Modern consumer electronics (CE) devices have evolved such that human interaction with machines is ever more natural and effective. The forthcoming deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT) over the existing Internet infrastructure promises to expand this interaction by providing applications and services that allow the human-computer interaction to integrate an automated customization of everyday life [1]. The vision is very optimistic on the amount of smart objects (SOs) deployed around us as the building blocks of the IoT. Experts forecast that 28 billion "things" will be connected to the Internet by 2020 [2].

Cultural Heritage Institutions fueled by the advances in Information Technology are exploiting new ways to present their content to visitors. The emergence of the Internet of Things paradigm has shifted their efforts into a more personalized and adaptable experience that takes into consideration the visitor profile and behavior, in respect to presented artifacts and environmental parameters. Context-awareness allows the understanding of the situation and the optimization of the delivered cultural User Experience. In this article, we survey context awareness in cultural heritage applications. After presenting the background of Context Awareness and its features to cultural environments, a subset of research projects that incorporate context aware traits in a cultural scenario is reviewed. Each prototype is analysed in respect to several criteria that include context sensing, middleware, and incorporation methods. Finally, based on the review, lessons learnt, and directions for the development of similar prototypes are highlighted.

In recent years, researchers in the field of natural heritage have intensified their efforts to develop new ways to enhance the promotion and accessibility of natural content in order to attract more audiences using virtual representations of physical objects (digital twins). Therefore, they are increasingly incorporating new technologies and digital tools in their operations since their usage by the general public and in the natural heritage (NH) museums is considered particularly effective. Simultaneously, the increasing quality of the produced digitizations has opened up new opportunities for the exploitation of the outcomes of digitization beyond the initial anticipations. Responding to the growing demand of museum visitors for a personalized digital tour experience, especially amidst the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the v-PalM project aims to develop a digital platform to offer virtual guidance and education services at the Museum of Paleontology and Geology, which is hosted at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens. The development of the platform will be based on collecting data through various methods, including crowdsourcing, innovative information, and communication technologies, taking advantage of content digitization using 3D scanning devices. This paper demonstrates an enhanced methodology for the digitization of paleontological exhibits. The methodology uses photogrammetry and laser scanning methods from various devices, such as drones, laser scanners, and smartphones. These methods create digital twins that are suitable for various scenarios, including research, education, and entertainment. The proposed methodology has been applied to over fifty paleontological museum exhibits of varying sizes and complexities, and the resulting 3D models exhibit high accuracy in both their material and geometric aspects, while they also feature crucial details that assist researchers and the scientific community.

Storytelling is widely used to project cultural elements and engage people emotionally. Digital storytelling enhances the process by integrating images, music, narrative, and voice along with traditional storytelling methods. Newer visualization technologies such as Augmented Reality allow more vivid representations and further influence the way museums present their narratives. Cultural institutions aim towards integrating such technologies in order to provide a more engaging experience, which is also tailored to the user by exploiting personalization and context-awareness. This paper presents CHATS, a system for personalized digital storytelling in cultural heritage sites. Storytelling is based on a tangible interface, which adds a gamification aspect and improves interactivity for people with visual impairment. Technologies of AR and Smart Glasses are used to enhance visitors’ experience. To test CHATS, a case study was implemented and evaluated.

The proliferation of smart things and the subsequent emergence of the Internet of Things has motivated the deployment of intelligent spaces that provide automated services to users. Context-awareness refers to the ability of the system to be aware of the virtual and physical environment, allowing more efficient personalization. Context modeling and reasoning are two important aspects of context-aware computing, since they enable the representation of contextual data and inference of high-level, meaningful information. Context-awareness middleware systems integrate context modeling and reasoning, providing abstraction and supporting heterogeneous context streams. In this work, such a context-awareness middleware system is presented, which integrates a proposed context model based on the adaptation and combination of the most prominent context categorization schemata. A hybrid reasoning procedure, which combines multiple techniques, is also proposed and integrated. The proposed system was evaluated in a real-case-scenario cultural space, which supports preventive conservation. The evaluation showed that the proposed system efficiently addressed both conceptual aspects, through means of representation and reasoning, and implementation aspects, through means of performance.