Title: The use of e-learning methodologies and technologies for generating personalised tours in cultural heritage environments

Authors: Carla Limongelli; Filippo Sciarrone; Marco Temperini; G. Vaste

Addresses: Department of Computer Science and Automation, Roma Tre Un., Via della Vasca Navale, 79 00146 Roma, Italy. ' Department of Computer Science and Automation, Roma Tre Un. and Open Informatica, s.r.l. – E-learning Division, Via dei Castelli Romani, 12A 00040 Pomezia, Italy. ' Department of Computer and System Sciences, Sapienza Un. Via Ariosto, 25 00184 Roma, Italy. ' Department of Computer Science and Automation, Roma Tre Un., Via della Vasca Navale, 79 00146 Roma, Italy

Abstract: This work addresses the issue of personalised tours in cultural heritage domains, by exploiting methods and techniques developed for e-learning, in particular those that regard personalised e-learning courses. The main idea of our work is that a tour in a museum or in an archaeological site, either fully virtual or blended, may be managed through an e-learning environment. We propose the use of the LECOMPS5, an e-learning environment, to provide museums or other cultural sites with the capability of automatically planning personalised tours, according to visitors' needs and interests. We also show an example of an application of this system to an ancient archaeological site called Lucus Feroniae, showing how an e-learning platform can be successfully used for guiding visitors.

Keywords: electronic tourism; e-tourism; e-learning; personalised tours; automated planning; electronic learning; online learning; internet; world wide web; cultural heritage; cultural environments; cultural domains; personalised courses; museums; archaeological sites; archaeology; virtual tours; blended tours; cultural sites; Lecomps5; automatic planning; visitor needs; visitor interests; e-learning platforms; visitor guiding; guides; Lucus Feroniae; Capena; Etruria; anthropology; tourist industry; tourists.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTA.2012.046095

International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, 2012 Vol.2 No.1, pp.53 - 70

Published online: 16 Aug 2014 *

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