Contextualized Access to the Archeological Heritage by means of Semantically Interconnected Interactive Environments

The effective presentation of archaeological heritage (AH) information, typically complex and rich, requires sophisticated systems integrating techniques from different areas, mainly human computer interaction (HCI), and knowledge and data management. This paper investigates technologies able to offer several opportunities for supporting cultural institutions in the process of information dissemination and in the development of systems able to attract, engage users by delivering information according to their needs and preferences. Nowadays, AH is no longer perceived as just a set of isolated objects, stored in museums or collections, without any links to the specific historical and social contexts of reference. Rather objects have to be connected to additional information concerning those reference contexts. Since such information evolves over time, based on the research carried out by archaeologists, historical experts, and sociologists, the knowledge base needs to be updated to reflect new discoveries. Moreover, information should be presented at different levels of detail and should support an exploratory approach to information discovery by users. This paper presents a system addressing such requirements. The system uses 360 panoramic images to disseminate AH information retrieved from an open knowledge network, defined as a set of interrelated knowledge sources. In particular the paper explores the integration of panoramic images with ontologies in the context of an application in the area of archaeology (specifically, the Etruscan civilization). The paper also discusses the relevant technical issues for the design of the panoramic image interactive system. Those issues concern on one hand the possible organizations for the domain knowledge and on the other hand the architecture of the system and its interaction patterns. Such interactions are crucial in order to facilitate the development of applications that are easily customizable users and are characterized by a high level of interactivity.