Computer Graphics and Visualization Lab

Interactive Science Museum Project: “I am a Korean Mummy Scientist”

Description

Many exhibitions use a wall panel to explain the exhibit’s content by words and images, which are mostly passive visual elements. In this project, we propose a new platform by reinterpreting the exhibited wall panels as new content leading to the virtual science museum and develop “Korean Mummy” as a pilot project for the new concept. To show the feasibility of the new exhibit platform that has two-way communication and multi-modal feedback as a key feature, we collaborated with the Korean Natural History Museum (Gongju-si, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea). We have selected the “Korean Mummy” exhibition as a pilot project and build a prototype. We reinterpreted the exhibits from the existing wall panels and physical materials including the mummies, wooden coffin, limes outer-coffin tomb (called Hoe-gwak-myo) and clothes. We demonstrate two examples of new contents, “Exploration of a Mummy’s body and head” and “Excavation of a mummy”. “Exploration of a Mummy’s body and head” content visualizes the internal organs using mummy’s CT data interactively. Through this experience, the user can learn the unique characteristics of Korean mummy more effectively. “Excavation of a mummy” content provides an engaging experience using tactile feedback and auditory feedback using haptic devices. It also allows the user to understand better the causes of natural mummification.

Figure 1. Panoramic view of the Korean Mummy exhibition room.
Figure 1. Panoramic view of the Korean Mummy exhibition room.

Figure 2. Comparison of an Egyptian mummy(left), a Korean mummy(middle), and a living person(right).
Figure 2. Comparison of an Egyptian mummy(left), a Korean mummy(middle), and a living person(right).

Figure 3.Touch interaction method of smart surrogate widgets. Wedge type (left) and iris type widget (right).
Figure 3.Touch interaction method of smart surrogate widgets. Wedge type (left) and iris type widget (right).

Figure 4. Implementation results, clockwise from top left: Mummies in Korea, Exploration of a Mummy’s Body, Exploration of a Mummy’s Head, and Excavation of a Mummy.
Figure 4. Implementation results, clockwise from top left: Mummies in Korea, Exploration of a Mummy’s Body, Exploration of a Mummy’s Head, and Excavation of a Mummy.

Contact

Jihoon Cho (zinic at kaist.ac.kr)

Publications

  • Jihoon Cho, Hyunsoo Kim, Joowon Lim, Taeho Kim, and Jinah Park. “Interactive Exhibition from Wall Panels in a Museum,” In Proceedings of the 2019 ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (ISS ’19). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 367–372.
  • Hyunsoo Kim, Jinah Park. “Volume Data Exploration Interface on a Touchscreen,” International Symposium of Science Museums 2019.