Creating, sharing and re-using interactive content
Cultural heritage institutions regularly produce interactive content; for visitors to facilitate the comprehension of the exhibits on display, to entertain them or for research purposes. The platform used to deploy the content may be a simple interactive presentation device (e.g. a PC, a tablet or a mobile app) or more sophisticated immersive devices (large screens, VR rooms, head-mounted displays, specific interaction languages and related devices, etc.).

The common practice in creating interactive content at cultural heritage institutions is single theme – single institution – no cooperation. This approach makes production costs high, often prohibitively high, since the content is designed from scratch and presented only to a limited audience.

The challenge is to popularise and democratise the production and use of interactive content for cultural heritage. Innovation based on the ECCCH should make this possible.

The tools and methods developed should include an easy-to-use authoring system, designed for a community of users which may not be able to master fully-fledged commercial authoring systems. Resources should be developed to facilitate the creation of content and the adoption of a cooperative approach that enables the reuse of components and previous productions. The tools developed should be capable of supporting the entire value chain, including for instance freelancers and small companies, educational institutions, non-profits, etc.

The tools should support creation of multimedia content on top of basic components by using digital data in the ECCCH and as appropriate from other platforms, such as the Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage. Using existing components should reduce the digitisation costs of interactive media productions, since a considerable part of the required models and images will already be available.

The tools should allow re-using portions of content contributed to the ECCCH by other partners. The ECCCH support for explicit tracking of data (re-)use will be key. Data on provenance and reuse of the digital assets should be acknowledged and maintained.

The tools should also offer the capability to adapt the presentation to more sophisticated contexts, such as non-immersive systems mixing 3D models with high quality visual interfaces and metadata and videos, virtual reality settings providing a strong immersive experience, or virtual worlds/metaverse environments.

Produced content should be deployable seamlessly on interactive kiosks in exhibition spaces and on web-based platforms, allowing to break the physical walls of the institution and widening the potential audience. Its metadata should allow the produced content to be shared also on other European platforms and data spaces.

Analysing, designing and testing interactions with visitors
A common task in cultural heritage is to evaluate if the design of an exhibition – in a real or digital space – is functional and sufficiently impactful and meaningful for the audience. Common queries may include how people move around, which specific content they pay attention to, if they are able to appreciate the exhibits in a proper manner, which areas are most crowded, which points are of more or less interest, etc.

Also, designing an exhibition is a complex task encompassing many activities related to the 3D space and visitors’ perceptions, such as subdivisions of the exposition space, planning the visiting path, distribution of the exhibits and of didactic materials, lighting setup, etc.

A 3D representation of the exposition space is a basic resource for both types of actions. While architectural CAD tools may in some cases provide support, these are often prohibitively complex and do not correspond well to the needs of the cultural heritage sector.

For this use, projects funded under this topic should develop tools and methods for designing and providing simulated and real data mapping over an exposition. Focus should be on the specific needs of cultural heritage professionals, and on the ease of use.

The tools should be capable of generating preliminary assessments based on digital mock-ups, and assessments based on real physical spaces. Digital mock-ups of an exposition space could be navigated with interactive or virtual reality equipment, while specific equipment would be needed to gather data on users’ navigation and interaction with a real physical space.

The tools should also allow to design an exposition space, introducing separations, openings and pedestals etc. which allow creating a planned path, and smaller spaces inside larger physical exposition spaces, positioning the exhibits and setting a proper illumination.

Proposals should therefore ensure that existing tools and methods and their potential (re-)use are properly examined.

In order to facilitate the access for less well-equipped users, the developed software tools should to the extent possible be accessible online without requiring installation nor special or particularly powerful equipment. Also, the developed software tools should to the extent appropriate be designed to allow use and avoid loss of work in situations with unstable or limited connectivity.