Page 192 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

192audience study a questionnaire was drawn up for them to respond to before the tour with the app, and a second questionnaire was handed to them after completing the tour and visualising the content. Various parameters were taken into consideration, such as the respondent’s pro le and participation in the activity, as well as their knowledge and opinion of the industrial heritage before and after the activity.The statistical analysis subsequently carriedout established that the users already had a signi cant knowledge of the industrial heritage, though it was further enhanced after they used the application, and that they attached impor- tance to it in comparison to other heritage. It was also possible to assess their opinion of this heritage following their experience with the app; they displayed an actively protectionist attitude, such as being in favour of reusing it.Finally, it should be stressed with respect to the use of the app that a high percentage considered it to be an interpretive resource with major possibilities compared to the options o ered by traditional tourist guides.Roman Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum)The Roman past of the city of Leicester (United Kingdom) was the object of a project carried out by De Montfort University to develop an iPad application displaying 3D reconstructions of buildings and objects of Roman Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) around AD 210 (Higgett et al., 2015).306 As part of this experiment the applica- tion was evaluated using questionnaires that were presented to a group of potential visitors.The initiative stemmed from the Jewry Wall Mu- seum which is located next to the archaeological site and houses some of the objects found there. It was thought that the application could enrich visitors’ experience by improving the interpreta- tion of the ruins of the site and the objects on display that showed the Roman way of life.The GPS-based virtual reality and augmented reality application for mobile devices used 3D digital content from an earlier project called Virtual Romans307 (2008). The virtual graphics were accordingly geolocated during the visit to the site, enabling users to view virtual recon- structions in situ such as of the Roman baths and the combination of virtual elements overlaid on the current ruins of the mithraeum or religious temple using augmented reality technology.An important part of this project involved evaluating the application with a group of forty visitors who answered a questionnaire. On the basis of their answers, measures were taken to solve existing technical hitches or make im- provements to meet users’ needs with a view to releasing an o cial app. Although the results of the surveys highlighted the fact that it was an in- tuitive, informative and realistic application that helped understand the site and the collections, the inaccuracy of the GPS and the small size of the screens were regarded as negative aspects of the visitor experience and immersion.Geolocation data on TwitterThe importance of digital technologies, espe- cially the presence and interactions of userson the social media and apps, is giving rise to audience and tourist studies focusing on cultural heritage.A pioneering study on the use of geolocation data on Twitter has been conducted by a team from the Instituto de Física Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos IFISC308 (CSIC-UIB). It was funded partly by the Spanish Ministry of the Economy, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Commission.The aim was to analyse the importance of geolocation data in providing information worldwide on the mobility of tourism related to cultural leisure. It was considered that the major impact this type of activity has on the local and global economy, as well as on the environment,3. RESEARCHThe use of digital technologies in the conservation, analysis and dissemination of cultural heritage