Digital ecosystems for the virtual fruition of Porta Aurea in Ravenna

The presented study is focused on communicating and visualizing architectural representations through computational and digital methods in the context of transversality and trans- disciplinary knowledge. In particular, the study enlightens the role of digital ecosystems in the communication processes of built cultural heritage, which is intended as a medium for the visualization of the n-dimensional levels of knowledge that can be collected in virtual reconstruction processes according to different kinds of resources. The study involved different applications and tools for creating digital ecosystems that manage diverse information: digital galleries, 3D models, drawing annotation systems, and a Social Virtual Environment (SVE) platform. The study focused on the dissemination and virtual musealization of a monument that is no longer extant and has always aroused the interest of many scholars and archaeologists: Porta Aurea in Ravenna. The Roman Gate was built in 43 A.D. at the behest of Roman Emperor Tiberius Claudius. The existence of large and not heterogeneous documentation allows the possibility to investigate the theme of digital ecosystems for museum collections. In particular, digitization processes' role in creating digital environments for different types of fruition: research and dissemination for a large public. Immersive digital environments can shift the focus from the management of the museum space, the container of the collection, to the exhibition itself. The SVE platform used in the study is a novel solution for developing a digital environment accessible by any web browser. A room dedicated to the Porta Aurea fragments at the National Museum of Ravenna also offers new perspectives on using virtual environments for disseminating museum collections replicating the environment to which they belong. The solution differs from the website, the two-dimensional ancestor of virtual environments, making a novel way of fruition that is no longer passive but active, interactive, and participatory.