Seamlessly blending the off-site and on-site museum experience with the use of personalised digital mobile technologies
Recent research on the use of mobile technologies, social networking, interactive digital storytelling, and augmented reality, amongst others, promises to make cultural heritage sites more attractive but also to provide new means for making cultural knowledge, interpretation, and analysis more effectively conveyed to the public. A research project titled CHESS (Cultural Heritage Experiences through Socio-personal interactions and Storytelling) aspires to combine the above and to enrich the museum visit by personalising and (dynamically) adapting interactive stories about cultural exhibits and artefacts to each individual visitor. Essentially, CHESS proposes to create narrative-driven cultural “adventures”, which adapt continuously to their visitors, extend over space (e.g., physical/on-site and virtual/ off-site) and time (before, during, and after the visit), and involve users according to their varying interests, needs and desires. Two different museums participate as test beds in this effort, the new Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece and the Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse, France.