Virtual Reality and Historic Preservation

Lei Yang
2017
This thesis explores the factors involved in the application of virtual reality technology to historic preservation through a review of the literature on the history of virtual reality, two case studies on the use of virtual reality at Chinese heritage sites, and a social science experiment. The results indicate that virtual reality can facilitate heritage preservation through improved visual presentation and interpretation of site content, tourism management, documentation technology, public
more » ... rticipation, and cross-cultural communication. Virtual reality technology challenges traditional preservation norms as it generates an immersive environment that meets the needs of a wider audience, regardless of place and time. Virtual reality technology enhances the interactive experience between heritage objects and users. As is the case for all human-computer interactions, virtual reality technology has a cultural component, which requires further research. iii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Lei Yang was born in Xi'an, China. After finishing her undergraduate degree in Urban Planning in China, she was sent to the US by her parents in 2012 to pursue further education. Between 2012 and 2014, she studied Architecture Design in Washington University in St Louis, MO and earned her Masters of Architecture degree in summer 2014. Living alone in another culture for the first time gradually enlarged her seeing points of view. To further her architecture career, she joined Historic Preservation Planning (HPP) program in Cornell University in August 2014, another life adventure she could not have foreseen. During her study in HPP Cornell, she constantly got involved and challenged by western and eastern thinking. The most memorable and inspiring experience to her is the numbered field trips with other HPP students led by program professors Dr. Tomlan and Prof. Chusid during 2014 to 2016, which exposed her to the diverse local culture of this country. She also spent her summer in the Israel Museum, in Jerusalem as an intern in 2015, which enabled her seeing other prospective career field. Lei Yang is currently working in New York City as a preservation architect. With specific interest in "Virtual Reality" she looks forward to creatively implementing her preservation thought into practice with this new medium in the future. The principal methods used in this work are qualitative. They include a review of the literature that describes virtual reality from a theoretical and applied perspective, focusing on the last three decades. The references can be found chiefly in Cornell University Library database. This includes academic and commercial sources. The additional method included a questionnaire survey to gather from select participants in an experiment to test the cultural values in a virtual reality environment. The questionnaire followed up the experiment conducted in May 2016 in the Information Science
doi:10.7298/x4bg2m5n fatcat:n7b4wcwcvrbnjhbg6wal36joqe