Evaluating virtual museums: Archeovirtual case study

November 2011 saw the opening of the exhibition “Archeovirtual” organized by CNR ITABC and V-MusT Network of Excellence, in Paestum, Italy, under the general direction of BMTA (BMTA is the Mediterranean Expo on Archaeological Tourism directed by Ugo Picarelli and organised by Salerno Province). The event, part of a wider European project on virtual museums, was a rare opportunity to show many different projects about Virtual Reality and Cultural Heritage. During the show, four types of evaluation tools were employed to examine user behaviour and usability of the interfaces, plus understanding the gap between user expectation and experience. First analyses revealed that the impact of interactive applications on the user seems to depend on the capability of technology to be “invisible” and to allow a range of possibilities for accessing content. To achieve this, virtual museums need a more integrated approach between cultural contents, interfaces and social and behavioural studies.