AMuse: A theoretical framework and technology for extending the museum boundaries in the physical world

The use of intelligent presentation systems within a museum is a well-established practice. This thesis deals with connecting the museum experience with novel cultural experiences in the outside world, with attention to the individual in recognizing opportunities and delivering tailored presentations. Our goal is to help keep the user connected to the cultural experience and to help develop further knowledge and intellectual pleasure after the museum visit. The specific goal of this research is to explore the potential of technology 1) to define contextual opportunities†, 2) to identify these contextual opportunities, 3) to select relevant material, and 4) to deliver it, given the right context, in the most appropriate way for the specific user. We review the field of personalized cultural heritage experience and technology, and related research areas, needed to serve as a grounded basis for ideas developed in the framework. We examine user preferences by reviewing data from two surveys, we conducted, in order to develop additional (from those in the background) inputs (points) for the theoretical framework model. We then describe our theoretical frameworks, both finding the next place to go, and connecting back to previous experiences. We describe the System Architecture and give three concrete examples of use cases. We report on an initial evaluation of the system (and the underlying theoretical framework) by a visitor study, followed by a discussion of possible implications.