KU Leuven, Belgium – Eslam NOFAL
My PhD research (at Research[x]Design, Department of Architecture, KU Leuven, Belgium) focuses mainly on the utilization of digital technologies for achieving better communication and engagement of cultural heritage information, in particular tangible interaction approach. Together with museum curators and heritage professionals, I co-designed, implemented and experimented several interaction designs to communicate heritage information to lay visitors. We examined how the tangible characteristics of an interactive low-fidelity prototype museum installation influence how visitors perceive a particular historical story. In another study, we investigated how augmented reality enhances the communication of the original context of an isolated artifact from the Nimrud palace in Iraq. In a real heritage environment, we investigated how projection mapping can be steered by a tangible user interface to communicate the spatiotemporal transformation of architectural heritage in-situ. Further, through an imaginary context of a museum environment at a summer school, we designed an AR HoloLens prototype to group the unrelated physical exhibits by virtual surroundings by adding visual illustrations and ambient sounds to make their experience more enjoyable and more immersive. Currently, I am preparing for another study to explore how tangible gamification influences cultural learning of young museum visitors and how it encourages collaboration among them.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UUgCSLNUdWhzV9thWxs02ZXPW1goO8TZ