Virtually Present and Engaged: A toolkit for a virtual museum

Virtually Present and Engaged: A toolkit for a virtual museum

This project transforms how people discover and engage with our collections. In co-curation with young people (15-25), we will create a persistent online, virtual reality* museum (VRM) that brings together digitised content from collections in the University and collaborating arts organisations. This content is experienced within a virtual 3D environment in a series of virtual exhibitions, in which visitors can explore 3D renditions of objects and places that relate to those objects.

They can also view videos and related 2D material (artworks, documents, etc). Unlike other VR exhibitions, this museum is built to be permanent and persistent. This idea of a VRM which is retained for the long-term, provides a sustainable access solution which will evolve though a programme of dynamic, temporary exhibitions.

We have already completed a successfully pilot VR exhibition

(https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2524418111) which has been downloaded by over 2,600 users and has hosted study groups of over 23 people simultaneously. This exhibition is unique in that it allows users to virtual 'handle' a collection of 3D scanned artefacts.

As part of the development process, we will document our methodologies to create a toolkit to guide future VR exhibition development in our own organisation and across the sector. As well as providing a forum for academic users, this step-change in engagement also provides new opportunities for public engagement. It supports the University's5 yr Audience Development Roadmap to reach new target audiences as we transform our service in readiness for the Centre for Cultural Collections in the planned new University Library.

This project will increase the digital accessibility for one of our key target audiences 'Young Bristolians (ages 15-25) not in formal education, employment or training'. This group is difficult to reach through 'traditional' methods of engagement. We will proactively involve them by using technologies familiar to many of them from gaming applications.

They will lead the selection of items for virtual exhibitions and development of interpretative text. The stories they tell will resonate with a wider range of visitors. The experience provides valuable employment skills with archives and media industry.

This proposal is only possible because of our 2020 Cap Co funding to improve infrastructure for 3D, 2D and AV digitisation. We were able to establish two real-world Virtual Reading Rooms (VRRs) on campus. These rooms allow us to share video and images online in real time with remote audiences, providing a 'live feed' of our collections. The rooms enable engagement with digital content displayed on large, wall-mounted screens. The rooms also have VR headsets which were funded by Cap Co.

The VRRs will be essential in supporting audience engagement with young people during the VR development and exhibitions. As many people still do not have access to VR headsets, the rooms will provide a venue for groups to experience the VRM.

*Virtual Reality (VR) is a family of digital technologies, now heavily used in the computer games industry to immerse a user inside a 3D digital environment. This is typically done using a VR headset paired with interactive controllers.