Future Museums and Interconnected Virtual Heritage Experiences: Eliciting Requirements

This paper presents findings from a mixed-methods study whose aim was to elicit requirements for a Future Museum ecosystem designed to connect citizen-curated museums, collections, assets, and artefacts with connected heritage experiences, including virtual worlds and game-based experiences. The study elicited three sets of empirically derived requirements, comprising nine requirements each for the Future Museum ecosystem, Connected Experiences, and a modernised Discover Babylon-type game experience. Thirty participants watched a Future Museum concept video, completed semi-structured interviews, played two levels of the Discover Babylon legacy serious game as a technology demonstrator, and completed post-game evaluation and requirements elicitation questions. Participants valued digital artefacts that could be collected, curated, shared, and connected to contextual information and experiences. They also wanted virtual museum spaces to retain some of the architectural character and presentation conventions of physical museums. Connected heritage experiences were expected to place artefacts within historical environments, demonstrate their creation and use, and support exploration, puzzles, quizzes, and challenges. Participants identified limitations in Discover Babylon, but valued its historical setting, opportunities for exploration, puzzles, educational content, and representation of Mesopotamian life. Across the Future Museum concept, collection was valued not only as a game-like incentive, but also as a means of personal curation, learning, and social sharing. The study’s originality lies in conceptualising the Future Museum not as a single virtual museum or standalone application, but as an interconnected ecosystem linking museums, personal and shared collections, and heritage experiences to support access, contextual understanding, curation, and engagement, including for less familiar histories and overlooked cultural artefacts. Its significance lies in identifying requirements for connecting museums, collections, artefacts, and heritage experiences within a future digital heritage ecosystem to support these goals.