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Arts & Communication Integrating extended reality in modern museums

Table 3. Benefits and challenges of metaverse usage in modern museums
References Benefits References Challenges References Best practices
62,68 It will enable browsing, 116 It requires the technically 113,117,121 It has not yet been fully developed.
retrieving, and arranging demanding transition to a Early examples of “metaverse” usage
museum data in a 3D real 3D online experience in the museum are associated with an
environment online virtual community on the Second
18,117 As a multi-user virtual 75,114,115,119 The simulation of real life Life platform, a metaverse museum on
environment, the metaverse in a virtual environment the Zepeto gaming platform, and the
is expected to allow visitors will cause a culture preservation of tangible and intangible
with common interests/ clash in human beings, CH content (Haw Par Villa, Singapore)
communities to fully altering their way of
participate in shared museum communication and
activities, escaping physical interaction
constraints
74,75 Visitor participation is 75,115 It raises issues of
anticipated to be more confidentiality and privacy
intensive than ever, through
the digitization of the human
body (avatars), thereby
renewing the way culture is
produced and appreciated
29,62,113,123 It is envisaged to renew
museum archiving, navigation,
and storytelling and support
the preservation of tangible
and intangible CH
74,75 It could stimulate younger
visitors’ curiosity, interest, and
participation levels

museum spaces that offer visitors opportunities for social choice.
interaction in gathering spaces (e.g., cafes and gift shops) Choi and Lee designed the Minhwa (a traditional
and encourage discussion about museum exhibits with Korean culture) metaverse museum through the Zepeto
people from around the world who share similar interests. gaming platform, which at that time had approximately
In the same context, and taking a humorous approach, 200 million users. The authors studied the common
117
Thawonmas and Fukumoto conceptualized an automatic features of popular metaverse gaming platforms, such as
comic book production system based on visit logs from autonomy and freedom of movement, the ability to create
a metaverse museum. This was implemented in the and engage in economic activities, and the use of an avatar
virtual exhibition of a Japanese museum through the SL as the user’s representative. They equipped their museum
platform. All 26 participants gave positive feedback on with download and upload services and a souvenir shop,
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the system, which summarized their experience during the capitalizing on younger cultural consumers’ trend of
visit, including their movements and postures in front of purchasing luxury goods (e.g., Gucci and Dior) to decorate
the exhibit – indicating their interests. their virtual worlds within the game, thereby driving a
billion-dollar market.
Choi and Kim envisioned a metaverse museum
exhibition based on VR–AR, beacon sensors, HMDs, and From their perspective, Zhang et al. focused on the
a storytelling function, which could provide interactive metaverse’s potential to support the preservation of
content relating mainly to visual archiving and museum tangible and intangible CH content. They developed a
113
navigation. In a different approach, Kim proposed the five-dimensional representation model for various types
123
creation of a metaverse cultural content platform based on of data, including those that transcend the limitations of
cloud services and smart mobile applications. According static solid forms (e.g., opera performances) or represent
114
to the author, members or subscribers of this platform CH connotations (e.g., stories, experiences, socio-
would be able to apply their avatars to live online cultural historical context, and evolution over time through
experiences or store personalized cultural content of their narration). This model – comprising linear-sequential, 2D,

Volume 3 Issue 1 (2025) 14 doi: 10.36922/ac.3428