During this 90-minute workshop, participants will explore AR as a tool to promote engagement and support access to physical spaces for visitors with disabilities using multisensory tools in small historic houses. Participants will gain a greater understanding of digitally-based accessibility practices in historic houses. Our focus will be on software that has free tiers for hobbyists alongside a simplified drag-and-drop interface designed for non-programmers.
In addition to hands-on experience in building a working prototype, this workshop will also outline some of the obstacles in building digital experiences that are also accessible for small cultural non-profits, along with possible solutions to develop a new framework for collaboration. This workshop includes a short (10-minute) demonstration of three working prototypes built by students in a Museum Studies Graduate Program and a Computer Science Undergraduate Program over a six-month collaboration: 1) a grounds tour to digitally integrate historical and archival photography of Villa La Pietra built in Augmented Reality (AR), 2) a digital pop-up book of a 20th-century guest book as a relational database that serves as a historical record of relationships and social connections for visitors over seven decades, and 3) a 3D printed object that includes historical information and visual descriptions for a pair of 13th-century polychrome wooden saint figures on view at the Villa. The prototypes will be used in the workshop to demonstrate proof-of-concept for interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary student-led teams across the Humanities and Computer Science. Focus is placed on design and implementation to provide beyond the bounded regions of a visual field for visitors that are blind or have low vision.
No prior technology experience is required for this workshop. Care will be given to define terms and parameters for creating an AR-based project that participants can use as a proof-of-concept, especially to assist historic houses, small museums and other cultural heritage sites around the world in launching or funding more complex AR initiatives in the future.
Participants will:
- Learn about the current state of "Extended Reality" - Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) & Mixed Reality (MR)
- Explore a variety of Augmented Reality rapid prototyping tools designed for non-programmers
- Experience how to construct an Augmented Reality experience by building a series of hands projects, including:
- Creating digital manipulatives using "world tracking"
- Creating embedded, contextual content via image triggers
Participants should bring a smartphone and a laptop with them to the session. In addition, participants are welcome to bring their own digitized media (images & videos). These files should be readily accessible on a laptop and should be relatively small in terms of file size (images taken with a phone, or videos no longer than 1-2 minutes). Participation is open to every level of technology experience and/or knowledge about cultural sites and historic house museums.
