Title: ‘Breaking the glass’: preserving social history in virtual environments

Authors: Iryna Kuksa; Deborah Tuck

Addresses: Faculty of Art and Design, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DE, Staffordshire, UK ' School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG1 4BU, UK

Abstract: New media technologies play an important role in the evolution of our society. Traditional museums and heritage sites have evolved from the ‘cabinets of curiosity’ that focused mainly on the authority of the voice organising content, to the places that offer interactivity as a means to experience historical and cultural events of the past. They attempt to break down the division between visitors and historical artefacts, employing modern technologies that allow the audience to perceive a range of perspectives of the historical event. In this paper, we discuss virtual reconstruction and interactive storytelling techniques as a research methodology and educational and presentation practices for cultural heritage sites. We present the Narrating the Past project as a case study, in order to illustrate recent changes in the preservation of social history and guided tourist trails that aim to make the visitor’s experience more than just an architectural walk through.

Keywords: interactive storytelling; virtual reconstructions; heritage sites; social history; accessibility; digital preservation; cultural heritage; guided tourist trails.

DOI: 10.1504/IJART.2011.043447

International Journal of Arts and Technology, 2011 Vol.4 No.4, pp.392 - 407

Received: 20 Jan 2010
Accepted: 29 Oct 2010
Published online: 11 Jan 2015 *

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