UX Aspects of Kinect-Based Movement Schemes Inside Virtual Environments for Museum Installations

Museum installations, especially those related to the display of virtual archaeology, often make use of natural user interaction (NUI). Those sets require methods of interaction that are intuitive and easy to all users, independent of their previous skills and experience with similar or related technologies. The use of depth cameras such as the Kinect system is a common way to allow visitors to move and interact within the digital replicas of buildings and spaces. This paper presents a study of User Experience (UX) applied to four movement schemes implemented on one such installation. For this research, a mixed method approach is used, using a sample of users segmented into three groups based on their previous skills and experience with video games. The four movement schemes studied combine a user gesture to move forward with another gesture for turning. The quantitative and qualitative data obtained for each movement scheme and user group were analyzed, and several usability metrics were combined to obtain a single UX score, which were then used to compare their performance and suitability for their use in the context of a museum.