Monticello Through the Window
Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Intelligent Cultural Heritage (VAST), November 2003
Nathaniel Williams, Chad Hantak, Kok-Lim Low, John Thomas, Kurtis Keller, Lars Nyland, David Luebke, Anselmo Lastra
Abstract
We present a case study in the use of virtual environment technology for cultural heritage applications,
describing a collaborative effort to construct two cultural heritage exhibits for a five month exhibition at
the New Orleans Museum of Art. To illustrate the factors that shape museum exhibit design, we explore
the initial conceptual phase and discuss our reasons for choosing certain designs. We describe the two
exhibits that we built in turn, focusing on equipment and on robustness. Although little went awry during
the exhibition, we explain how certain equipment did fail and how we had prepared for such crises by
keeping spare equipment on-site. Finally, we report on the success of the undertaking and close with
some thoughts and advice for researchers attempting similar museum-oriented projects.