Abstract (short paper)

Keywords: Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality, Museum, Intercultural Dialogue, Cross-cultural Links, Smart Device

Increasingly, museums are being perceived as agencies that promote conversations between communities in multicultural societies. Meanwhile, the development of digital technology, such as mixed reality (MR), has shifted our way to communicate by enhancing our perception of information. This paper presents a case scenario of how MR, in the museum domain, can be utilized effectively to create a platform where cross-cultural links of artifacts can be represented dynamically and interactively to formulate a more inclusive and diverse narrative about artifacts, history, and humanity for museum audiences. Two prototypes and future development are presented that explore different aspects of emerging MR technologies with new curatorial techniques for highlighting the dialogue of cultures in museums. This paper concludes with a discussion of the potential for emerging technologies to solve contemporary problems in museums.

• Norbert Peiheng Zhao is a digital designer, writer and curator. He holds a BA in visual and communication design/user experience design from Hunan University, Changsha (China). He has spent the last several years in the creative agency, magazine and contemporary art museum in Shanghai. As a Master of Design candidate in the Digital Futures program from OCAD University (Canada), his research interest is to explore the possibilities to help museums become free, dynamic and accessible archives for everyone by using digital technologies. His work can be found at norbertzhao.com
• Alexis Morris, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Digital Futures program at OCAD University, and the Tier II Canada Research Chair in the Internet of Things. He is the director of the Adaptive Context Environments (ACE) Lab, and is a specialist in the overlapping research domain of software engineering for adaptive systems, based on the incorporation of fuzzy human-factors in socio-technical systems. Dr. Morris’ and his team engage a cross-section of approaches toward the future internet of things, leveraging artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, human-computer interfaces, adaptive risk management, multi-agent systems modelling, organizational culture simulations, and pervasive technologies. Having a diverse research agenda, he aims to organize and enhance human-machine synergy through initiatives to further the effective adoption of artificial intelligence as a support agent for practical and long-term uses.