Present virtual heritage projects are mostly focused either on ‘process’ or ‘product’ but rarely consider ‘users’ (end-users' perception of the content) with project contents predominantly developed with an ‘ocular-centric’ tendency. There is no significant interpretation method or principle for interpreting digital heritage like other disciplines such as archaeology. This paper argues that, for better interpretation and experience of a digital heritage site, a comprehensive interpretation method is required, which should address end-users with various background, overcome the linearity in narrative level and subjectiveness in content creation. This paper also argues that instead of predetermined instructional sequences or descriptive interpretation, the interaction setting can be participatory and contributive, where the end-users and environment may engage in ‘dialogic-interaction’. In terms of methodology, ‘Interpretation’ is first conceptualized by assimilating definitions from various heritage scholars and interpretation organizations. Notions of interpretation-practice and level of interaction are identified from reviewing some online digital heritage projects. By identifying weaknesses, this paper finally proposes a conceptual model for developing a comprehensive interpretation method for future digital heritage projects.
References
1.
SmithL., Uses of Heritage, London, New York, Routledge, 2006.
2.
GrahamB., Heritage as Knowledge: Capital or Culture?, Urban Studies, 2002, 39(5-6), 1003–1017.
3.
UNESCO, Charter on the Preservation of the Digital Heritage, 32nd Session: The General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, UNESCO, 2003.
4.
RoussouM., Virtual Heritage: From the Research Lab to the Broad Public, Virtual Archaeology, 2002, 93–100.
TostL.P. and ChampionE.M., A Critical Examination of Presence Applied to Cultural Heritage, The 10th Annual International Workshop on Presence Barcelona, Spain, 2007, 245–256.
7.
PreeceJ.BenyonD.DaviesG.KellerL.PreeceJ. and RogersY., A Guide to Usability: Human Factors in Computing, Wokingham, England, Addison-Wesley, 1993.
8.
ThomasJ., The Great Dark Book: Archaeology, Experience, and Interpretation, in: EarleT.PeeblesC.S., eds., A Companion to Archaeology, Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 21–36.
9.
TunbridgeJ.E. and AshworthG.J., Dissonant Heritage: The Management of the Past as a Resource in Conflict, Chichester, New York, J. Wiley, 1996.
10.
GillingsM., Plans, Elevations and Virtual Worlds: The Development of Techniques for the Routine Construction of Hyperreal Simulation in: BarceloJ.A.ForteM.SandersD.H., eds., Virtual Reality in Archaeology, Archaeopress, Oxford, England, 2000, 59–69.
11.
AffleckJ. and KvanT., Memorey Capsules: Discursive Interpretation for Cultural Heritage through New Media in: KalayY.E.KvanT.AfflekJ., eds., New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage, Routledge, New York, 2008, 92–111.
12.
TanB.K. and RahamanH., Virtual Heritage: Reality and Criticism, in: TidafiT.DortaT., eds., CAADfutures 2009: Joining languages, cultures and visions, Montreal, Canada, 2009, 143–156.
13.
ThorntonM., Think Outside the Square You Live In: Issues of Difference and Nation in Virtual Heritage, Proceedings of 13th international conference on Virtual System and Multimedia (VSMM 2007), Brisbane, Australia, 2007, 302–311.
14.
KaptelininV. and NardiB.A., Do We Need Theory in Interaction Design?, in: NardiB.KaptelininV.FootK., eds., Acting with Technology: Activity Theory and Interaction Design, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England, 2006.
15.
TildenF., Interpreting Our Heritage, University of North Carolina Press, 1977.
RahamanH. and TanB.K., Interpreting Digital Heritage: Considering End-User's Perspective, in: DaveB.LiA.I.-k.HyoungN.G., eds., 15th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, CAADRIA, Hong Kong, 2010, 93–102.
18.
MoscardoG., Making Visitors Mindful: Principles for Creating Quality Sustainable Visitor Experiences through Effective Communication, Sagamore Publishing, Champaign, Illinois, 1999.
19.
MoscardoG., Mindful Visitors: Heritage and Tourism, Annals of Tourism Research, 1996, 23(2), 376–397.
20.
HodderI., Interpretive Archaeology and Its Role, American Antiquity, 1991, 56(1), 7–18.
LowenthalD., The Past Is a Foreign Country, Cambridge University Press Cambridge, Cambridge, 1985.
23.
KalayY.E., Preserving Cultural Heritage through Digital Media in: KalayY.E.KvanT.AfflekJ., eds., New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage, Routledge, New York, 2008, 01–10.
24.
FitchJ.M., Historic Preservation: Curatorial Management of the Built World, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1982.
25.
UNESCO, Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, 32nd Session: The General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, UNESCO, 2003, 1–15.
26.
DourishP., Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2001.
CohenD.J. and RosenzweigR., Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
29.
BatesonG., Steps to an Ecology of Mind, University of Chicago Press ed, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2000.
30.
BoniniE., Building Virtual Cultural Heritage Environments: The Embodied Mind at the Core of the Learning Processes, International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, 2008, 1(2), 113–125.
31.
ChampionE. and DaveB., Where Is This Place?, in: ProctorG., ed., 22st Annual Conference ACADIA 2002: Thresholds Between Physical and Virtual, Cal Poly Pomona, CA, USA, 2002, 87–97.
32.
ChampionE.DaveB. and BishopI., Interaction, Agency and Artefacts, in: ChiuM.TsouJ.KvanT.MorozumiM.JengT., eds., 10th International Conference on CAAD Futures'2003: Digital Design: Research and Practice, Taiwan, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Doordrecht, The Netherlands, 2003, 249–258.
33.
HarrisonR., Manual of Heritage Management, Oxford; Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1994.
34.
BeckL. and CableT., Interpretation for the 21st Century, Champaign, Illinois, Sagamore Publishing, 1998.
35.
CopelandT., Constructing Pasts: Interpreting the Historic Environment, in: HemsA.BlockleyM.R., eds., Heritage Interpretation, Routledge, London, New York, 2006, 83–95.
36.
SnodgrassA. and CoyneR., Interpretation in Architecture: Design as a Way of Thinking, London and New York, Routledge, 2006.
37.
ForlizziJ. and BattarbeeK., Understanding Experience in Interactive Systems, Proceedings of the 5th conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques, 2004, 261–268.
38.
McMillanS., Exploring Models of Interactivity from Multiple Research Traditions: Users, Documents, and Systems, in: LievrouwL.LivingstonS., eds., Handbook of New Media, Sage, London, 2005, 205–229.
39.
ParésN. and ParésR., Interaction-Driven Virtual Reality Application Design (a Particular Case: El Ball Del Fanalet or Lightpools), Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, 2001, 10(2), 236–245.
