Contextualization of archaeological findings using virtual worlds. Issues on design and implementation of a multiuser enabled virtual museum

Abstract

This paper describes the use of Virtual Worlds technology to implement a virtual museum for an interpretation center on the theme of the use of mosaics in ancient Roman villas. In order to foster the comprehension of the meaning of these archaeological remains, incomplete mosaics were completed digitally and placed in virtual rooms to recreate the atmosphere. A musealization of the virtual domus was then carried out. The environment was developed on an OpenSim based virtual world, which was prepared to hold groups of avatars characterized as Roman males and females, children and adults. Text chat and sound enable every visitor to share opinions with other remote users, and to perform guided tours. The system also permits to give lectures to remote audiences utilizing telepresence.