Metadata Visualizations in Virtual Reality: A study of alternative ways of visualizing a search result’s metadata in virtual reality.

Abstract: This study explores ways of visualizing metadata in virtual reality through means other than text. Specifically, we focus on the metadata of a 3D object as a search result and how these visualizations can support understanding of the object. The study draws on research from the field of information science and is positioned in the domain of cultural heritage. There are few studies about human information interaction in virtual reality or metadata visualization in these environments. However, metadata can be a useful tool in the information seeking search process. Because its visualization should depend on purpose, ways of visualizing metadata other than through text are in need of exploration. This study answers the following question: How can descriptive metadata of a 3D search result object be visualized in VR to support users’ understanding of the object? A research through design approach was employed. Data was collected through interviews about objects with visitors at a museum. These interview data were analyzed using a thematic analysis, and the results of that analysis were triangulated with the objects’ metadata in a database. This triangulation resulted in sets of characteristics and techniques that, as expressed by interviewees, could help them gain an understanding of an object of historical and cultural significance. We then selected a smaller set of characteristics for implementation using a prioritization matrix, and an object to visualize metadata for. Brainstorming sessions generated ways of visualizing these characteristics using relevant techniques. The prototype is a virtual reality experience that allows the user to navigate three layers of information with visualizations of the 3D object’s characteristics. The prototype was interactively demonstrated with four participants and their feedback was documented. The discussion is about the definition of metadata, unforeseen designs, the search process, the role of virtual reality in information seeking, how metadata visualizations can support understanding of an object and whether our do, our choice of using research through design as the approach and the study’s ethical and societal implications and its limitations. We conclude that metadata of a search result as an object in VR can be visualized by segmenting the VR experience into different layers of information, specifying a sequence in which the layers are presented that builds a narrative and provides users with multisensory feedback. We encourage future evaluative and comparative studies.