Chenxing Zhao

Participatory Research on the System of Mixed Reality (MR): How Does Social-economic, Cultural and Ethnic Backgrounds Affect Visitors’ Experience in Museums?

The availability of immersive reality technologies, such as Mixed Reality (MR), has spread across the globe in the last decade. Multiple cultural institutions and public services employ MR devices to create deeply participatory and immersive applications. My research will focus on how mixed reality can enhance aesthetic responses in diverse social settings and thus help legitimise the multisensory content that MR technology provides.

In my PhD project, I will present an MR tour guide system made by employing Microsoft Hololens glasses and visual effects (VFX) tools such as modelling, texturing and compositing. The project will present a framework for the design of an augmented visualisation of historical content and support the creation of immersive experiences that use low-cost virtual content and require few computer-generated imagery (CGI) skills. This study will show the potential of MR applications in by demonstrating their immersive and interactive features and the ability of these applications to enhance visitor experiences. Through this platform, museum visitors will be able to view digital replicas of exhibits and physically interact with 3D holographic content.

Education

• BA, Digital Media Arts, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, China, 2018

• BA, Digital Media Design, University of Hertfordshire, 2019

• BA, Digital Media Design, University of Hertfordshire, 2019