How might we create a tangible, interactive museum exhibit for visitors of all ages?
Teammates: Julie Kim, Keren Park
Timeline: April - June 2019 (10 weeks)
Skills: Ethnography, Secondary Research, Prototyping, Usability Testing
Discovery Phase Research: Ethnography
Research goals:
To find out who goes to museums — understanding and clarifying what their needs and motivations are
To find out what engages people at museums — understanding and clarifying the tasks that this exhibit has to accomplish
To see how people interact with exhibits within a natural group setting
In order to create a *new and improved* exhibit with the high hopes of improving museum goers’ experiences, you should probably go to an exhibit. You should probably see who even goes to exhibits. Sniff around, see what the kiddos are desperately pawing at while their parents get ready with hand sanitizer, watch what things elderly couples point out to each other and what things they walk straight past, and sit on an inconspicuous bench for an hour or two. Maybe you will see neither kiddos nor elderly couples? Who knows?
I set out to go to the Chicago Field Museum and found myself observing the SUE the T.rex Exhibit.
Who are the participants?
Because I went on one of the free admission days for Illinois residents, the museum was packed. I observed over 200 people composed of 20 year old couples, parents with their young (ranging from baby or toddler to tween) children, and grandparents with their grandchildren. Each visitor group usually spent around 10-15 minutes if they stayed to watch the presentations in the exhibit or a minute if they were just quickly walking through. Note that the free admission probably caused a larger group of people to show up.
Empathy map??? (see, hear, ___, ____)
Notable Observations — Insights (what does the exhibit have to do? tasks)
Idea Brainstorm
Narrow down to specific idea (what are specific tasks/learning goals/questions)
Secondary research to inform design
Competitive Analysis (what’s missing from others/as shown from secondary research, what do we need?)
Prototyping/Design Sketches
Narrow down/bridge ideas (combine)
Prototype
Usability Testing Process + Comments
Iterated Prototype (Changes)
Future Work
Reflection
Participants
Because I went on one of the free admission days for Illinois residents, the museum was packed. I observed over 200 people composed of 20 year old couples, parents with their young (ranging from baby or toddler to tween) children, and grandparents with their grandchildren. Each visitor group usually spent around 10-15 minutes if they stayed to watch the presentations in the exhibit or a minute if they were just quickly walking through. I will note that the free admission might have caused a larger group of people to show up.
Observation Summary
Usually older couples or teens would walk right through the exhibit, barely stopping after getting a picture. In many couples, a female or male would make their partner stand in front of Sue for a picture as soon as they get into the room and then proceed to speed right past the information stands. Occasionally couples would spend more time when either of the presentations started. Whenever the lights dimmed, everyone would stop to watch the presentation and their eyes would follow where the spotlight pointed to. Even during the presentations, many parents would remain on their phone as their 7-8 year old watched the presentation. Many young kids, as in toddlers, would rather pay attention to their mom or dad instead of the spotlight so their parents would point to where the spotlight was pointing to in order to get their kids interested in the presentation. Many parents liked to stay at the Sue exhibit for longer periods of time because there was a nice bench to rest on as their kids played with the interactive display in front of them. Young kids loved the interactive display. So much so that oftentimes, parents would have to remind their children to let other waiting kids or older couples use it. One common behavior I was surprised by was childen’s fascination with the glass enclosures surrounding the skeleton. Many children, from ages 4 to 9, loved hanging from the glass and were more interested in finding ways to use it as a ballet barre than in the giant T.rex in front of them. Kids also tended to keep their eye at eye level, so they would only be looking at the feet or legs of the T.rex when they got to the side of the skeleton. At the side of the skeleton, the path gets narrower and you have to stay closer to the glass or to the wall in order to get out of other people’s way. In order to keep their kids interested, many parents would carry their toddlers and point to the upper parts of the skeleton in order to direct their children’s attention. If parents or couples chose to rest on the bench, they would often go on their phone as the more interested party would look at the skeleton. Eventually, whenever someone glanced up from their phone to ask whether the other party was “ready to move on,” they’d get up to go. Oftentimes, children would begin to get antsy to eat or go to the bathroom, which was a clear signal to their parents that their time with Sue was ending. Parents would also often be talking about other logistical things about their museum trip as their kids played and would decide to leave after they came to a natural lull in their conversation.
Reflection on the Exhibit
The presentations engaged all groups of visitors, because the dimmed lights and the voice playing over the loudspeaker effectively signalled to people that they should stop whatever they were doing to pay attention. The exhibit made effective use of light in order to direct people’s attention. The use of light provided signals to visitors, much like in the movie theaters, informing them that one of the presentations was starting or ending or directing them to look at a specific part of Sue during a presentation. The presentation gave people something to do at the exhibit besides merely looking at Sue, and it gave them the information they were too lazy to read at the beginning of the exhibit. The presentation also asked a lot of open ended, rhetorical questions that some young kids would call out answers to. This encouraged inquiry and contemplation of the exhibit, giving users something to think about as they continued to look through it.
The information stand in front of the entrance and in front of Sue’s skeleton was not very effective, because oftentimes it would be blocked by people standing to take a picture with Sue. It was also the most crowded part of the room. Additionally, people who stopped to listen to the presentation when they first came in would walk right past the stand as soon as the lights got brighter and the presentation ended. If I were to redesign the exhibit, I would change the placement of the information stand that introduced what Sue was. I would also make it more interactive, rather than just a digital screen to read off of, so that users would be more likely to learn from it instead of walking right past it. If users were able to engage with the information, it could be more effective. They could be able to choose what questions they want to learn about, rather than have all the information laid out in front of them, which might be overwhelming to a visitor. This would also give visitors a larger sense of agency through self-directed learning.
I think the other digital information stand, where visitors were able to rotate a digital rendering of Sue’s skeleton, was a big hit as all of the kids loved playing with it. Because they were able to interact with the display and play around with Sue’s digital skeleton, they could see things that they weren’t able to see super closely from their perspective of the physical skeleton. This effectively engaged kids as they often did not want to leave it, and were more fascinated with this than the skeleton in front of them. Also, because it was short enough that 5 year olds could reach it and large enough for 20 year olds to use it, it effectively enticed visitors of all ages. The exhibit did a good job of placing this right in front of the bench so parents were also able to watch over their kids as they played.
One barrier to visitor’s engagement, specifically children’s engagement, was the exhibit’s large glass barriers. Although I understand the necessity of enclosing the skeleton due to its fragile nature, I think the exhibit could use a more physical, interactive component besides the digital screens. Much of the exhibit is purely visual and the one physical information stand on bone calluses was often passed by because it was not exciting enough. The callus was also metal, not similar to the real texture of a callus on a bone, and was attached to the stand so users were unable to flexibly interact with it. If I were to redesign the exhibit, I would include a station with miniature, tangible versions of Sue’s skeleton that you could take apart in order to see her structure more clearly. Or I would even include large, life-size fake bones with calluses on it which users could pick up and play with. There could even be a way for visitors to piece back the bones to a larger section of constructed skeleton, like a game of Operation. Not only does this allow visitors to learn about Sue through physical manipulation, or “play,” but also allows other visitors to overlook other visitors’ interactions with the exhibit. Watching others re-assemble the skeletons may serve as a learning experience in and f itself. Having this station would also give visitors a sense of agency as they are able to play with the exhibit and learn on their own, rather than merely stare and hear information fed to them involuntarily.
Section 5: Observation Notes
- Every ten minutes or so, the lights dim and an animation plays of a T-Rex
- A range of all ages but most commonly young kids and their parents
- “Sue is the biggest T-Rex ever found…” marks beginning of presentation; voice plays overhead and everyone stops to watch the presentation as lights dim
- Parents hold their kids on their shoulders so they can see the dinosaur more closely
- Late 20s are either in pairs (female/male couple)
- Late 30s couple (female/male) lean over the glass railing and just watch the dinosaur
- Late 30s father and 8 year old son play around with the display about the broken bone (he tries to explain and point at the skeleton to explain to his son)
- Late 30s parents make their 2 sons stand in front of the dinosaur and take a picture
o Little kid “Austin” looks angry – “Come on, Austin!” and now there’s a smile
o Take a picture and then keep walking
- “Daddy, look! It’s cool” “Oh yeah, it’s cool.” And glances back at phone
- People’s eyes follow where the spotlights are during the presentation
- Even while the presentation plays, you still hear the chatter of little kids
- Some elderly couples – 70s with their grandchildren
- Parents (middle aged) with their young children (ranging from babies in strollers to
- People leave after the presentation ends
- Stay for an average of 15 minutes if they go through all the exhibit stations/watch presentations
- Late 20s couple takes a picture for a minute (boyfriend makes girlfriend stand in front of the giant skeleton and she gets embarrassed by people watching)
o He tries to explain to her that “it’s the biggest dinosaur, bigger than all the others” and she says “I’m tired” so clearly uninterested
o Leave when she wants to go to the next exhibit
- 2 Late 30s couples bring their kids (one couple has 2 kids – 8 and 5? Both girls and one couple has a 7 year old daughter)
o Daughter hangs off the glass railing – seems more fascinated with how she can interact with the glass and hang off of it than the skeleton in front of her
- One kid takes his phone to take a panorama picture
- A lot of little kids’ gazes stay at eye level (at the feet of the dinosaur) instead of looking up at the entire being
- “Imagine if this thing was alive today” says a late 40s man to another late 40s man; they laugh (not together – separate families)
- “Dude. This is wild! Some parts of this are fake like cast but this is based off a real thing!” – late 20s couple (one female to a male)
o They stare at the dinosaur skeleton in silence together
o Guy takes out his phone
o Girl points out another detail on the tail of the skeleton, he replies with “Yeah” and they go back to silence
o “Okay, are we good to go?” “Yeah” as she still stares, “It’s just cool how they even recreated that … [gestures to the bone]” they don’t get up
o Lights dim for presentation and he says “ooh” and they watch “It’s Sue’s death maybe” and they laugh
o She says, “Okay? Ready to go?” but he wants to finish the movie (different interests)
o Movie fades to black and she says, “are you good to go?” and they leave
- “This is an active vacation. This isn’t like a let’s rest vacation” says mom as they get up from the bench to “move on” to the next exhibit
o Daughter replies, “This is like DC all over again”
- High school kids sit on the bench – one of them comes back from interactive exhibit (most interested out of the group; others talking about something else) and proclaims that the field museum does not care about gender pronouns – “Ugh, stop that.” Replies one of the girls “Really?” says another
o They then decide that they’re done with the museum exhibit and walk off
- Little kids love the touch screen display where they can rotate the dinosaur skeleton
o Parents often say “Hey! Let other people have a turn” and they turn around, hanging off the display looking sad
o One kids doesn’t get a turn and says “Hey! I didn’t get a turn! Daddy!” as he follow his parents and the rest of the other kids to keep going on with the exhibit
- Kids love touching the glass
- Kid (9) teaches his parents the same display
- Dad (late 30s) wants to watch the show while mom yells at him to keep his other kid in line
o “I’m watching the show!” and son goes up to his dad, “Right, dad! It’s show time!” and sits next to him on the bench while mom stays with kids in stroller at interactive touch-screen display
- Some parents take panoramas
- “Mom! Daddy!” baby screams as parents watch the presentation
- Some of the kids shout out their answers to the presentation’s questions – Was Sue in packs or alone? Hear a kid shout out “alone!!”
- Parents sit at bench while kids go up close
- “Of course, that thing doesn’t have feathers!” says one girl holding onto a late 20s woman’s hand, who replies, “You don’t know if they don’t have feathers!”
- A late 40s man says to this other man, “we’ll wait here (along the wall) until the presentation plays.” – one guy giving a tour to another guy?
o “is it interactive?” “no, but it guides you”
o “Do they really have short arms? Or is that really just the tip of their arms? It’s not beyond the realm of thought”
- One mom parks her stroller next to the dinosaur display while dad carries 4 year old son staring at screen
o Baby in stroller wants mom to play with her while mom and dad talk about where they should go next (where is the exit/other logistic questions)
o “Are you guys ready for the next one?” Says mom to the kids even though none of them are really paying attention (son’s gaze is on the display and daughter is playing with her dad’s legs and using them as poles to spin around)
- One baby cries at the roaring dinosaur animation (Sue killing another dinosaur)
- Older teen takes hand of 4 year old staring at dinosaur so he doesn’t get caught up in crowd
- Group of 3 kids and one older late 20s female – 13 year old on her phone walking through as other younger kids are holding hands with the oldest female and staring at the dinosaur
- Parents on phone carrying backpacks and jackets as kids play with interactive display
- Early 30s man and a 60 year old man briefly glance at the dinosaur/digital display but try to get through crowd
- One kid in stroller plays his iPhone game while his older brother looks up at the display (Dad overlooks stroller kid and Mom follows older brother)
- 40 year old female with 1 20 year old and 1 40 year old male – she uses her finger to guide through the words and all of them look up
- Group of 20 year olds (one female and 3 males) sitting at bench
o One guy gets up to look at interactive display
o Female argues with male on bench about evolution
- Group of 5 high schoolers stare at dinosaur for a second but then look at people looking at exhibit as they walk past
- 2 20 year olds arguing about politics along the side of the wall (they’re friends)
o Talking about next mass extinction with global warming
o Get closer to screens when animation starts playing
- Lots of 40 year old/50 year old men raising their arms far away from the skeleton to get a better picture
- One girl gets her camera out to take a picture of another 20 year old in front of the skeleton and then they look at the picture together instead of at the exhibit
- “Are you wearing running shoes?” “Yes” says a 20 year old along the wall
- “Sue eventually starved” “Wow” says a 20 year old on a bench
- 20 year old separate from his friends because no room on the bench so he checks his watch during presentation
- Mom still points to spotlighted points to daughter who’s paying more attention to mom than on the presentation
- Some 9 year old males were more fascinated with lit up display (start laughing at each other during presentation)
- 8 year old girl goes through interactive display with dad overlooking and takes a picture of every screen
- 30 year old dad holds up young 2 year old son and points at where he should look but son still wants to watch the animation and dad soon realizes and watches with him (son doesn’t care about the skeleton; keeps pointing back to animation screens)
o Dad walks around the skeleton and kid finally starts paying attention to where dad points to on the skeleton
o Kid starts laughing
- “That’s the real size of the t-rex” says 7 year old daughter to parents as they walk past the skeleton
- Kid playing on bench starts screaming “look!” as he hears the dinosaur roar and the animation begin
o Kid wants to play with the interactive screen but 30 year old couple is using it; keeps gesturing to dad who says “You gotta wait; you gotta wait”
- Dad (40s/50s) explaining dinosaur facts to son (13?) who wants to look at interactive display
o Gestures to mom to look at what him and 7 year old younger brother see on the display
- 30 year old male and 60 year old male and female looking at cartilage injury of SUE (female nods along as they speak)
- “There’s something written about the t-rex written over there. We can go around and read it later” 20 year old guy gestures to display across the room to 20 year female as they continue walking past skeleton to end of exhibit room
o He looks around to show her
- Early 20s girl takes Instagram/Snapchat in the beginning of the exhibit and then walks past the skeleton on her phone, looking at her picture
o Leans against glass with back to the dinosaur as she continues to look at her phone
- Girl takes video of the dinosaur, making sure to get the male she’s with in the exhibit too
o Keeps taking pictures of dinosaur from various angles in the room; male follows and watches her; stops when she stops
- Dad takes flash picture of daughter in front of dinosaur as she points up at it (kneels down on ground) and they walk away
- Kid fascinated by the animation has his hands over the glass completely captivated by the dinosaur dragging another off
- One girl sucks her thumb sitting on the bench but sees her mom leaving with her hand outstretched and she goes to follow
- 3 late 20 year olds (2 female, one male) follow each other in line; watching and reading but not talking at all
For the full low-down of my ethnographic study, feel free to read Z.