Svevo Tour: The Design and the Experimentation of an Augmented Reality Application for Engaging Visitors of a Literary Museum

This work describes the design and evaluation of an augmented reality experience using storytelling techniques, aimed at visitors to a literary museum and city tour focused on the famous Italian novelist Italo Svevo, who lived in Trieste between the 19th and the 20th century. The project was initiated by the Svevo Museum’s management in order to augment the space of the small museum, increase the accessibility of its collections and to enhance the experience of the visitors, who are mainly adults and senior people. The project provided the opportunity to explore different research questions. In particular, this paper focuses on the impact in the development process of introducing an AR authoring tool which is accessible to cultural heritage experts. It also explores the relationship between AR technology and storytelling and the feasibility of using AR in literary museums with adult and senior people having little experience in the use of AR technologies.