Museums have long been tasked with preserving significant artifacts and knowledge about human history, art, and culture, as well as anything relating to the natural wonders of our planet. We have seen a renaissance in interest in museums around the world as their function in displaying and disseminating knowledge is recognised. There is a push to transform the image of boredom into one of excitement. This transition is being pushed by the introduction of immersive digital technologies like as virtual reality and augmented reality, as well as a wide range of digital tools essential for producing immersive and engaging experiences.
What we need to look at here is how this shift is taking place by incorporating these important technologies into how we experience and enjoy museums today. Museums, both old and new, have made it a top goal to include immersive digital experiences to enhance visitor experiences that are engaging and enriching. The major technologies used to create such museum experiences include virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), as well as a variety of digital tools and methodologies for creating and delivering digital interactive experiences.
Virtual Reality generates a very realistic virtual environment that is experienced through the use of a specially developed and advanced headset. This headset entirely covers the user’s eyes, providing complete immersion in the virtual environment. The headset includes optics, circuitry, and high-resolution screens to give a realistic experience that allows the user to freely navigate the virtual world with six degrees of freedom. When the visitor turns around, they view their surroundings exactly as they would in the real world. The VR museum experience’s level of realism makes it an ideal medium for producing a time travel experience.
Virtual reality enables interactive museums to deliver fully immersive exhibits and tours that are accessible to everyone, regardless of location. These virtual reality museum tours completely recreate a physical museum in a virtual reality environment. It allows visitors to virtually enter and walk through a museum facility, just as they would in person. It enables a visitor to walk up to a front desk, chat with a virtual avatar of a genuine customer support representative, and acquire the assistance required. The virtual tour allows visitors to travel to the museum and get up close to a digital museum recreation of an actual exhibit, as well as examine its different features and specialities, without being constrained by time or other visitors and distractions. The British Museum and the Louvre have created VR tours that offer such experiences with their collections, such as the VR experience of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which is only visible from a distance in the real world. In this scenario, the immersive virtual experience is more satisfying than a firsthand experience.
Museums are also utilizing virtual reality to provide a virtual time travel experience into the past by reproducing events, sites, and experiences that have been lost to the ravages of time. A virtual reality headset may bring historical cities, battles, conquests, and a variety of other important and commonplace events to life. Such experiences are being built in museums, where visitors do not even have to go through the hassle of wearing headsets. Multiple VR headsets are mounted on the wall, and visitors can position their faces on them to view the experience. The experience is on a continuous loop and can be repeated several times. The spectator experience is unconstrained, making it more accessible to everyone. This immersive time travel experience is not only captivating, but it also allows for the delivery of a unique educational experience. The sensation of being a part of the incident creates the illusion of being an eyewitness and leaves an indelible impression on their thoughts. The educational information embedded in such experiences ensures knowledge retention.
Augmented reality also provides immersive museum experiences by incorporating digitally created content on the user’s environment as seen through digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, and wearables. The content presented may be contextual and location-specific, based on the user’s needs and choices. The juxtaposition of content, such as animation and 3D models, brings the environment to life. Museum 2.0 solution providers, such as Fusion VR, work with museums to develop immersive exhibit enclosures into which visitors can enter and begin to experience a lifelike environment. Augmented reality applications on their devices and wearables bring the content around them to life, providing the visitor with an extremely immersive experience. Visitors can see animations or 3D models of artifacts that are intended to be interesting and interactive. These experiences are also gamified to increase engagement and make them more appealing to viewers. Such an experience is on display at Singapore’s National Museum.
The immersive experiences provided by augmented reality may not be immersive in the strictest sense, but the way it engages the mind, causes the user to forget about their surroundings, and draws them into the experience is, in many ways, immersive. In many situations, these experiences combine the physical and digital. The Museum of Natural History has created AR applications that allow visitors to see how prehistoric animals looked by superimposing digital reconstructions of their flesh, skin, and fur onto the skeletons on display. These digital models can be animated, allowing visitors to view their movement as well as their natural environment. These can be multi-sensory experiences that involve not just visual inputs but also audio, tactile, and even olfactory (sense of smell). Incorporating these brings museum experiences much closer to reality. Furthermore, such augmented reality experiences can be gamified with puzzles, quizzes, and activities like a virtual treasure hunt, which appeals to most children and young people. Such gamification activities might be accompanied with rewards such as badges, awards, etc.
Digital museum experiences have an unseen component in museums, and it is used to improve visitor experiences. We live in the age of big data analysis, and museums are leveraging the data generated by visitor experiences, which is mined and analyzed to gain insights and information about visitor preferences and trends. This is critical for curating visitor experiences that attract more people to museums, as well as developing new experiences that will keep them coming back. Museum tours can be tailored to individual preferences, ensuring maximum engagement and consumer satisfaction. The future of immersive interactive museums seems quite promising, with an increasing number of government and corporate bodies interested in developing digital museum experiences.
While museums have this intriguing technology available in addition to top-notch execution capabilities, maintaining these immersive exhibits requires highly trained personnel. The most significant barrier to the transformation of traditional museums into digital immersive museums is the financing of new projects. This is where firms like Fusion VR can assist museums in designing and developing relevant and cost-effective solutions from both a capital and running cost standpoint. I recommend the reader to visit our Museum 2.0 website to learn more about AR VR Museums and Corporate Experience Centers, and to contact us for additional information and support in developing outstanding visitor experiences.
