Deploying social robots in museum settings: A quasi-systematic review exploring purpose and acceptability

Social robots are increasingly used within public spaces, including museum settings. This quasi-systematic review identifies and synthesizes the evidence on social robots that have recently been deployed in museum settings. It specifically focuses on their intended purpose, their acceptability and factors important for successful human–robot interaction in this setting. Four databases (PsycINFO, SCOPUS, ACM Digital Library and IEEE Xplore) were systematically searched to retrieve literature published within the last 10 years on human–robot interaction studies with social robots deployed in museum settings. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the studies, qualitative and quantitative findings were summarized. A total of 604 items were identified, of which 12 were included in the review. Robots in 11 studies were physical and 1 was an embodied conversational agent presented as a virtual robot. In 75% of the studies ( n = 9), the purpose of the robots was to act as museum guides, while in 17% ( n = 2) they entertained visitors and in 8% ( n = 1) the robot taught visitors in a museum outreach programme. Overall, many of the robots were found to be acceptable for use within museum settings. Three main themes for successful social human–robot interaction were evident across the findings: (1) facial expressions, (2) movement and (3) communication and speech. There is a great opportunity for social robots to be deployed within museum settings, as guides, educators, entertainers or a combination thereof. State-of-the-art methods have led to the development of museum robots that are more capable of social interaction; however, more work is required to develop speech capabilities that work in the ‘wild’. Future work should combine the factors that have been identified within this review to improve human–robot interaction.

Development of augmented reality application for introducing tangible cultural heritages at the lampung museum using the multimedia development life cycle

Museum Lampung is one of the largest museums in Lampung Province which has a collection of tangible cultural heritage. If the museum visitors are seeking information about the collections, they will be assisted by museum guides orally. However, the limited number of guides are not enough to serve visitors during the school holidays. Therefore, to help visitors to find information about its cultural heritage collection, Augmented Reality (AR) technology was developed. AR is a technology that can display 3D objects in a real environment. The AR application that will be built is developed with the MDLC approach, where this method is suitable for developing multimedia applications. This research produces an application that can display 3D objects when the user's camera is directed to the collections of Museum Lampung and provides information related to these objects. Based on the test results on aspects of perceived usefulness, convenience, intention, and user friendliness, generally respondents answered "Agree" with a percentage of 83%. This indicates that the application is acceptable to the user.

Prison Museums in Soviet Russia in the 1920s

The paper is devoted to the history of early Soviet prison museums which were opened and operated at research institutes and penitentiaries in the 1920s. It proposes to consider these museums within the context of positivist criminology that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century. The increasing interest in criminal and prison culture motivated scholars and enthusiasts to collect and exhibit objects related to criminals and prisoners. Developing the model of the criminological museum, the Soviet prison museum pursued not only a purely scientific goal but had different functions. By comparing the Soviet penal system to its Tsarist counterpart, prison museums emphasized the revolutionary and emancipatory nature of the former. Representing artifacts (playing cards, tattoos, hand-made prison tools) and the rules of inmate subcultures, museum expositions condemned it as symbols of the old Tsarist prison. The exhibitions with prison factory products (manufactured goods and handicrafts) and samples of inmate initiatives and creativity (newspapers, journals or artwork) had to demonstrate the progressiveness of Soviet penitentiaries, rehabilitating criminals through labor and education. While historians neglected this topic, the article raises questions about the origins and functions of Soviet prison museums for the first time in historiography. The research is based on previously unstudied sources including archival documents, academic publications, museum guides, as well as newspaper and journal articles.

Evaluation Experiments of Personalized Tours for Exploring Cultural Heritage

Personalized software has been extensively used in museum guides and recommendation systems for tours because it provides added value to the interaction of the user with cultural heritage. However, this added value can only be confirmed through an evaluation experiment. Therefore, this chapter presents the indoor and outdoor personalized tours for exploring cultural heritage. More specifically, the chapter focuses on the methods used for personalization, the technology employed to improve interaction, and the evaluation experiments that have been implemented. The evaluation experiments are further categorized with respect to the method of evaluation and the criteria used. Finally, it provides a discussion on the main conclusions drawn from the researchers conducting evaluation experiments of the system performing indoor and outdoor tours for the exploration of cultural heritage.

Kedudukan dan Fungsi Bahasa dalam Permuseuman

Kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa sebagai alat komunikasi manusia mencakup seluruh bidang kehidupan termasuk ilmu pengetahuan antara lain terkait sejarah peradaban manusia; bagaimana manusia mempertahankan hidupnya, bagaimana manusia memperlakukan alam, bagaimana alam menyediakan segala kebutuhan manusia. Apa yang dilakukan manusia saat ini, saat lampau, dan apa yang dilakukan manusia jauh di masa prasejarah, bagaimana kondisi alam di masa-masa tersebut, apa perubahan dan perkembangannya, dapat didokumentasikan melalui bahasa, divisualisasikan kembali, lalu dipajang sebagai salah satu upaya konversai dan preservasi dalam satu institusi yang disebut museum. Penelitian ini membahas kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa dalam permuseuman. Bagaimana kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa dalam permuseuman baik dalam informasi yang disampaikan oleh pemandu wisata museumnya maupun yang terpajang menyertai benda-benda dan gambar-gambar merupakan tujuan dari penelitian ini. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah gabungan antara metode lapangan dan metode literatur. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa secara umum kedudukan bahasa Indonesia berada pada urutan pertama setelah Bahasa Inggris dan keberadaan kedua bahasa dalam permuseuman ini melibatkan dua fungsi utama bahasa, yakni fungsi komunikatif dan fungsi informatif.The existence and function of language as a medium of communication covers all fields of human life including knowledge, one of them is the history of human civilization; how humans survived, how human utilized nature for their lives, and how nature provides all the necessities for humans. What humans have been doing now, what they have done in the past and far before that in the pre-history time, how the conditions of the nature at those times were and what changes as well as progresses occurred are documented using language, then re-visualized, displayed as one of conservation and preservation acts in an institution called museum. This research discusess the existence and function of language in museums. How important the existence of a language in museums and what language functions used in museums both in informations given by the museum guides and on the displays accompanying objects and pictures are the aims of this research. The methods used are the combination between field research and library research. The results show that generally the existence of Indonesian language plays more important role than English and both languages have two main functions; communicative function and informative function.

Kedudukan dan Fungsi Bahasa dalam Permuseuman

Kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa sebagai alat komunikasi manusia mencakup seluruh bidang kehidupan termasuk ilmu pengetahuan antara lain terkait sejarah peradaban manusia; bagaimana manusia mempertahankan hidupnya, bagaimana manusia memperlakukan alam, bagaimana alam menyediakan segala kebutuhan manusia. Apa yang dilakukan manusia saat ini, saat lampau, dan apa yang dilakukan manusia jauh di masa prasejarah, bagaimana kondisi alam di masa-masa tersebut, apa perubahan dan perkembangannya, dapat didokumentasikan melalui bahasa, divisualisasikan kembali, lalu dipajang sebagai salah satu upaya konversai dan preservasi dalam satu institusi yang disebut museum. Penelitian ini membahas kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa dalam permuseuman. Bagaimana kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa dalam permuseuman baik dalam informasi yang disampaikan oleh pemandu wisata museumnya maupun yang terpajang menyertai benda-benda dan gambar-gambar merupakan tujuan dari penelitian ini. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah gabungan antara metode lapangan dan metode literatur. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa secara umum kedudukan bahasa Indonesia berada pada urutan pertama setelah Bahasa Inggris dan keberadaan kedua bahasa dalam permuseuman ini melibatkan dua fungsi utama bahasa, yakni fungsi komunikatif dan fungsi informatif.The existence and function of language as a medium of communication covers all fields of human life including knowledge, one of them is the history of human civilization; how humans survived, how human utilized nature for their lives, and how nature provides all the necessities for humans. What humans have been doing now, what they have done in the past and far before that in the pre-history time, how the conditions of the nature at those times were and what changes as well as progresses occurred are documented using language, then re-visualized, displayed as one of conservation and preservation acts in an institution called museum. This research discusess the existence and function of language in museums. How important the existence of a language in museums and what language functions used in museums both in informations given by the museum guides and on the displays accompanying objects and pictures are the aims of this research. The methods used are the combination between field research and library research. The results show that generally the existence of Indonesian language plays more important role than English and both languages have two main functions; communicative function and informative function.

Agency and epistemic authority in question-answer sequences between art museum guides and visitors diagnosed with dementia

Recent studies documenting the real-time details of human interactions have revealed the way in which artefacts in the immediate physical surround facilitate the display and demonstration of knowledge. The museum setting in which physically present objects prompt and support visitor displays of knowledge is particularly well-suited for individuals managing symptoms related to memory loss as a result of dementia, especially of the Alzheimer’s type. In this paper, we explore question-answer sequences taken from three hour-long guided sessions within an art gallery program involving museum guides who were specially trained to work with visitors with dementia. We investigate representative sequences 1) in which visitors exercise interactional control by posing questions to guides that relate to the visitors’ own interests and 2) in which guides pose questions to visitors regarding topics that relate to the visitors’ personal lives. We argue that these two discursive practices promote interactional meaningfulness, in that the former pattern affords the visitors interactional agency, while the latter pattern allows them to display their epistemic authority. Finally, we consider how insights from this therapeutic model may be translated from the museum to the home setting.