Visitors' Evaluations of ICTs Used in Cultural Heritage

Abstract

Technology that serves to enhance the visitors experience is gradually becoming more commonplace at Cultural Heritage (CH) sites. However ICT is not usually the CH professional s area of expertise and they have to make choices from a bewildering array of technology, often without fully understanding their visitors ICT needs. This research aims to alleviate the situation by gathering visitors evaluations of technologies that are frequently used at CH sites along with advanced applications, to identify which technologies visitors use and what they need. The research took place in five CH attractions in the UK and incorporates the results of one hundred and sixty four interviews with visitors. Both CH professionals and technology developers can use this research to gain insights into the use of ICT applications at sites and to identify emerging needs in the marketplace. The findings of this research indicate that ICTs in use at the CH sites involved were underutilised. Despite this, respondents strongly supported the advanced applications which included: Augmented Reality; an Interactive Museum Installation; a Mobile Media Guide and an Avatar Application. This is because they could see how they would benefit. This paper concludes that the use of ICT was supported by visitors to some degree. However in order to encourage use, the benefits must be clearly communicated to visitors.