A Comparative Evaluation of Techniques for Sharing AR Experiences in Museums

Museums are constantly searching for new ways to increase engagement with their exhibits, from electronic guides to modern digital technologies such as special-purpose tablets, smartphones, and virtual and augmented reality (AR). For AR exhibits in particular, promoting shared experience and group cohesion is not straightforward. In this work, we investigate scenarios in which not everyone is using a head-worn display (HWD), either because there aren't enough available or simply because someone might feel uncomfortable using it. We propose two sharing techniques for AR experiences and evaluate them in a long term in-the-wild study: Over-the-Shoulder AR, which renders a real-time virtual representation of the augmented reality content on a large secondary display; Semantic Linking, which displays contextual information about the virtual content on the same large display. We also introduce a complementary technique: Indicator Rings, which display the locations of the HWD user's objects-of-focus. We observed that participants in the Over-the-Shoulder AR and Semantic Linking conditions stayed together and exhibited more verbal exchanges than participants in a Baseline condition, which could indicate that they were more engaged. Self-reported measures indicated an increase in pair communication and increased comprehension of the virtual content for participants without the HWD. Participants without the HWD also displayed a greater understanding of the location of virtual elements with support from the Indicator Rings, and used them as a tool to guide the HWD user through the virtual content. We discuss design implications for interactive augmented reality exhibits and possible applications outside the cultural heritage scenario.