Experiências Inclusivas com Uso de Jogos e Realidade Aumentada: Caso de Estudo no Museu do Douro

Abstract

This project arose from a personal perspective and need shared by the deaf community nationwide. Accessibility to museums was rethought, specifically the Douro Museum, which is the focus of this project. Bearing in mind that cultural and heritage museum exhibitions are of great social interest, the conditions of accessibility for people with additional needs, namely deafness, were investigated, starting from a personal point of view since I am deaf and encounter communication and access barriers in museums on a daily basis. This gave rise to the idea of how to contribute to improving linguistic and visual accessibility in museums, so this document is based on the systematisation of assistive technologies to enable accessibility for deaf people visiting the museum. That is, through inclusive experiences using games and augmented reality at the Douro Museum in Portugal. The first research problem arises from the difficulties encountered by disabled individuals in accessing museums due to a lack of knowledge on the part of professionals. The second research problem is the low level of interest and the view that museums are incompatible with themselves, since there is no accessibility, people don't go to museums and in turn feel that museums are not a space for everyone, but for those who are able to understand and visit without any communication or accessibility barriers. Subsequently, the implementation of augmented reality technology with storytelling and gamification is investigated in order to improve the deaf visitor's experience of the museum. The research has two main objectives. Firstly, to make the museum more inclusive, to demystify that the museum is not for everyone. A state-of-the-art study was carried out to identify the importance of accessibility for deaf people in museums, technologies to support accessibility and the experience of deaf visitors. In this sense, we looked for examples in international museums of how technology can improve the experience and create greater interest among deaf communities in visiting museums. The second objective is to understand how to make visits more interesting and interactive. To this end, a case study was carried out with a functional prototype developed at the Douro Museum and its validation. For its evaluation, research tools were created, namely surveys for deaf and hearing participants. These tools were tested with a small number of participants, but the results were considered promising for future use. The functional prototype was validated by the museum and the study participants. The study is dedicated to examining the underlying reasons that lead to accessibility problems often faced by deaf people when visiting museums. By analysing these obstacles, we aim to support the development of technologies and solutions aimed at the inclusion of this specific audience. This research presents evaluation tools and guidelines for their implementation. We thus aim to transform museums into truly inclusive spaces, eliminating the barriers identified. We not only seek to attract a more diverse public to museums, but also to make these spaces more attractive through the implementation of accessible technologies and applications. This study carried out at the Douro Museum acts as an inspirational source, demonstrating how museums can adopt similar practices to promote an inclusive experience and also be laboratory spaces for developing science, namely in the scientific area of the human-computer relationship. We therefore believe that the dissemination of successful practices, such as those presented in this research, can serve as a model for transforming other museums into places that are welcoming and accessible to all communities, providing a truly enriching and equal cultural experience for all visitors, regardless of their hearing comorbidities.