An augmented reality approach for communicating intangible and architectural heritage through digital characters and scale models.

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) represents living cultural expressions and practices that are part of the heritage of a community, and their preservation and transmission are considered highly important. Various methods and tools have been applied so far for the digitization and dissemination of ICH content including a wide range of technologies. Mobile augmented reality is a promising solution along this path that enables the overlap of digital and real-world information in an engaging and efficient manner. Despite the widespread use of AR in cultural heritage, there are not many studies regarding the user experience, the learning outcomes, and the way in which users observe and interact with the virtual content. This paper presents a mobile augmented reality installation that re-enacts the stages of leather tanning process, adopting a novel approach that augments 3D content upon a physical scale model of an old tannery. This approach pursues to transmit the cultural value of traditional craftmanship to visitors of the building and associate its architectural elements to its history and use. A user evaluation was conducted aiming to measure the users' engagement, learning, and experience using the installation. The encouraging results led to a follow-up study about the impact of the physical scale model on the experience. Two variations of the experience have been studied, one with a physical scale model and one with a digital-only version in a between-subject design. The results of the two studies provide evidence that the proposed approach generated a positive user experience and evident learning gain and was considered easy to use, highlighting its potential to be widely adopted in buildings with architectural value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]