The “William Morris Problem”: matching online visitor’s flow with the collection databaseSomeone interested in William Morris will likely come across relevant objects, books, events, and merchandise scattered over numerous databases and webpages... Jack Craig, the digital design lead at V&A
项目的成果是一个托管在 Mozilla Hubs 开源平台上的 VR 虚拟空间。开始前，参观者可以选择游客、学者或商人等角色，进行角色定制。接着就进入 VR 体验，根着游戏提示地图游览岛屿上的建筑，也可以自由探索。地图上放置了很多 V&A 的展品 3D 模型，而且结合对应运动检测、空间音频和 Apple AR Kit进行展示，让大家了解这些文化遗产后的历史知识。
You moved from a mere imitation of a gallery and examined ‘what experience we’re not going to see in a physical museum’. Jack Craig, Digital Design Lead at V&A与多种技术的结合是一个大胆的尝试，尤其在学生项目里。这些思路给了我很大启发，相信有机会可以应用到实际展览行业里。 Dasiy，博物馆与展览行业创业者相比传统展览，我感觉更沉浸到故事里。互动物品非常的有趣，如果能进一步完善可以达到更好的教育目的。 Huan Huan Tang, 测试用户
p.s. Many thanks to Jack (V&A), John and Al (Tutors) and my teammates Ines, Svaney and Sanya, who started this experimental voyage with me.
V&A’s Silk Road: Asia
An virtual tour experience for V&A Museum’s online collections
Overview
Working with the V&A Museum, our MA UX design group at the University of the Arts London aimed to design an embodied experience of their fascinating online collection. As a result, our team appropriates the Maritime Silk Road as a context and develop an interactive, generative VR experience, “Silk Road: Asia”.
The project strives to address Asian cultures and enhance the educational and research capacities of the V&A Museum. We value the project to extend to other museums, exhibitions and galleries while challenging the traditional museum visiting paradigm.
# Museum # Mozilla Hub # Virtual Reality # Narrative Design
“The William Morris Problem”
This project was entirely at a UK COVID-19 lockdown when education and museums were exclusively online. Challenges originated in the missing spatial and tactile access of the collections and the hall, which we observed in directed storytelling as essential experiential elements to provide a unique visit.
Jack Craig, the digital design lead at V&A, proposed an intriguing query referred to as “The William Morris Problem”, representing the mismatch of online visitor’s content flow and the intricate exhibit management systems.
The “William Morris Problem”: matching online visitor’s flow with the collection databaseSomeone interested in William Morris will likely come across relevant objects, books, events, and merchandise scattered over numerous databases and webpages... Jack Craig, the digital design lead at V&A
Reaching through the glass
Inspired by some captivating online exhibitions, our group sampled several interactions with V&A’s items to intensify visitor engagement. These fun experiments revealed a digital-native mindset inquiry: What differentiates a virtual object or exhibition from a physical one? How can we treat this project beyond digital replicating? We carried Processing, webcam body-detecting and animation to build a coherent journey tackling the “William Morris Probelm” in the Japanese Samurai collections.
Using a “torch” to explore the Samurai painting
Learning Samurai movement with webcam body-detection
Expanding the narrative to Maritime Silk Road
Continuous testing and feedback exposed us that interactive objects serve great educational purposes if effectively applied. Nevertheless, visitors require a consistent context to make connections between items. Since all our team members come from an Asian background, there’s a chance to address cultural confidence and reimagined the related history:the Maritime Silk Road.
Silk Road Map and V&A’s South & South-east Asian Collections.
Silk Road: Asia
The outcome is a virtual space host on Mozilla Hubs, an open-sourced VR platform. Before the journey, players can select their role as tourists, scholars, or merchants and even customise their characters. All participants can explore the island with optional guidance and enter different buildings to encounter fruitful objects from the V&A online collections.
V&A’s Silk Road: Asia journey video
Investigating Objects
All objects integrate open-source 3D models with corresponding technology (motion detection, spatial audio or Apple ARKit) to help audiences understanding physical heritages in a historical context. Throughout the visit, one can light up the detail of an ancient painting, “putting” a Chinese vase in your room to appreciate its structure, assembling clay pot fragments to learn archaeology, or play Indian bayan drums with your accompany!
AR VaseSelect and pack the objectsPlay Indian Bayan DrumBrowse object information in tour
A Continuing Journey
Players can sail to the following country and exchange items and culture there. We imagined that the virtual Silk Road journey would last, with our six-week project evoking offset. The complete Silk Road network wouldn’t exist without the contribution of multi-players and culture exchange. Assisted by the massive splendid collections from the V&A Museum, the design could act as curation and community for displaying objects and communication.
Project Feedback
We have more than 10 participants in our play-test. Many of them responded more immersive and engaged in the experience than a regular exhibition but suggested further improvements in visual design and scale. Museum industry practitioners considered this virtual tour to open up imagination for the V&A museum and probably to combine with other pre-visit or post-visit education.
You moved from a mere imitation of a gallery and examined ‘what experience we’re not going to see in a physical museum’. Jack Craig, Digital Design Lead at V&AImpressive to see diverse technology in a student project. I feel inspired and could imagine it in the industry with further development. Dasiy, startup co-founder in museum and exhibition industryI feel like travelling to an ancient town. Those interactive objects are surprising and playful but could go deeper for educational purpose. Huan Huan Tang, play-test visitor
I appreciate our concept attempts to challenge conventional museum settings by integrating a collaborative generative experience. We faced many technical and resource limitations in this short project, making it unpolished but still inventive.
p.s. Many thanks to Jack (V&A), John and Al (Tutors) and my teammates Ines, Svaney and Sanya, who started this experimental voyage with me.
