Computers have been used in museums for many years, and the success of multimedia installations in imparting knowledge has led to an increase in the use of electronic displays for public education in the museum sector. Computers have also been extensively used in archaeology (Kvamme 1992; Ross et al. 1991) and computer reconstructions of sites have been shown to provide much knowledge about a structure. Virtual reality has always been popular with the public, but until recently archaeological computer reconstructions were too costly and difficult to produce and support to allow interactive public access to the models. The development of VRML as an independent three-dimensional modelling tool has created many opportunities for developing computer displays which allow the museum visitor to interact with a virtual environment, heightening the learning experience. Future developments may lead to the increased use of virtual reality as an educational tool (Mathur 1997; Mitchell and Economou 1997). However, the use of multimedia and virtual reality in a museum setting carries its own practical and theoretical problems.
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URL: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue7/terras/context.htm
Last updated: Mon Nov 29 1999