Evaluating User Experience in the Context of Cultural Heritage Dissemination Using Extended Reality: A Case Study of the Dacian Bronze Matrix with Hollow Design

Cultural institutions are increasingly prioritizing the utilization of diverse mixed reality technologies to enrich the visitor experience during their physical exhibitions. These institutions are actively integrating virtual assets to enhance interactivity and facilitate immersive storytelling experiences. The use of extended reality technologies in cultural heritage dissemination has become a common solution to improve the perception on cultural heritage of their visitors. The objective of the proposed research is to conduct a comparative analysis of three distinct extended reality applications used in cultural heritage experiences. The proposed workflow integrates advanced 3D scanning technology and additive manufacturing techniques to produce tangible replicas which are further enhanced using extended reality technologies, such as augmented reality, desktop virtual reality, and immersive virtual reality. To evaluate the developed extended reality applications, we have conducted various System Usability Scale tools to assess applications’ usability while also trying to identify the most appropriate application that can be integrated within the museum exhibition. From a utility point of view, we found no notable differences in the user perceptions between proposed solutions, whereas from a usability and satisfaction point of view, the most preferred solution was the augmented reality one. The workflow is presented in sufficient detail to ensure the replication of the results.