Digital Technology as a Probe for Reflexivity in Cultural Contexts by maria roussou
23 NOVEMBRO 2023 > 17H00 I GRANDE AUDITÓRIO
Invitation by Prof. Helena Elias, under the CAPHE Project – Communities and Artistic Participation in Hybrid Environments- 01086391 Marie Curie Actions Horizon – 2021-SE
Free event that does not require registration, subject to room capacity.
Maria Roussou
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
The use of advanced digital technologies in the GLAM sector (e.g., galleries, libraries, archives, museums, etc.) to enhance visitor experiences has come of age.
The ubiquity of devices and applications has transformed the nature of our interactions, and cultural institutions have seized the opportunity to leverage these interfaces to create meaningful experiences for their visitors.
In this talk, I draw on case studies and real-world examples of digital applications, from high-end immersive eXtended Reality (XR) applications to lower-end mobile tours, created for cultural or informal educational purposes. I will explore how digital technologies can be designed to serve as probes for experiences that are playful, emotive, social and shared, meaningfully interactive, and, ultimately, relevant and resonant to those they are designed for.
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Bio
Maria Roussou is an Associate Professor in Interactive Systems at the Department of Informatics & Telecommunications, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She co-founded makebelieve, an experience design and consulting company in 2003 and previously established and directed the Virtual Reality Department at the Foundation of the Hellenic World from 1998 to 2003. Her work there involved creating immersive projection-based VR exhibits and overseeing research, design, and development of VR programs and visitor experiences. For most of the nineties (1993-1997), during her extensive work with the CAVE® at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory in Chicago, she focused on designing, applying, and evaluating virtual and digital media environments for education and cultural representation. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of London (UCL); a Master in Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Electronic Visualization and an MSc in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago; and a BSc in Applied Informatics from the Athens University of Economics and Business. Maria is a Senior Member of the ACM, Vice-chair of the Greek ACM SIGCHI Chapter and the Greek ACM-W Chapter, and the recipient of the 2013 Tartessos Award in Digital Heritage and Virtual Archaeology.