The innovation of Virtual Reality in museums

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Changes of museums’ tasks mainly focus on the way of how to deliver information， display collections and organize exhibitions. Virtual Museum （VM） as one of an innovation that produced on basis of this demands by using multimedia and high-technology. In this digital age， virtual reality （VR） technology as a part of VM techniques to create an virtual environment that seems more real （Huhtamo， 2002）. This essay will explain what are VM and VR， the change of VR technology in museums and discuss the applications in different projects， finally， it will evaluate relevant contributions to society.

Initially， it is necessary to clear what is VM. Andre Malraux （1947）， who is the first person to define the meaning of Imaginary Museum， states that a museum operates in a free and flexible way to help people easy to access and gain information from it without any area limitation. VM is focusing on express visible and invisible culture of nature or humanity to public which uses a wide range of interactivity and communication to reinforce visitor’s experiences， educational achievement， research process and entertainment.

The basic purpose of VR technology is to provide a three-dimensional sensory experience. Three characteristics of VR concluded by More （1995） that are as follows： “Interaction in real time； 3D recordings； Combination of real and virtual worlds”. Except for these features， other techniques， such as stereoscopic vision and audio technologies， are included in VR system. Thus， users can navigate the space in a natural interface and immersive environment， while computer and 2-Dimension （2D） cannot provide same feelings and environment（Brooks， 1999）.

In terms of VR technology in museums， there are two main applications： as an educational tool and an instrument of historical research and reconstruction （Roussou， 2000）.

VM as an interactive application device has the possibility to appear in the informal learning occasions especially in learning cultural heritage. The project which mainly evoking the national culture-cognition of the junior school students by using VR technology in Popular Cultural Museum， examined by Kampouropoulou（2013）. 100 students answered two questionnaires before and after they take courses in VMs. According to these questionnaires， the writers analyze that most students hold an active attitude on VMs teaching method that they acquire the knowledge of local arts impressively. At the same time， students also can obtain a deep insight about cultural heritage preservation. After joining this project， the authors proved that virtual museum as an efficient way to enhance student’s national culture and history as well as a suitable ancillary equipment in educational institution.

Another application of VR in museums is a reconstruction instrument in archaeology， which attempts to reappear some of cultural heritages or architectures that have disappeared. Archaeologists and historians can do research and practices to gain information of the past issues that also benefit for viewers to know history （Roussou， 1999）. A good case of this is “The foundation of the Hellenic World （FHW）” that applying multimedia and high-technologies to increasing the comprehension of Greece history. To realize the goal， VR system as a key factor in the whole process and the consequence of the project is successful. With highly 3D visualization and real experiences， visitors enjoying the detailed reconstruction of ancient Greece lives and cultures via taking the virtual journey.

Examining how VR in museums contribute to society， for cultural relic’s inheritance， VR applied in museums can accomplish the digital conversion and contribute to archaeology and museology. VR data preserve sources by scanning and build 3D models can handle these problems in a digital resolution. When exhibition needs to exchange collection， VR system simply transfers database between exhibition and digital objects. This physical shipment is convenient and safer than ever before， which can reduce damages of original objects and extend the retention period of sources （Manovich， 1999）.

Even though applying VR system in museums costs amount of money， scientists are researching the low-cost VR. The original model has been appeared and being tested， such as Google Box which is the cheapest VR glasses in the market. In the future， it is reasonable to believe that VR application in museums may become more advanced and become a part of necessities in people’s lives.