Virtual Museums as Meaning-Modeling Systems in Digital Heritage

This article frames the virtual museum as a meaning-modeling system within digital heritage and proposes an operational semiotic method for analysis. Grounded in Modeling Systems Theory and informed by Adorno’s non-identity, we construct a twelve-category coding matrix that combines three modeling levels with four organizational forms. Applying this matrix to five heterogeneous cases (web, VR, and 3D environments), we derive three quantitative ratios that summarize each system’s profile: the Abstraction Ratio (degree of conceptual mediation), the Connectivity Ratio (degree of interlinking and systematic organization), and the Object Primacy Score (degree of object-centered representation). Exploratory clustering on these ratios reveals three recurrent patterns of virtual-heritage mediation: Network-Symbolic, Concept-Dominant, and Object-Preserving. The results articulate how different curatorial and technical choices redistribute attention between objects, contexts, and concepts, and how these redistributions affect the subject–object balance in digital settings. The contribution is twofold: a transparent, reproducible coding protocol that enables cross-case comparison, and an interpretive lens that relates quantitative patterns to critical concerns in heritage, including authenticity, legibility, and over-standardization. We conclude with implications for curators and designers seeking to align immersive interfaces with heritage values while preserving the irreducible remainder of the object.