerina MANIA, Fotis LIAROKAPIS, Martin WHITE, Krzysztof WALCZAK, Rafal WOJCIECHOWSKI, Wojciech WIZA and Petros PATIAS. Evaluation of a Cultural Heritage Augmented Reality Game. In Cartographies of Mind, Soul and Knowledge, Special issue for Professor Emeritus Myron Myridis, of Rural and Surveying Engineers. Greece: AUTH, 2015, p. 153-174. ISBN 978-960-89320-7-4.

Basic information

• Original name: Evaluation of a Cultural Heritage Augmented Reality Game
• Authors: SYLAIOU, Stella (300 Greece), Katerina MANIA (300 Greece), Fotis LIAROKAPIS (300 Greece, belonging to the institution), Martin WHITE (826 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Krzysztof WALCZAK (616 Poland), Rafal WOJCIECHOWSKI (616 Poland), Wojciech WIZA (616 Poland) and Petros PATIAS (300 Greece).
• Edition: Greece, Cartographies of Mind, Soul and Knowledge, Special issue for Professor Emeritus Myron Myridis, of Rural and Surveying Engineers, p. 153-174, 22 pp. 2015.
• Publisher: AUTH

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Proceedings paper
• Field of Study: 10201 Computer sciences, information science, bioinformatics
• Country of publisher: Greece
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Publication form: printed version "print"
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14330/15:00086609
• Organization unit: Faculty of Informatics
• ISBN: 978-960-89320-7-4
• Keywords in English: augmented reality; cultural heritage
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The ability to develop sophisticated and flexible web and mobile applications based on augmented reality (AR) and gaming engine technologies is incredible taking into account the plethora of powerful mobile computing devices for displaying such applications. In this respect, the research community is challenged to investigate the factors that make such technologies effective, productive and engaging. In this paper, we investigate the efficacy of augmented reality in a simple cultural heritage game, by evaluating real-time feedback from users. The game has been implemented within the ARCO (Augmented Representation of Cultural Objects) system using its flexible AR scenario authoring tools and dynamic content composition and delivery technology. The game has been presented within an Augmented Reality Interface—a specialized application enabling AR on a user’s computer. The ARCO system, a result of the ARCO project, allows museums to create their own virtual museum exhibitions based around a collection of cultural objects. A typical virtual museum would be composed of exhibition spaces that present these digital objects to a user, for example, on a web page, on a mobile device or in a virtual environment. A virtual museum can present these digital objects in the form of an interactive AR game or quiz. Through the use of interviews and structured questionnaires, user feedback has been collected for evaluation to enable us to improve the game characteristics, but more importantly to understand whether AR based games are educationally useful, meaningful and appealing to users. In this respect, our study revealed that AR based games are appealing and do attract user engagement and interest, however, because of the integration of realworld and 3D elements, AR games also have problems and deficiencies.