Inspiration
During the beginning of our childhood we became fascinated by Egyptian culture through the intrigue of its royal burial sites and ancient relics that shared their tales. We realized during adolescence that museums protect historical artifacts but they normally present history through imperfect coverage including discriminatory practices. A team member discovered a blind child standing lifelessly next to a museum statue during our visit to the establishment. Visitors who used written materials and multimedia content included all other visitors but excluded the child who remained unincluded. The experience exposed a deep inquiry about serving history through interactive ways instead of simple visual perception. What it does
Eye of Horus Museum functions as a complete cultural service which enables every type of user including those with disabilities to tackle ancient Egyptian heritage. The platform includes Braille descriptions on 3D-printed artifacts in addition to a bilingual English-Arabic website and video content in sign language targeted toward the deaf audience and animated animations designed for children and AI system-based virtual assistance for diverse user needs.
How we built it
Our team started the project by conducting research about users followed by developing a system based on inclusive principles. Through 3D printing we fabricated statues along with artifacts which carried Braille and tactile features. Our website featured two language options for Arabic and English and it incorporated various accessibility features including screen reader support as well as sign language video additions and basic animations targeted for children. The project implemented AI as a digital guide to allow users' content perusal in tailored approaches. Challenges we ran into Building a multisensory museum presentation proved both complex in terms of technology as well as emotional steps for creating the experience. Our project encountered problems with slight feature printing through hardware deficits as well as difficulties uniting different languages and web restrictions for accessibility needs. The project faced resistance from people who refused to believe that inclusive historical experiences could successfully materialize. Our determination faced intense strain from numerous factors including extended work hours and insufficient backing and the difficult process of transforming conventional museum materials for multiple audience groups. Accomplishments that we're proud of We managed to develop a shared platform which enables both deaf people to watch narratives through sign language and senior individuals to hear immersive audio guides with the same platform allowing blind children to experience pharaohs via touch recognition. History became genuinely accessible for everyone through our proud achievement. The project has been adopted by museums which are specifically focusing on attracting new audiences into their facilities.
What we learned
Our team discovered that inclusivity must be considered essential because it rightfully belongs within every system. Our understanding emerged that society needs to achieve equality especially when providing cultural access to all. Throughout our comprehension and attempt to create an impactful project that could potentially help people of all stages and areas, we have utterly learned that it had been imperative to create a standardized, yet equalized environment for everyone. What will be in the future for Eye of Horus Museum Since the recent renovations in most of the historical sites in Egypt we would like to work with more museums to include our system in the real world setting. Among other things, our aim is to enlarge our platform with more languages, further AI integration to render even more tailored storytelling and the inclusion of VR components to immerse users in the ancient world. Transformation is possible, but only so long as our mission remains, we will inevitably create an impactful effort to society.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.