VR Co-Design for Cultural Heritage Accessibility

Why It Matters

This approach moves beyond generic design by deeply embedding user requirements and experiential goals from the outset. It ensures that digital solutions for cultural heritage are not only functional but also emotionally resonant and truly inclusive.

Key Finding

Using scenarios to represent user needs and then involving those users in the design process helps create better VR experiences for cultural heritage that are accessible to people with mobility issues.

Key Findings

• Scenario-Based Design is a valuable tool for identifying specific user requirements in the context of VR cultural heritage accessibility.
• Co-design activities involving users with specific needs, designers, and stakeholders are crucial for defining both functional and experiential aspects of the VR application.
• VR offers a compensatory solution to improve the enjoyment of cultural heritage for visitors with mobility impairments.

Research Evidence

Aim: How can Scenario-Based Design be utilized within a User-Centred Design process to co-design virtual reality experiences that enhance the accessibility of cultural heritage sites for individuals with mobility impairments?

Method: Scenario-Based Design (SBD) within a User-Centred Design (UCD) framework.

Procedure: The research involved creating user personas and scenarios representing target users (visitors with mobility impairments). These were then used in co-design workshops with users, designers, and stakeholders to identify functional and experiential requirements for a VR accessibility solution for cultural heritage sites.

Context: Digital cultural heritage accessibility, virtual reality applications.

Design Principle

User needs and experiences should be actively elicited and incorporated throughout the design process using scenario-based methods and direct stakeholder involvement.

How to Apply

Develop detailed user personas and narrative scenarios that describe how different user groups would interact with a product or service. Use these scenarios as a basis for brainstorming and prototyping in collaborative design sessions with representative users.

Limitations

The study focused specifically on mobility impairments; findings may not directly translate to other accessibility needs. The effectiveness of the final VR solution was not empirically tested.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: When designing something new, especially for people with specific needs, it's helpful to imagine and write down stories (scenarios) about how they would use it. Then, get those people involved to help design it.

Why This Matters: This research shows how to make sure your design project truly meets the needs of the people you are designing for, especially when dealing with accessibility or specialized experiences.

Critical Thinking: To what extent can scenarios accurately predict the complex and often unpredictable ways users will interact with a new technology, and how can designers mitigate potential biases in scenario creation?

IA-Ready Paragraph: The design process for this project was guided by a User-Centred Design approach, specifically employing Scenario-Based Design. This involved developing detailed user personas and narrative scenarios to represent the needs and behaviours of target users. These scenarios then served as a foundation for co-design activities, where direct input from users, designers, and stakeholders was gathered to refine functional and experiential requirements, ensuring the final design effectively addressed user needs and accessibility challenges.

Project Tips

• Clearly define your target user group and their specific needs.
• Develop detailed, realistic scenarios of use for your product/service.
• Organize co-design workshops to gather feedback on your scenarios and prototypes.

How to Use in IA

• Use the concept of scenario-based design to justify your user research methods and how you identified user needs.
• Reference the co-design aspect to explain how you involved stakeholders or target users in your design process.

Examiner Tips

• Ensure your user research methods are clearly linked to the identification of specific user needs and scenarios.
• Demonstrate how user feedback directly influenced design decisions.

Independent Variable: Scenario-Based Design methodology, Co-design participation.

Dependent Variable: Identification of functional and experiential requirements for VR cultural heritage accessibility.

Controlled Variables: User group (e.g., individuals with mobility impairments), context (cultural heritage site accessibility), technology (Virtual Reality).

Strengths

• Emphasizes direct user involvement in the design process.
• Provides a structured method (SBD) for eliciting and representing user needs.

Critical Questions

• How can the insights gained from scenario-based co-design be effectively translated into robust technical specifications?
• What are the ethical considerations when designing immersive experiences for vulnerable user groups?

Extended Essay Application

• Investigate the effectiveness of VR-based educational tools for students with specific learning disabilities by developing and testing scenarios of use.
• Explore the potential of VR for remote collaboration in design by creating scenarios for distributed teams.

Source

Co-designing Cultural Heritage Experiences for All with Virtual Reality: a Scenario-Based Design approach · Umanistica Digitale · 2022 · 10.6092/issn.2532-8816/13686