Learning Cultural Heritage Through Information and Communication Technologies

This article aims at illustrating how Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) could be used to exploit and disseminate Cultural Heritage, providing enriching learning experiences for different targets of users, especially young people. In fact, by the immersion in virtual museums or reconstructed worlds, users can build different paths of fruition interacting with 3D objects as in a videogame. In this way, a superimposed and interchangeable view of the real find and its virtual reconstruction for a global vision is allowed. Particularly effective for arising interest and curiosity in the users are mobile devices (i.e. Personal Digital Assistants, pocket PCs, smart-phones) integrated with GIS and GPS, which can provide combined real and virtual information based on users’ location by a Virtual Navigation System. The case study of Calabrian Magna Graecia (Italy) is presented, with particular reference to the projects “VirtualMuseum Net of Magna Graecia” and “NETConnect”.