User-centered design of a virtual museum system: A case study

Abstract

The paper describes a user-centered design (UCD) approach that has been adopted in order to develop and build a virtual museum (VM) system for the “Museum of the Bruttians and the Sea” of Cetraro (Italy). The main goal of the system was to enrich the museum with a virtual exhibition able to make the visitors enjoy an immersive and attractive experience, allowing them to observe 3D archaeological finds, in their original context. The paper deals with several technical and technological issues commonly related to the design of virtual museum exhibits. The proposed solutions, based on an UCD approach, can be efficiently adopted as guidelines for the development of similar VM systems, especially when very low budget and little free space are unavoidable design requirements.