Towards User Discernment and Acceptance of Extended Reality (XR) in the Recreation and Representation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Ancient Bini Kingdom

An attempt was made in this study to assess the level of discernment on the intangible cultural heritage of the ancient Bini kingdom, as well as the acceptance of extended reality (XR) in its recreation and representation. Stories, music, festivals and dance, were identified as aspects of intangible cultural heritage, and used for the study. The stories were recreated from folklore by storyboarding using Adobe Photoshop software; three dimensional (3D) characters were generated and positioned within a created virtual environment using Unity3D and Blender softwares; dance was simulated using non-immersive virtual reality, with the movement of created characters synced to locally sourced traditional music; festivals remain as celebrated yearly. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to a sample size of forty-two (42) people, including palace/museum staff and local tourists (young and old) in Bini city, Edo State, Nigeria. The generated findings were measured on the Likert scale and revealed that while most respondents could remember some stories, they could not recall the names of key characters. This implies that some names associated with oral tradition are lost as they pass between generations. Most of the responders concur that using XR to recreate and restore intangible cultural heritage is an entertaining and fascinating approach to learn about the history of the Bini kingdom. However, youths were undecided on the issue of dance and music, demonstrating the significant influence of Hip life and Afro Hip hop music and dances.