Hybrid Space: An Emerging Opportunity That Alternative Reality Technologies Offer to the Museums

Abstract

In addition to the actual space and virtual space, there seems to be a third type that can be called hybrid space. Hybrid space borrows the power of information to empower the physical space around us using technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and augmented virtuality. Hybrid space has been explored and conceptualized in the literature, but it has yet to reach its potential as an effective medium in museums. However, it seems to have quite a few advantages to be employed in the museums to attract more people, motivate a higher participation, and change the existing paradigms by reinventing museums. This article applies a qualitative content analysis to a sample of publications to conceptualize hybrid space and position it in a suggested continuum of space. Moreover, the role of technology and considerations about the museum content in a hybrid space are explored. The aim of this theoretically and technologically oriented article is to promote the professional use of the hybrid space in museums.