Raw Notes from Class Discussions

Week One ☝🏼

Diana

23 different exhibitions

Climate change issues but with entertainment value built into them

People should not be lectured but be inspired

Museum is a healthy activity to do with family

Exhibition that express themselves, participatory

Cross generational-discussion that continue outside of museum

Prescriptive complex design doesn’t work well

More sticky, more social, Zoom in and out

Problem items they need help with: way-finding, hierarchy

Wedding cake- one clear theme vs. Maze — slowing ppl

Mission-driven with broad audiences

33% 18 or younger 33% with family

Time travel= deep time story telling

Issue of colonialism, anthroposcene, Storytelling of scientists

Approachable and applicable information

Customizable experience

Succinct takeaway

Empowering, recognizing their curiosity

People ask “why do I care?” give them opportunity to express themselves and find relevance in their life

Term: Essence-expert audiences

Things to look at: Mhm-culture consumer atlas, Book: Morrison-Participatory museum

Week Two ☝🏼

Class notes

• 7 stages of visualizing data (Computational Information design)
• Jach Lieberman: http://zach.li/
• Music video — Pieter-Jan
• 6th sense — MIT media lab
• Teamlab
• lily pads
• little bits-available after 11/15 ni at CMU
• ARCore
• ARKit 3
• Fiducial Marker
• Discussion: Balance between way-finding and chanced exploration by getting lost. How much information should be given so that it is not too much
• Observation that we discussed: After some time there is overload of information in the museum. Would connecting information and giving people the option to curate their own tours be valuable?
• Way-finding: not making connections because there was no thematic continuity in the exhibits.
• Controlled Freedom for kids
• “Too young is too young” (Sahasrabuddhe, 2019)
• Take aways — what kind of physical objects can become take aways?
• Q’s feedback: your idea is more about Social Interaction+Way-finding driven by information (how you categorize artifacts). You could create semantic relationships between the artifacts that probably did not even exist in the same time period.
• Paper — The 9 groups of Museum goers
• Children might be limited group to design for and there might be too many assumptions. May be pick up the adult group wherein there’s more secondary research for you to build on
• Opportunity space — the lone museum visitors are more engaged with their phones. What if instead of the audio tour, what if you combine AR with what you are seeing and what else you could see
• SET AIMS AND OBJECTIVES BY WEDNESDAY: one concise sentence of what you want to do and what medium you’d like to explore
• Project aspen — http://www.suzannechoi-design.com/aspen
• Laura and Chen — Wildlife Adventure: http://chen-ni.com/wildlife-adventure

November 6, 2019: Discussion with Dina & Matt

• Deep time walk: https://www.deeptimewalk.org/ (It’s abstract concept, experiencing it is different. Matt’s suggestion is that if this is something that you are interested in, do it sooner)
• On Mobile as technology: It’s okay to think of mobile app because a lot of people these days use mobile for museums visits
• How can social interaction be used to help visitors see more in the museums and spend more time? Skeltons are one of the sticky exhibits, but the second floor is a little creepy and dark. Can that be made better? May be you can create some sort of social game or activity on this floor and say that . Validate your problem of social way finding.
• Narrow on the people you are talking about. Define the problem through specific personas: visitors who have the pass v/s first time or one time visitors? Looking at archetypes might help to begin defining the problem and what you want to explore as a group. These archetypes can cross over: MET example. pass holder. unique experience.
• The pass holders: if they come often, what are the exhibits so the see? Do they go to particular exhibits that they visit?
• Novel experience: probably for the day guest and desirable to the pass holders
• Some people visit as per the highlights and then visit other places if they have more time. That usually takes strategy and planning which usually the maps don’t provide.
• Dina -Do you want to identify a problem and solve them, or do you want to make an experience richer within the context of this museum?
• How do you build on the idea of social interaction within way finding?
• Sanika: Narrow down to one thread of way finding based on someone’s recommendation. Diana — You wander off to explore and the tables become check points to come together. Isha- The parts of game on the large table becomes a clue to be passed on to the next group of visitors
• Roadmap for the next 4 weeks: updated in Calendar

Arduino workshop-

• instructables for reference
• Arduino boards remember the code once it is uploaded, so it is possible to use the board without the computer by plugging it in to a power source.
• Bluetooth can be connected to the Arduino to control it from Mobile or other devices

Archetypes:

• Explorer, Experience Seeker, Professional / Hobbyist, Facilitator, Rechargers
• We spoke about how the idea of facilitator
• Split & Explorer — the facilitator is in the context of facilitated, there is a constant hand off. Interaction built within the idea of facilitation. Sanika- A sphere being split into different people in the group, everyone goes out to explore, may be exchange parts, come back and collect the thoughts
• Facilitating the Explorer (OR guiding?) — Difference between the two is that facilitation has social aspect to it, while guiding does not
• Who is being facilitated — a group, members of the group switch roles between facilitator and being facilitated

November 7, 2019

Diana’s visit to Natural History Museum, Washington:

• Everyone seemed to be learning together, kids were equally interested as the parents.
• Cave like elements, or domes that people could walk into.
• Sounds for Africa taxidermy hall: lights, sounds, season changing, screen changing to raining
• The example of wolf guiding (the wedding cake) and the beaver made you look at all sides
• Key takeaway: Find where the human interventions, what should you do and not do

November 9, 2019

• Our idea of social way finding is coming together. Making 2 user personas helped us have a clearer image of who we are designing for.
• Aspects of facilitating exploration through social way-finding, specific to out user personas:

1. Going in different directions and then coming together, interactive touch points help bring the group together at certain specific exhibits
2. Adults, unlike children, want to explore on their own as much as they want to spend time together
3. Coming together & the aspect of time: the physical object guides the movement and the meeting point shifts based on how Joanna and Carol are moving through the exhibition
4. Augmenting the way finding through a physical object, we are all leaning towards using only physical computing and stay away from screens and apps

Questions that we are trying to answer:

1. How might we allow people to still feel like a part of the group, even if they wander off to explore?
2. How do we facilitate of not sticking to the plan?
3. Poke at Problem statement no 1: How might we allow people to co-curate a museum visit as they wander off to explore by themselves?
4. Poke at Problem statement no 1: How might we allow people to co-curate a museum visit as they wander off to explore by themselves?
5. Poke at Problem statement no 2: How might we allow people give the experience of controlled freedom?
6. Poke at Problem statement no 3: how might we allow people to explore the museum in a flexible way?
7. Poke at Problem statement no 4: How might we allow multiple visitors co-curate their visit?
8. Design challenges: How do we facilitate making a plan for visitors? How do we facilitate not sticking to that plan? How might we nudge people to follow the plan?

Week Three 👌🏼