After the Quake

Brief: Design an interactive digital technology for a museum or gallery of your choice that enhances the experience of the visitor and allows the visitors to contribute content. 

OVERVIEW:

After the Quake was the result of an academic team work conducted for an Interaction Design module in December 2017.

MY ROLE:

I collaborated with 3 others to hcid students over the course of 4 months to research, ideate, design, and evaluate the interactive digital technology.

Specifically my role involved:

INTRODUCTION

The team chose to create an interactive digital technology, which enabled visitors to contribute content to the earthquake zone within the Natural History Museum. 

OBSERVATIONS

After our observations we used affinity diagramming to analysis our findings. After writing out our observations we sorted the observations to see what relationships would form.

INTERVIEWS

Following observations, when conducting interviews the method of ‘contextual inquiry’ was adopted, where observed visitors were told to retrace the steps they took during their visit, and to explain their thoughts and feelings at each step. The researcher recorded the reported steps on the Contextual Inquiry User Journey Map.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

Visitor goals – Education

• Visitors who were at the museum for the purpose of learning planned the day in advance and had a set idea of which areas they wanted to see.

• They were keen on absorbing as much information as possible and were primarily interested in reading rather than interacting with displays.

• They methodically worked their way through each area of the museum.

Visitor goals – Entertainment

• Visitors who were at the museum ‘just for fun’ did not have a set plan and were open to exploring various areas.

• They were interested in watching videos and using interactive displays, but disliked and avoided reading educational text which accompanied displays.

• They chose areas to visit based on perceived entertainment value.

• They used smartphones and social media to capture and share their experiences.

Personal experience

• Both education and entertainment focused visitors found the earthquake simulation unrealistic.

• Visitors who had experienced an earthquake felt disappointment as the simulation lacked sufficient atmosphere, information and detail to mirror their personal experiences.

• However, they enjoyed reading the stories of visitors from various countries who had experienced an earthquake.

PERSONAS

Following our analysis of our observations we came up with two personas. The primary persona, Sophie, is focused on seeking fun and entertainment as part of her museum visit. This type of user enjoyed hands-on interaction with displays, and was less interested in reading the descriptions which accompany the displays. The secondary persona, Amy, visited the museum with education as her primary goal. This type of user was keen to learn, and enjoyed reading the text that accompanied the displays.

REQUIREMENTS

1. It must have digital media uploading capability

2. It must enable users to input personal experience

3. It must offer an immersive experience to create empathy

4. It should enable users to input educational content

CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS

1. An interactive quiz, allowing visitors to create an avatar to show what they would do and how they would react in an earthquake scenario This was inspired from Snapchat’s ‘Bitmoji’ concept, where users are able to create an avatar using a high level of customisation. While this design had a high scope of interactivity, participants reported this would be a laborious and childish task that they would ignore.

2. A diary room which would allow the visitor to contribute a recording of their own earthquake experience and allow other users to empathise with the users. This was inspired from the 9/11 Memorial’s recording booth concept (9/11 Memorial, n.d.). While participants reported this was a rewarding way to give justice to people’s earthquake experiences, the team identified that the scope of creative interactive ability was limited. This is because it would only require pressing a record button. Additionally, a few participants reported they would feel shy having to show their face on camera.  

3. A story booth where visitors can create Snapchat-like stories, allowing visitors to contribute photos, archive videos, record video, type, and draw to compose a narrative about their own survival story. Participants reported this was a novel storytelling method they felt comfortable using. They appreciated the ability to use videos or pictures to describe experiences which they could not articulate.

After the team performed a brief evaluation of each conceptual design, it was decided that the third concept offered a more nuanced and engaging opportunity to create a novel interactive experience for the considered personas. The story booth would provide an immersive experience, allowing visitors to empathise with earthquake survivors.

DETAILED DESIGN

Upon completion of the evaluations, the team revisited their design and decided to create a second touchpoint as part of the user journey for watching earthquake survivor stories. During the user research stage, visitors were observed taking photos of a giant globe located at the top of the escalator leading to the entrance of the earthquake exhibit. The team decided the second touchpoint would be an interactive globe this would tie in with the giant globe at the entrance of the earthquake exhibit.

The team also felt that adding an interactive globe would act as an interface metaphor, which aids the visitor’s interpretation of the system, by building on existing knowledge of other familiar domains. Visitor stories recorded using the story booth would be represented on the interactive globe with colourful dots. Users would be able to watch stories recorded by fellow museum visitors from various locations across the world.

EVALUATION

Four participants were recruited for this evaluation, 3 of which had little to no experience with making social media ‘stories’. Their lack of experience meant they were likely to express a high frequency of usability issues that novel users typically face, and less used to overcoming usability issues.  However, to explore whether similar technologies (e.g. Snapchat) could affect the use of the prototype, at least one participant was required to have experience creating social media ‘stories’. The age range of 20-35 was chosen based on the personas. To ensure participants could vividly imagine the scenarios posed in usability testing, all participants were required to have visited the Natural History Museum’s earthquake exhibit in the last year.

Comments related to comprehension, perceived ease of use and satisfaction were recorded. Following this, each observation’s severity was rated to prioritise the amount of time the designer devoted to creating solutions. The findings and improvements made are logged and are available upon request.