VR in the Time of Social Distancing: New Multidisciplinary-Inspired Directions for Virtual Exhibitions

ICAMT International Committee for Architecture & Museum Techniques Online Conference - 2020 October 7th - 8th Architecture & Exhibit Design New Challenges for Museums © 2021 ICAMT ICOM General Secretariat 15 rue Lasson 75012 Paris France Tel: +33 (0) 1 47 34 05 00 © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference - Reserved Document 2 Colofon General Editor Proofreading & Text Preparation Graphic Design ICAMT (International Committee for Architecture & Museum Techniques) Juliana Blanaru Lia Ana Trzmielina Md’A Design Agency Kiana Taleb-pour Result’s Editors Alessandra Labate Rosso Danusa Castro Maddalena d’Alfonso Institutions Sponsors Imagemakers An Award Winning Design Agency © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference - Reserved Document 3 Index 1 The Organization p.5 ICAMT p.6 Board Members Involved p.7 Keynote Speakers p.10 7. Jessica Boffa p.85 8. Kiem-Lian The p.91 9. Manuel C. Furtado Mendes p.102 II. New Challenges for Museums p.115 Introduction by p.116 Annamaria Ravagnan & Maddalena d’Alfonso 2 1. Ali S. Kiran & Celal Kaplan p.124 2. Gaia Turchetti p.131 3. Eleanna Avouri, Harriet Cliffen, p.139 Nenad Jončić, Giulia Osti, The Online Conference p.13 Douglas Pritchard, Francesco Opening Speech p.14 Ripanti, Marina Toumpouri Final Program p.17 4. Kali Tzortzi p.148 Speakers p.20 5. Maria Maystrovskaya & p.157 Alexander Kuprin 3 The Sessions p.33 I. Architecture & Exhibit Design p.34 Introduction by Nana p.35 p.162 7. Patrícia Martins p.173 8. Yulia Petrova p.181 4 The Conclusion Meparishvili & Danusa Castro 1. Aleid Hemeryck p.37 2. Craig Brandt p.45 3. David Masters p.54 4. Elena Montanari p.61 5. Fernanda Carvalho p.69 6. Gustavo Penna Arquiteto & p.75 Arquitetos Associados 6. Nara OHK p. 186 1 The Organization ICAMT Board Members Involved Keynote Speakers ICAMT 1 The Organization | ICAMT ICAMT is one of the first International Committees of ICOM, listed in ICOM News on October, 1st, 1948. Since its official date of creation (1949), ICAMT is the Committee in which information, best practices and ideas come together with aspects from the architecture, the techniques of the museum buildings and the techniques of exhibitions. Nowadays ICAMT provides a forum for communication between its members and other interested persons by organizing conferences and workshops, by the website and newsletters, and by other means of communication. We are always happy with and proud of our Committee members. For 2020, we count 615 individual and 21 institutional members all over the world. In addition to the Annual Conference we are just launching, one of our plans for 2020 is to present ICOM and ICAMT on “Regeneration 20|30”, a global platform which groups together businesses, institutions, and individuals involved in a collaborative effort. Built around three strictly interdependent pillars: Regenerative Economy, Climate Action and World Happiness, it is an economic, social, and environmental endeavor with a time span from 2020 to 2030. On October 15-16, 2020 there will be two days of digital and physical (in Parma, Italy) meetings to present the coalition to the world, globally involving stakeholders in the project. ICAMT will be represented in the section World Happiness, with the topic “Museums and Happiness”. ICAMT often collaborates with ICOM other committees. In November this year, ICAMT will take part in the 2020 Forum for ICOM International Committees, organized by ICEE and ICOM LAC. The Forum aims to create a space for exchanging ideas, networking, and collaboration among ICOM members in Latin America. During the Forum, ICOM International Committees will introduce themselves and promote their most relevant activities or projects with the purpose of engaging and attracting new members from National Committees in Latin America and the Caribbean. We are happy with our partners. ICAMT and Politecnico di Milano, within their competences, intend to establish an ongoing collaboration aiming to work on joint projects focused on strengthening of museum institutions. ICAMT is glad to cooperate with ICOM Italy’s working groups on “accessibility” and “exhibition fittings recycling”, two important themes for our Committee. These are, in short, our current activities, but ICAMT has many plans for the near future. We very much hope that the pandemic situation will be controlled next year, allowing us to fulfill our projects. Nana Meparishvili Chair of ICAMT © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference 6 Final Program 2 Session 1: Architecture & Exhibit Design 7 October, 2020 Time (GMT+1) 13:00 ZOOM Platform (previous registration) The People Nana Meparishvili Topic Welcome Words 2020 Online Conference | Final Program | Day 1 Day 1 Alberto Garlandini 13:10-13:20 Aleid Hemeryck The New Gruuthusemuseum: Heritage & Innovation 13:20-13:30 Craig Brandt Outside the Gallery: New Approaches to Museum Visitor Access and Connection 13:30-13:40 David Masters Back to the Future: Reinterpreting Wardown House Museum and Gallery 13:40-13:50 Elena Montanari Exhibiting Exhibitions. Re-Staging, Re-Viewing & Re-Considering the Role of Seminal Displays 13:50-14:00 Fernanda Carvalho Light, Shadows and Screens: Possible Harmonious Coexistences 14:00-14:10 Gustavo Penna Arquiteto & Arquitetos Associados SesiLab Descriptive Memorial – Preliminary Draft 14:10-14:20 Jessica Boffa Architecture on a Human Scale 14:20-14:30 Kiem-Lian The Renovation Museum Het Valkhof Nijmegen: Making an Existing Museum Building Futureproof: Sustainable and Accessible 14:30-14:40 Manuel C. Furtado Mendes Sustainability Indicators in Museum 14:40-14:50 Q&A © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference 17 2 Session 2: New Challenges for Museums 8 October, 2020 Time (GMT+1) ZOOM Platform (previous registration) The People Topic 13:00-13:10 Nana Meparishvili 13:10-13:25 Stefano Della Torre & Ingrid Paoletti Politecnico University of Milan 13:25-13:40 ICOM Museum Accessibility Group 13:40-13:50 Ali S. Kiran & Celal Kaplan Visiting Safely: A Simulation Modelling Approach to Optimizing Museum Spaces for a v-19 World 13:50-14:00 Gaia Turchetti Museum as a Cultural Hub: The Challenge of Sustainability in a Post-Pandemic Scenario 14:00-14:10 Eleanna Avouri, Harriet Cliffen, Nenad Jončić, Giulia Osti, Douglas Pritchard, Francesco Ripanti, Marina Toumpouri VR in the Time of Social Distancing: New Multidisciplinary-Inspired Directions for Virtual Exhibitions 14:10-14:20 Kali Tzortzi Museum Architectures for Digital Experiences: Towards a New Spatial Typology? 14:20-14:30 Maria Maystrovskaya & Alexander Kuprin The New Architecture and Exhibitions in the Museum Building in Russia 14:30-14:40 Nara Ohk The Answers for the Issues of the Korea’s New National History Museum of Saemangeum Reclamation © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference Introduction (ICAMT) 2020 Online Conference | Final Program | Day 2 Day 2 18 2 (GMT+1) The People Topic 14:40-14:50 Patrícia Martins Physical and the Virtual Experiences on Contemporary Museums: The Case of MIS Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 14:50-15:00 Yulia Petrova From Revolution to Lyrical Paysage. The Experience of Reuse of the Exhibition Architecture in the Museum of Russian Impressionism 15:00-15:20 Q&A 15:20-15:40 Conclusion © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference 2020 Online Conference | Final Program | Day 2 Time 19 2 Day 2 - October 8th 14:00 GMT+1 14:00 GMT+1 Douglas Pritchard Digital Heritage Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Informatics. Cyprus University of Technology Douglas Pritchard is a Senior Research Fellow in the area of 3D visualisation. He is a Canadian graduate architect with over 15 years’ experience in the direction of advanced digital projects for the architecture, engineering, and urban planning sectors. The work typically utilizes specialized 3D ‘reality capture’ systems in the creation of interactive virtual environments, immersive 3D experiences and customized software development. He has initiated a series of innovative projects that have significantly changed the working methods of the organizations such as the Glasgow City Council, Historic Environment Scotland, and the Scottish Government. Notable projects include the documentation of Cologne Cathedral UNESCO World Heritage Site, development of the Urban Model for Glasgow, and the Scottish Ten Project. © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference Eleanna Avouri Digital Heritage Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering & Informatics. Cyprus University of Technology 2020 Online Conference | Speakers Day 2 - October 8th Eleanna Avouri is an Archaeologist and a cultural heritage management specialist, holding the position of Early Stage Researcher at the Era Chair in Digital Cultural Heritage Mnemosyne. Her research interests focus on new media and digital applications in the field of cultural heritage, and she was actively involved in several archaeology outreach initiatives and museum-education programs. 23 2 Day 2 - October 8th 14:00 GMT+1 13:50 GMT+1 Francesco Ripanti Digital Heritage Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Informatics. Cyprus University of Technology Francesco Ripanti is Experienced Researcher at the Digital Heritage Research Lab at CUT within the EU-funded project ERA Mnemosyne, focusing his research on the Preservation and Use and Reuse. Thanks to a PhD in Public Archaeology obtained from the University of Pisa, he has a very interdisciplinary profile that covers several topics related to the interaction with the public in the archaeological and museum sectors. Among them: public participation, communication, outreach, user experience, evaluation based on qualitative analysis, citizen science and storytelling. © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference Gaia Turchetti PhD Environmental Technological Design Specialist in Architectural & Landscape Heritage Fondazione Scuola dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali, Scuola del Patrimonio 2020 Online Conference | Speakers Day 2 - October 8th Graduated in quinquennial Architecture at the Sapienza Università di Roma, Gaia Turchetti obtained the II level master’s degree in Architectural Design for the Recovery of Historic Buildings and Public Spaces, and the Specialization Diploma in Architectural and Landscape Heritage at the School of Rome. Since 2018 she is a PhD in Environmental Technological Design (Department of Planning, Design, and Architecture Technology, Sapienza Università di Roma), with a research focused on the microclimatic aspect of the historic city seen as a form of protection. Thanks to experiences at research centres, teaching and collaborations with different professional figures, she has worked in an inter-scalar and interdisciplinary way on the issues of restoration, environmental risk assessment, architectural and urban regeneration, and museography in an interdisciplinary perspective, articulating the scientific experience into areas useful for the definition of tools and procedures to programme, plan, implement, management, and monitor the interventions. 25 2 Day 1 - October 7th 14:00 GMT+1 14:00 GMT+1 Giulia Osti Digital Heritage Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Informatics. Cyprus University of Technology Giulia Osti is a Digital and Community Archaeologist, holding the position of Early Stage Researcher at the Era Chair in Digital Cultural Heritage Mnemosyne. Giulia researches on DCH data modelling, having a broad set of skills from the humanities to computer science, other than a strong background in data visualization. Gustavo de Araújo Penna Architect & Urban Planner Director of the Office Gustavo Penna Arquiteto & Associados 2020 Online Conference | Speakers Day 2 - October 8th Gustavo de Araújo Penna graduated from the School of Architecture of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), where he taught for three decades. He founded the architecture office GPA&A and won international awards, among others The International Architecture Award in Chicago, the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Singapore and the Architizer A+Awards in London. His works have already been exhibited in Brazil and worldwide, highlighting the Biennial of Architecture, in São Paulo, the Biennial of Venice and the Institut Français d’Architecture, in Paris. Gustavo is the author of projects such as Expominas, the Monument to the Freedom of the Press, the Japanese Immigration Memorial, the Congonhas Museum, the Guignard School (considered one of the 30 most relevant works of architecture in Brazil). He published four books and his works have been exhibited in Brazil and abroad, by the main websites, magazines and books on architecture and design. [Represented by Ricardo Gomes Lopes] © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference 26 2 Day 1 - October 7th 14:00 GMT+1 14:10 GMT+1 Harriet Cliffen Digital Heritage Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Informatics. Cyprus University of Technology Harriet Cliffen is an Early Stage Researcher with the Mnemosyne project in the area of Data Processing. She has a background in Archaeology, with a BA from the University of Manchester, and an MSc from the University of Liverpool. Her previous work has focused on materials analysis, with recent research projects on the use of X-Radiography to image the interior structures of Bronze Age Cypriot ceramic vessels, to identify production techniques. © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference Jessica Boffa International Art Curator, Childhood Museum Ireland 2020 Online Conference | Speakers Day 2 - October 8th Specialized in the historical-artistic field of cultural heritage, Jessica Boffa’s experience was born in the field of Museum Education and Accessibility, and then expanded to the Museum Exibition. After an initial experience in the management of a museum, as well as the coordination and training of resources, she turned to museum education, expanding her knowledge through various training courses throughout the country. Having conceived and coordinated specific programmes for schools, she has dedicated herself to the field of Accessibility; her programmes have been included in a series of informative events in collaboration with various partners and museums. Now, as the International Art Curator for Childhood Museum Ireland Project, she is curating the exhibition related to Project 2020, coordinating the museum’s historical and artistic activities in Europe and in the United States. 27 2 Day 2 - October 8th 14:00 GMT+1 14:30 GMT+1 Marina Toumpouri Digital Heritage Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Informatics. Cyprus University of Technology Marina Toumpouri is an Art historian, holding the position of Experienced Researcher at the ERA Chair in Digital Cultural Heritage Mnemosyne. She specializes in Byzantine and Crusader manuscript cultures, the cross-cultural interactions in the Medieval Mediterranean and the methods of work of craftsmen and painters in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Byzantine and the Crusader periods. Her involvement in Mnemosyne project concentrates on the holistic documentation of movable and immovable heritage, as well as of intangible heritage using an array of data acquired by digital and more traditional methods. © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference Nara Ohk Republic of Korea’s Government, Saemangeum Development & Investment Agency 2020 Online Conference | Speakers Day 2 - October 8th Nara Ohk has a BA from the Yonsei Univ. Korea (2003), J.D Handong International Lawschool (2007) and is now a PhD candidate to Handong Univ. Korea. His professional experience includes: Mongolia International Univ. Faculty (20092011); Gyeongbuk Province Office, Korea, international campaign officer for Dokdo island (2011- 2013); and Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency [SDIA], Assistant Director and Deputy Director for Investment promotion, Chief Secretary to the Administrator (ViceMinister Level) of SDIA (2013-Present). 30 2 Day 2 - October 8th 14:00 GMT+1 14:40 GMT+1 Nenad Jončić Digital Heritage Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Informatics. Cyprus University of Technology Nenad Jončić is an Archaeologist (MA, University of Belgrade), holding the position of Early Stage Researcher at the Era Chair in Digital Cultural Heritage Mnemosyne. He specializes in 3D spatial technologies and has a deep understanding of photogrammetry and GIS. © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference Patrícia Martins Architect and PhD Teacher at Faculty of Architecture & Urbanism of the Mackenzie Presbyterian Institute, São Paulo, Brazil 2020 Online Conference | Speakers Day 2 - October 8th Architect and urbanist graduated from FAU-PUC (1992, Campinas), Master in History and Theory of Architecture from AA-Architectural Association School of Architecture (1995, London), PhD in Contemporary Architecture from FECAU UNICAMP (2011, Campinas) and postDoctor from FAU-USP (2014, São Paulo). Patrícia Martins teaches History and Theory of Architecture at FAU Mackenzie São Paulo, working mainly on the following themes: Contemporary Architecture, History and Theory of Architecture and Architectural Design. As a researcher, she is an associate member of the Brasiliana Institut, focusing on contemporary museum architecture and exhibition design. 31 VR in the Time of Social Distancing: New Multidisciplinary-Inspired Directions for Virtual Exhibitions Eleanna Avouri, Giulia Osti, Harriet Cliffen, Nenad Joncic, Douglas Pritchard, Francesco Ripanti, Marina Toumpouri Digital Heritage Research Lab, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus Abstract Social distancing is currently the For both CH and medicine, developing international disease control standard as VR content is time-consuming, and a response to the spread of Covid-19. This the associated computer hardware and situation has brought many significant associated exhibition equipment can be challenges to Cultural Heritage (CH) exceptionally expensive. By drawing upon professionals and associated institutions. state-of-the-art research and applied Although physical patronage at museums activities from the field of medicine, has dropped significantly, there are the proposed paper will look at specific opportunities for retaining and possibly precedents that would be of direct increasing viewership by using the latest interest and benefit to CH. Looking at virtual reality technology (VR) and methods such as digital documentation, other advanced multimedia tools. To be virtualization, 3D presentation, AR better informed, it is helpful to look at interaction, haptic systems, and other VR sectors outside of CH that have made an tools. effective integration of these systems and The suggested topics will be discussed methods. A comparative precedent is the within the framework of the EU international medical sector, which actively ERA Chair in Digital CH, project employs advanced VR for education, “MNEMOSYNE”, which aims to propose research and daily practice. The field systems, guidelines, and standards for the has been highly active in the integration holistic documentation of Digital Cultural of VR to effectively address issues such Heritage. 3.II The Sessions | 3.II New Challenges for Museums | VR in the time of social distancing 3 as enhanced training, communication, public/professional engagement and remote access. © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference 139 (Gonizzi Barsanti et al. 2015). Similarly, Virtual Reality *** Cultural Heritage *** Medicine *** Covid-19 *** Text mining medicine is being taught and practised. the rapid growth of VR is shaping how Driven by the technical advancements in the gaming and entertainment sectors, VR has now emerged as an essential tool in many areas of clinical care (Norcross et al. 2013) and research (Bohil et al. 2011). The advent of the pandemic impacted several of the aspects connected to the application of VR technologies in both CH and healthcare. Digital accessibility and telepresence gained new significance in this context, currently placed among the Introduction key needs to be addressed. Although still considered cutting-edge In this small contribution, we attempt at innovation, Virtual Reality (VR) is not a outlining and comparing major themes, recent invention. Many of the methods trends and challenges in VR usage in and techniques behind real-time virtual CH and medicine, tackling their last reality and immersive environments developments due to the Covid-19 were initially developed in the early ‘80s. impact. This stimulating task allowed us Currently, VR is a growing force within to draw some raw inspiration and insights the seemingly distinct sectors of Cultural for adapting virtual exhibitions to the heritage (CH) and healthcare. post-pandemic context. The following The use of Immersive Technologies has paragraphs explore briefly the main long- proven to be beneficial in the CH sector. term themes for both the disciplines, So far, VR has been offering the possibility presenting a more in-depth balance of immersive experiences, creating a state- in the light of the pandemic context. of-the-art demand for access to museums Given the intrinsic differences of the and CH sites. Indicative examples are the two investigated areas, we implemented VR reconstruction of an ancient Greek two different approaches: for CH studies temple in Messene, as part of CREATE we went through an extensive literature project (Christou et al. 2006), or the 3D review, while for medicine we additionally visualization of the Egyptian funeral performed data mining with Rstudio objects exhibited in Sforza Castle in Milan (2016)1. 1 3.II The Sessions | 3.II New Challenges for Museums | VR in the time of social distancing Keywords The whole procedure explained step by step, the datasets and the code are available in a dedicated repository (Osti 2020). © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference 140 5. Virtual Museums, among the most The use of Immersive Technologies in We want to stress the importance of the CH domain has become a dynamic this latter area, given its current and trend since the mid-2000s, a technological future centrality in relation to pandemic/ innovation that could open up new post-pandemic context. With Virtual representation and communication Museums, we have the chance to realise paths in managing both the tangible and the dynamics of a virtual reality curatorial the intangible heritage, while allowing approach, completely differing from new kinds of interactive and sensorial the exhibition practices of the physical contact with CH assets. Providing a museum (Carrozzino & Bergamasco critical review and analysis of the CH 2010). According to ViMM definition immersive applications, Bekele et alii (Polycarpou 2018), a Virtual Museum (2018) established a classification which is a digital formation that, based on delineates the purposes that those the features of the traditional museum, technologies serve. Given the validity of exploits the capacities of a digital their analysis, we opted for maintaining environment “through personalization, the categorisation and enriching it with interactivity, user experience and richness our considerations: of content”. A Virtual Museum does not debated areas of practice, implying the total commitment to a digital space. 3.II The Sessions | 3.II New Challenges for Museums | VR in the time of social distancing Virtual Reality in the CH Domain: A Concise State of the Art make exclusive use of VR tools and does 1. Education, the most traditional among not have to be necessarily connected with the areas of usage for VR, which is a specific physical museum collection, continuously evolving toward new since it can go beyond that (Perry et al. approaches. 2018). For example, fostering a Sense of 2. Exhibition enhancement, oriented Place has recognised as a potential pillar towards the enrichment of visitor of VR simulation projects (Aiello et al. experience in situ, at physical museums 2019); another emerging scenario could and sites. be specialised training, though it is not 3. Exploration, based on the visualisation considered a trend (Bruno et al. 2017). of historical and current views of CH assets, focused mainly on research purposes for more specialized users. 4. Reconstruction, as a tool for audience interaction with multifaceted views of tangible and intangible aspects of CH. © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference 141 The confirmed major challenges are The required lockdown and social access to digital CH, other than delivering distancing caused many sectors to high-quality content and interactive reappraise and revisit the online and environment. engaging and “massive but customised” virtual approaches to learning, exhibitions, and outreach. According to a recent report by UNESCO, 90% of museums (more than 85,000 institutions) have closed their doors during the crisis, nearly a third have VR in the Medical Domain: Insides from a Quantitative Approach significantly reduced their staff, and up to The use of VR technology in medicine is 10% may close permanently (UNESCO roughly datable to the end of the 20th and 2020). The Network of European the beginning of the 21st century. Museums Organisation (NEMO) run a The first approaches were probably survey on that topic, analysing nearly motivated by the need of medical staff 1,000 responses collected between 24 to visualise complex medical data, March and 30 April 2020 from museums particularly during surgery and for surgery in 48 countries – the majority from planning. At that time, the potential Europe. The survey findings resulted in of virtual reality seemed unlimited, three immediate recommendations to generating unachievable expectations and be considered for mid and long-term confusion among medical professionals; strategies design(ICOM 2020): these issues are evident in the extensive 3.II The Sessions | 3.II New Challenges for Museums | VR in the time of social distancing VR and CH during Covid-19 material published in both scientific and 1. Promotion of open access to CH popular press (Riva 2002). However, the and use digital on-line tools; more variety of specialistic applications reported intensive efforts towards accessibility in literature does not allow us to provide enhancement will be required. a concise but comprehensive overview; 2. Enhancement of digital skills of the for this reason, we implemented a data CH sector, to strengthen participation mining approach to understand which and access by digital means. applications are most representative of 3. Invest in what makes museums Medicine. unique: their collections and rich The National Library of Medicine (NLM, content. Fun, engaging and creative National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, digital offers will be part of museums’ US) is recognised as the largest biomedical digital future. library in the world, currently playing a crucial role in bioinformatics. © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference 142 The related e-utilities in place for the 3.II Information (NCBI) provide access to this vast query and database system (Sayers 2010), with the aid of thematic tools. Dedicated packages for the R language were used to retrieve the general publication trends for VR in medicine (2011:2020) and covid-related context usage (2019:2020) from NCBI. Based on the results obtained for the general trends (see Figure 1), we found Figure 1. Journals publishing VR-related articles (left) and VRrelated publications per year (right) obtained through data mining with Rstudio. other than a vast array of well-defined VR in Medicine during Covid-19 adaptations, though usage contexts and Despite the urgent and inevitable focus tools seem to be “polarised”. The two on public health, during the Covid-19 identified categories are research-oriented pandemic, a critical concern for medical (e.g. surgery/protocols development) or educators is the increasing difficulty in training-oriented usage contexts. So, the training the next generation of doctors, as most representative VR applications can real-world experience is hardly replaceable be found in education and staff training (Rose 2020). However, the last months (Mcgaghie et al. 2014), surgical simulations have seen new ways of interaction in (Joda et al. 2019), rehabilitation (Riva virtual environments, reshaping the ideas 2003), pain management (Gold et al. 2006) behind their usage. Figure 2 displays a and neuroscience (Riva et al. 2019). In the ranking of the most used words stemmed last three years, VR applications have seen from the articles concerning VR and a sudden increase in terms of scientific Medicine that have been published within publishing, though the numbers see each the last year. A shift in training and journal publishing a mean of 2 VR-related teamwork dynamics is noticeable – e.g. in articles per year. This can be concerning approaches to patient treatment, medical the recent inauguration of VR-themed marketing and disease awareness (Singh et journals – e.g. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, al. 2020), as the emergence of “telehealth”, dedicated but not limited to the Medical which has been defined as “entire area. spectrum of activities used to deliver care evidence that VR has a long tradition The Sessions | 3.II New Challenges for Museums | VR in the time of social distancing National Centre for Biotechnology at a distance—without direct physical contact with the patient” (Wosik et al. © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference 143 common the need for accessibility to overcome the emotive impacts of the enhancement. In terms of VR usage, the pandemic and have been proposed (Gao et global trends for the two disciplines are al. 2020; Riva et al. 2020). different: VR approaches from CH try to foster the Sense of Place, conveying a historical narrative, bringing the viewer back in time, educating and/or enhancing the experience. Viceversa, Medicine proposes tools and exercises to escape reality through the immersion on natural environments – previously for pain control purposes and then adjusted to the pandemic. Additionally, the opposite approach – live streaming the reality of the pandemic Figure 2. A list with 20 of the most represented words in the Covid-19 VR-related literature, obtained through data mining with Rstudio. Discussion and Conclusive Remarks – is considered among the potential 3.II The Sessions | 3.II New Challenges for Museums | VR in the time of social distancing 2020). At last, new protocols and strategies approaches. Both areas are reflecting on the new scenarios of a permanent implementation of virtual environments; but while CH seems more focused on highlighting Some interesting convergences between museum uniqueness and providing the two areas emerged; a summary is user-levelled access, medicine invests presented in Table 1. on personalisation of digital care and In particular, both domains have in alternative training systems. CH Medicine Perspectives Improved representation of CH sites and Museums, alternate access to knowledge Personalisation of care and enhanced accessibility of VR. Usage From creating Sense of Place to recreating/preserving/implementing the knowledge of the past. From live-streaming to escaping reality Opportunities Telepresence, user-levelled access to knowledge Telehealth, education and training Table 1. Summary of the main perspectives, usage trends and opportunities of VR technologies application in CH and medicine. © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference 144 to the mindset of traditional exhibition are several interesting directions suggested and heritage site presentation practices. from Medicine developments that can be considered for enriching current VR Acknowledgements applications and approaches in the CH This work has received funding from the domain. European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research An intrinsic aim is, for example, to and Innovation programme under grant have network infrastructures similar to agreement Nº668997. the ones of Medicine, which allowed a successful data mining attempt but also References could enable other exciting scenarios, Aiello, D., Fai, S., & Santagati, C. (2019). Virtual Museums as a Means For Promotion and Enhancement of Cultural Heritage. In International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives, Vol. 42, International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, pp. 33–40. like the ones proposed for industry 4.0 in the pandemic era (Javaid et al. 2020). More specifically, the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) would be extremely interesting from the point of view of enhancing accessibility as, for example, it allows understanding user behaviour patterns. A more explicit aspect goes back to the global idea of the realityvirtuality continuum proposed originally by Milgram and Kishimo (1994). Thinking about multiple usage scenarios for the same technologies while attempting to cover the whole mixed reality spectrum could help us to face the limitation of 3.II The Sessions | 3.II New Challenges for Museums | VR in the time of social distancing Based on this comparison (table 1), there Bekele, M. K., Pierdicca, R., Frontoni, E., Malinverni, E. S., & Gain, J. (2018, March 1). A survey of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality for cultural heritage. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 1–36. resources we have in CH, in comparison to Medicine. A single technology-centric approach should be avoided, preferring an integrated one; if this is not possible we can adapt and reuse the same technologies in different fields of application. Bohil, C. J., Alicea, B., & Biocca, F. A. (2011, December). Virtual reality in neuroscience research and therapy. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. doi:10.1038/ nrn3122 Developing the training dimension in connection with research aspects seems to be a promising path to walk for the future, as demonstrated from Medicine, though the CH sector remains relatively attached © ICAMT 2020 Online Conference Bruno, F., Lagudi, A., Ritacco, G., … Mudur, S. (2017). 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