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German Emigration House delivers study on VR

byNathalie
October 15, 2019
2 minute read

In an experiment, most participants attributed greater entertainment value to virtual elements in the museum than to conventional forms of presentation. Surprisingly, however, VR elicited less sympathy. This is the conclusion of the German Emigration Centre in Bremerhaven after a test phase with VR.

How can digitalisation be implemented in museums? Where and how can new technologies help to convey museum content? In the research project "museum4punkt0 - Digital Strategies for the Museum of the Future", the German Emigration Centre Bremerhaven is looking at the question of how historical and emotional aspects of migration can be conveyed digitally: An exhibition study will compare digital and analogue narrative forms, while evaluations in the museum and on the website will test the possibilities of engaging visitors before and after their physical visit to the museum. At the same time, the museum's collection activities will be expanded into the digital realm and supplemented with oral history interviews. In addition, media skills will be taught and new technologies will be used to show visitors irrational aspects of migration debates.

Analogue and virtual realities in comparison

The experiment using virtual reality therefore began with the question of whether museum visitors could be emotionally engaged by the new technology. What significance do original objects have in times of digitalisation? Is it better to convey the feelings of strangers through biographical objects or digitally through stories?

In the exhibition experiment "KRIEGsgefangen. OHNMACHT. SEHNSUCHT. 1914 - 1921", it was investigated whether and how empathy can be conveyed digitally. In the exhibition, individual content was accessible both in traditional exhibition rooms and digitally using VR glasses. The exhibition focussed on the fate of a prisoner of war from the First World War and his Hamburg family. Based on surveys in which more than 700 visitors took part before and after visiting the exhibition, the different effects of these narrative forms are being analysed in a broad-based study.

Die Mehrheit der Teilnehmer bescheinigen den virtuellen Elementen einen grösseren Unterhaltungswert. Doch „museale Objekte erzeugen mehr Mitgefühl für historische Personen als „Virtual-Reality“-Anwendungen“, sagte Museumsdirektorin Simone Eick. Letzteres widerspricht demnach ein wenig der Study of the International School of Management, which showed in connection with NGOs that VR triggers empathy.

Source: Emigration Centre / RTL
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