InteRecon: Towards Reconstructing Interactivity of Personal Memorable Items in Mixed Reality

Abstract: Digital capturing of memorable personal items is a key way to archive personal memories. Although current digitization methods (e.g., photos, videos, 3D scanning) can replicate the physical appearance of an item, they often cannot preserve its real-world interactivity. We present Interactive Digital Item (IDI), a concept of reconstructing both the physical appearance and, more importantly, the interactivity of an item. We first conducted a formative study to understand users' expectations of IDI, identifying key physical interactivity features, including geometry, interfaces, and embedded content of items. Informed by these findings, we developed InteRecon, an AR prototype enabling personal reconstruction functions for IDI creation. An exploratory study was conducted to assess the feasibility of using InteRecon and explore the potential of IDI to enrich personal memory archives. Results show that InteRecon is feasible for IDI creation, and the concept of IDI brings new opportunities for augmenting personal memory archives.