Sanal Gerçeklik Yoluyla Kullanıcı ve Ziyaretçi Deneyiminin Zenginleştirilmesi: Smyrna Agorası Üzerine Bir Araştırma

Abstract

Bu çalışma, deneyim ekonomisi ve yeni müzecilik kuramsal çerçevesine dayalı olarak, sürükleyici sanal ortamlarda kullanıcı deneyimi (UX) ile kültürel miras alanlarındaki ziyaretçi deneyimi (VX) arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemektedir. Araştırma, antik Helenistik-Roma dönemine ait bir alan için geliştirilen ve İzmir Kent Değerlerini Koruma ve Geliştirme Derneği tarafından, T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı ile Avrupa Birliği desteğiyle yürütülen “Kültürel Miras Yaşıyor” (2022) projesi kapsamında oluşturulan Smyrna Agorası Sanal Gerçeklik Uygulaması’na odaklanmaktadır. Çalışmada mevcudiyet, sürükleyicilik, katılım, akış, beceri, duygu, yargı, deneyim sonucu ve teknoloji benimseme olmak üzere kullanıcı deneyiminin dokuz boyutu değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışmanın temel amacı, bu boyutların ziyaretçi deneyimini nasıl etkilediğini ve bu etkilerin katılımcıların daha önce VR teknolojisi kullanıp kullanmamalarına veya kültürel miras alanını daha önce ziyaret edip etmemelerine göre farklılık gösterip göstermediğini incelemektir. Araştırmada nicel araştırma yöntemi kullanılmış; 18–25 yaş aralığında 140 üniversite öğrencisine sanal gerçeklik deneyimi sonrasında anket uygulanmıştır. Kullanılan ölçme araçları, kullanıcı deneyimi ve ziyaretçi deneyimini değerlendiren geçerliliği kanıtlanmış iki ölçekten uyarlanmıştır. Bulgular, kullanıcı deneyimi ile ziyaretçi deneyimi arasında güçlü ve pozitif bir ilişki olduğunu göstermektedir. Daha önce VR deneyimi yaşamış olmak ya da alana fiziksel olarak daha önce gitmiş olmak, katılımcı yanıtlarını anlamlı düzeyde etkilememiştir.

Keywords

• Kültürel Miras
• Sanal Gerçeklik
• Ziyaretçi Deneyimi
• Kullanıcı Deneyimi
• Smyrna Agorası

Enhancing User and Visitor Experience through Virtual Reality: A Research on the Agora of Smyrna

Abstract

This study, grounded in the theoretical frameworks of the experience economy and new museology, investigates the relationship between user experience (UX) in immersive virtual environments and visitor experience in cultural heritage settings. It focuses on the Smyrna Agora Virtual Reality Application, created for an ancient Hellenistic-Roman site and developed under the “Heritage Alive” project (2022) by the İzmir Association for the Protection and Development of Urban Values, with support from the T.C. Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the European Union. The research evaluates nine UX dimensions: presence, immersion, engagement, flow, skill, emotion, judgment, experience consequence, and technology adoption. The primary aim is to examine how these dimensions affect the visitor experience and whether outcomes differ based on participants’ prior use of VR or visits to the heritage site. A quantitative design was adopted, with surveys administered to 140 undergraduate students aged 18–25 after their VR engagement. The instruments used were adapted from two validated UX and visitor experience scales. Results show a strong, positive correlation between UX and visitor experience. However, previous VR familiarity or prior visits to the site did not significantly influence participants’ responses.

Keywords

• Cultural Heritage
• Virtual Reality
• Visitor Experience
• User Experience
• Agora of Smyrna

References

1. Aria, M., & Cuccurullo, C. (2017). Bibliometrix: An R- tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4), 959–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007
2. Bailenson, J., Yee, N., Blascovich, J., Beall, A., Lundblad, N., & Jin, M. (2008). The use of immersive virtual reality in the learning sciences: digital transformations of teachers, students, and social context. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 17(1), 102–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508400701793141
3. Bean, G. E. (1997). Eski çağ’da Ege bölgesi. Arion Yayınevi.
4. Biocca, F., & Delaney, B. (1995). Immersive virtual reality technology. In F. Biocca, & M. R. Levy (Eds.), Communication in the age of virtual reality (pp. 57–124). L. Erlbaum Associates Inc.
5. Black, G. (2005). The engaging museum: Developing museums for visitor ınvolvement. Routledge.
6. Borsci, S., Lawson, G., & Broome, S. (2015). Empirical evidence, evaluation criteria, and challenges for the effectiveness of virtual and mixed reality tools for training operators of car service maintenance. Computers in Industry, 67, 17–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2014.12.002
7. Boswijk, A., Thijssen, T. J. P., & Peelen, E. (2007). A new perspective on the experience economy: Meaningful experiences. ‎ Pearson Benelux.
8. Buhalis, D., Harwood, T., Bogicevic, V., Viglia, G., Beldona, S., & Hofacker, C. (2019). Technological disruptions in services: lessons from tourism and hospitality. Journal of Service Management, 30(4), 484–506. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-12-2018-0398

9. Çakmak, A., Aşatepeli, S., & Ersoy, A. (2023). Smyrna agorası’nda ziyaretçi deneyiminin artırılması: Kültürel miras yaşıyor projesi [Enhancement of visitor experience at agora of Smyrna: Heritage alive project]. Journal of Turkish Studies, 18(4), 1371–1390. http://dx.doi.org/10.7827/TurkishStudies.69177
10. Carrozzino, M., & Bergamasco, M. (2010). Beyond virtual museums: Experiencing immersive virtual reality in real museums. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 11(4), 452–458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2010.04.001
11. Coelho, C., Tichon, J., Hine, T. J., Wallis, G., & Riva, G. (2006). Media presence and inner presence: The sense of presence in virtual reality technologies. In G. Riva, M. T. Anguera, B. K. Wiederhold, & F. Mantovani (Eds.), From communication to presence: Cognition, emotions and culture towards the ultimate communicative Experience (pp. 25–45). IOS Press.
12. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975). Play and intrinsic rewards. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 15(3), 41–63. https://doi.org/10.1177/002216787501500306
13. Eriksson, M., & Wiklund, H. (2010, August). Towards attractive experiences. In Proceedings of the 13th QMOD Conference. Cottbus, Germany.
14. Fernandes, S., Agapito, D., & Mendes, J. (2015). The revisitalization of the querença market: Exploring the visitor experience. Journal of Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, 3(3), 216–226. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dora_Agapito/publication/288839502_The_Revisitalization_of_the_Querenca_Market_Exploring_the_Visitor_Experience/links/5686d21808aebccc4e13c956.pdf
15. Fomenko, V. (2006). Generating virtual reality shops for e-commerce [Master’s thesis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science]. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/200026373_Generating_virtual_reality_shops_for_e-commerce
16. Fredrickson, B., & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Cognition & Emotion, 19(3), 313–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930441000238
17. Hair, J., Celsi, M., Money, A., Samouel, P., & Page, M. (2015). The essentials of business research methods (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003363569
18. Hassenzahl, M. (2001). The effect of perceived hedonic quality on product appealingness. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 13(4), 481–499. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327590IJHC1304_07
19. Hassenzahl, M. (2004). The interplay of beauty, goodness, and usability in interactive products. Human-Computer Interaction, 19(4), 319–349. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327051hci1904_2
20. Hassenzahl, M., & Tractinsky, N. (2006). User experience—a research agenda. Behaviour & Information Technology, 25(2), 91–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290500330331
21. Hudson, K. (1977). Museums for the 1980’s: A survey of world trends. Holmes & Meier Publishers.
22. Karunasekera, P. (2011). Effectiveness of virtual reality based ımmersive training for education of health professionals: A systematic review [Master’s thesis, University of Canterbury].
23. Khalid, H. M., & Helander, M. G. (2006). Customer emotional needs in product design. Concurrent Engineering, 14(3), 197–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/1063293X06068387
24. Leopardi, A., Ceccacci, S., Mengoni, M., Naspetti, S., Gambelli, D., Ozturk, E., & Zanoli, R. (2021). X-reality technologies for museums: A comparative evaluation based on presence and visitors' experience through user studies. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 47, 188–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2020.10.005
25. Lin, J. J. W., & Parker, D. E. (2007). User experience modeling and enhancement for virtual environments that employ wide-field displays. In V. G. Duffy (Ed.), Digital human modeling (pp. 423–433). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73321-8_49
26. Macpherson, C., & Keppell, M. (1998). Virtual reality: What is the state of play in education? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 14(1), 60–74. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.1929
27. Malhotra, N. K. (2004). Marketing research: An applied orientation (4th ed.). Prentice-Hall International.
28. McCall, V., & Gray, C. S. (2014). Museums and the ‘new museology’: Theory, practice and organisational change. Museum Management and Curatorship, 29(1), 19–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/09647775.2013.869852
29. Mossberg, L. (2007). A marketing approach to the tourist experience. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 7(1), 59–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/15022250701231915
30. Nikonova, A., & Biryukova, M. (2017). The role of digital technologies in the preservation of cultural heritage. Muzeologia a Kulturne Dedicstvo, 5, 169–173. https://www.muzeologia.sk/casopis_mkd_en.htm
31. Pausanias. (1935). Description of Greece. G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
32. Pekrun, R., & Stephens, E. (2010). Achievement emotions: A control‐value approach. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4, 238–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00259.x
33. Pine, B. J., & Gilmore, J. H. (1998). Welcome to the experience economy. Harvard Business Review, 76(4), 97–105. https://hbr.org/1998/07/welcome-to-the-experience-economy
34. Pine, B. J., & Gilmore, J. H. (1999). Deneyim ekonomisi: İş hayatı bir tiyatro ... Ve de her şirket bir sahne. Boyner Holding Yayınları.
35. Pucillo, F., & Cascini, G. (2014). A framework for user experience, needs, and affordances. Design Studies, 35, 160–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2013.10.001
36. Ross, M. (2015). Interpreting the new museology. Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences, 2(2), 84–103. https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v2i2.43
37. Saorín, J., Carbonell, C., Jaeger, A., & Melián Díaz, D. (2023). Landscape design outdoor–indoor vr environments user experience. Land, 12(2), 376. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020376
38. Sherman, W., & Craig, A. (2002). Understanding virtual reality—Interface, application, and design. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc.
39. Shin, D., Biocca, F., & Choo, H. (2011). Exploring the user experience of three-dimensional virtual learning environments. Behaviour & Information Technology, 32(2), 203–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2011.606334
40. Slater, M. (2003). A note on presence terminology. Presence Connect, 3.
41. Steuer, J. (2006). Defining virtual reality: Dimensions determining telepresence. Journal of Communication, 42(4), 73–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1992.tb00812.x
42. Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Allyn & Bacon/Pearson Education.
43. Tcha-Tokey, K., Christmann, O., Loup-Escande, E., Loup, G., & Richir, S. (2018). Towards a model of user experience in immersive virtual environments. Advances in Human-Computer Interaction, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/7827286
44. Tcha-Tokey, K., Christmann, O., Loup-Escande, E., & Richir, S. (2016). Proposition and validation of a questionnaire to measure the user experience in immersive virtual environments. The International Journal of Virtual Reality, 16, 33–48. https://doi.org/10.20870/IJVR.2016.16.1.2880
45. Tcha-Tokey, K., Loup-Escande, E., Christmann, O., & Richir, S. (2016). A questionnaire to measure the user experience in immersive virtual environments. VRIC ’16: Proceedings of the 2016 Virtual Reality International Conference. https://doi.org/10.1145/2927929.2927955
46. Trunfio, M., Campana, S., & Magnelli, A. (2020). Measuring the impact of functional and experiential mixed reality elements on a museum visit. Current Issues in Tourism, 23(16), 1990–2008. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2019.1703914
47. Tussyadiah, I., Dan, W., Jung, T., & Tom Dieck, M. C. (2018). Virtual reality, presence, and attitude change: Empirical evidence from tourism. Tourism Management, 66, 140–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.12.003
48. Uğurluer, S. (2024). Tüketici davranışları perspektifinden yeni müzecilik anlayışı ve sanal gerçeklik uygulamaları: Zenginleştirilmiş ziyaretçi deneyimi ve kullanıcı deneyimi üzerine bir araştırma [New museology and virtual reality applications from the perspective of consumer behavior: A research on enriched visitor experience and user experience] (Publication No. 879235) [Doctoral dissertation, Ege University]. Ulusal Tez Merkezi.
49. Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. Institutions & Transition Economics: Microeconomic Issues eJournal. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:14435677
50. Vergo, P. (1989). New museology. Reaktion Books.
51. Witmer, B. G., & Singer, M. J. (1998). Measuring presence in virtual environments: A presence questionnaire. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 7(3), 225–240. https://cs.uky.edu/~sgware/reading/papers/witmer1998measuring.pdf
52. Yuan, Y.-H., & Wu, C. (2008). Relationships among experiential marketing, experiential value, and customer satisfaction. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 32, 387–410. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348008317392