Immersive Interactive Virtual Reality in the Museum Maria Roussou Foundation of the Hellenic World 254 Pireos St. Athens 17778 Greece +30-1-4835300, +30-1-4834634,
[email protected], http://www.fhw.gr/ Abstract. The use of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technology is a relatively recent trend enjoyed almost exclusively by the academic, military, and industrial research and development communities. However, as VR technologies mature, research is expanding from the military and scientific visualisation realm into more multidisciplinary areas, such as education, art, culture, and the humanities. As representative institutions involved in the research and presentation of these fields, museums, cultural centres, and entertainment venues may be in a better position to make use of advanced virtual reality technologies in order to investigate their educational potential while effectively shaping how they deliver public education and recreation. This paper will discuss the issues involved in using state-of-the-art interactive virtual environments in cultural public spaces by presenting the virtual environments developed for learners of all ages at the Foundation of the Hellenic World (FHW), a cultural heritage institution of informal education located in Athens. Virtual Reality in the Museum The development of new interactive important drawbacks for the use of VR in technologies has inevitably impacted the more public spaces, making it difficult to incorporate traditional sciences and arts. This is more in dwindling museum or school budgets. In evident in the case of novel interactive spite of these concerns and objections technologies that fascinate the broad public, as regarding the appropriateness and educational has always been the case with virtual reality.