Sense of presence in interacting with online exhibitions

This paper reports the findings of a pilot study about exploring the users' perceptions about the sense of presence when interacting with cultural heritage online exhibition in non-3D virtual simulation. Two samples of online exhibition websites were chosen as the case study. Both websites were studied based on existing qualities of virtual museums that could be able to create the sense of presence. Based on that, seven functions in online exhibition websites were identified. Think-Aloud Protocol was implemented in order to investigate whether the identified functions in online exhibitions were able to create the sense of presence. Findings had indicated that functions in online exhibitions that provide similar experience with 3D simulated environment were capable to create the sense of presence between user and the exhibition online environment.