A framework for sharing cultural heritage objects in hybrid virtual and augmented reality environments

The emulation of social environments within which ideas, knowledge and interpretation are exchanged is a challenge for Extended Reality (XR) technologies. One aspect of the challenge is the concept of Extended Reality itself, and this within the broad spectrum of the physical and virtual reality continuum. As users settle down into the spectrum via their preferred devices, so must we investigate the viability of communication between users adopting different modes of XR. In this chapter, we discuss three attributes of virtual objects and explore the concept of a Hybrid Virtual and Augmented Reality (HVAR) environment. We look at how users from different realities could interact, engage and communicate in a shared space via objects. We believe that the use of HVAR environments is the way forward for connecting worlds, and that it will facilitate future communications around virtual objects, developing and flourishing across time, space and devices, much like how social media has facilitated user-generated contents, empowering individual interpretations and the formation of collective meanings. The concept of a hybrid space aims to gather communities from disparate backgrounds and cultures, and to facilitate discussions around objects of interest.