Abstract
Historical records can tell us about the knowledge, opinions, and actions of individuals, but direct use of historical records is a complex process that is better attuned to the needs of scholars than the interests of the general public. This paper explores the potential for conversational interaction with representations of historical figures that are constructed from primary and secondary source materials. An interview study, supported by a computational prototype as a provocation, is used to elicit expert assessments of the potential uses of such systems in historical museums. Qualitative analysis of study results reveals three broad classes of design implications: situating design in archival assurance, creating immersive user experiences, and supporting active inquiries.
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HIST 691: Museum Studies by Dr. Spencer R. Crew from George Mason University.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the anonymous participants in our research study, who contributed their time and expertise to this study. This research has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant number 1618695. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Qian, X., Oard, D.W., Chan, J. (2022). Conversational Interaction with Historical Figures: What’s It Good For?. In: Smits, M. (eds) Information for a Better World: Shaping the Global Future. iConference 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13193. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96960-8_3
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