Ph.D. Program in Design, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Department of Interior Design, School of Design, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
PLoS One. 2022 Jan 6;17(1):e0261607. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261607. eCollection 2022.
Online virtual museum tours combine museum authority and an academic approach with the diversity and interactivity of online resources; such tours have become an essential resource for online scientific research and education. Many important museums around the world are developing this type of online service. Comprehensive evaluation of such tours is, however, urgently needed to ensure effectiveness. This paper establishes a heuristic evaluation scale based on the literature. Taking the online virtual tour of the Exhibition of Architecture of the Forbidden City as a case study, confirmatory factor analysis was then carried out to improve the scale. Interviews were conducted to discuss and analyze the research results. The developed evaluation scale has four dimensions: authenticity, interaction, navigation, and learning. The results from the case study showed, first, that the exhibition had visual authenticity, but the behavioral authenticity was insufficient; second, the exhibition was generally interactive, but this aspect could be improved by enriching the links; third, the lack of effective navigation design for the exhibit was the main factor affecting experience quality. Fourth, the exhibition was informative and supported learning, but needs further improvement to the quantity and quality of information provided. Finally, the interviews revealed that the online exhibition did not entirely support people of different ages and abilities, so it needs further improvement to be wholly inclusive.
在线虚拟博物馆导览将博物馆的权威性和学术性与在线资源的多样性和交互性相结合;这种导览已经成为在线科学研究和教育的重要资源。世界各地许多重要的博物馆都在开发这种在线服务。然而,为了确保其有效性,迫切需要对这种导览进行全面评估。本文基于文献建立了一个启发式评估量表。以《紫禁城建筑展》在线虚拟导览为例,进行验证性因子分析以改进量表。然后通过访谈来讨论和分析研究结果。开发的评估量表有四个维度:真实性、交互性、导航和学习。案例研究的结果表明,首先,展览具有视觉真实性,但行为真实性不足;其次,展览通常具有交互性,但可以通过丰富链接来改进这一方面;第三,展览缺乏有效的展品导航设计,这是影响体验质量的主要因素。第四,展览信息丰富,支持学习,但需要进一步改进信息的数量和质量。最后,访谈揭示了在线展览并非完全支持不同年龄和能力的人,因此需要进一步改进以实现全面包容。