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Cooltown User Studies

Explore the research focus, challenges, proposed functionalities, user experience, key findings, and infrastructure of Cooltown User Studies in an interactive science museum setting. Witness the deployment of cutting-edge technologies to enhance visitor engagement and learning experiences.

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Cooltown User Studies

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  1. Cooltown User Studies From Informing to Remembering: Deploying a Ubiquitous System in an Interactive Science Museum Margaret Fleck, Marcos Frid, Tim Kindberg, Eamonn O’Brien-Strain, Rakhi Rajani and Mirjana Spasojevic Mobile Systems and Services Lab Hewlett-Packard Labs

  2. Reality Check: User Studies • What works with ordinary users? • What is their experience like? Cooltown User Studies

  3. Research Focus: Cooltown User Studies Webpages Virtual Physical Exhibits • Study actual use: how to interleave electronic functionality with physical, nomadic activities • Inform design, stimulate design Cooltown User Studies

  4. Exploratorium – science museum • Exploratorium mission • Public exhibits space • Educational activities, teachers programs • Center for media and communication-“dissolve the walls of the building” • NSF funded Electronic Guidebook project • Investigate use of handhelds, wireless networks • Increase level of engagement and help learning • Pre-visit, during and post-visit interaction • Expand Exploratorium’s educational mission Cooltown User Studies

  5. Motivation … stimulating… … exploration … Rich web based content Electronic Guidebook Cooltown technologies Cooltown User Studies

  6. Challenges … vigorous, noisy … … hands-on … … hard to navigate … Cooltown User Studies

  7. Proposed functionalities • Informer • Content delivered to the user next to the exhibit • Suggester/Guider • Things to do while at the exhibit, things to see elsewhere • Communicator • Communication among family members, field trip groups • Experience sharing, virtual graffiti • Rememberer • Help remember exhibits/phenomena, increase post-visit engagement Cooltown User Studies

  8. Phase I Prototype hybrid Electronic Guidebook: Informer, Suggester, Rememberer • Variety of technologies (handhelds, sensing,…) • Diverse user population (staff, teachers, students, …) • User tasks (browse, bookmark, treasure hunt, …) • Measure interactions with physical & virtual resources (web logs, observers, videos, ..) • Qualitative evaluation (interviews, surveys) Cooltown User Studies

  9. Infrastructure overview p content server RFID IR 802.11 Internet real exhibit Pi-station: beacon (infrared), barcode, RFID plus processing, I/O and networking Cooltown User Studies

  10. Electronic Guidebook Technologies beacons barcodes Hitachi E-Plate Jornada 690 Jornada 540 Cooltown User Studies

  11. Electronic Guidebook: User Experience Cooltown User Studies

  12. User Experience: first step • location sensing: get exhibit URL • first web page automatically downloaded Web page URL beacon Cooltown User Studies

  13. User Experience: top page, follow to information nuggets top page (image map) info nuggets Cooltown User Studies

  14. Remembering content: personal scrapbook • press bookmark button to save web page • capture experience and make it memorable postcard collage poster booklet personal online scrapbook personal experience personal artifacts Cooltown User Studies

  15. Phase I experiments (Summer 2001) • 34 users: teachers, kids, staff, developers (ages 10 to 50+) • Data collected: detailed web logs, observations, interviews Cooltown User Studies

  16. Phase I key findings Low-level & generic • Verified feasibility of basic components • Beacons/barcodes acceptable for location sensing • Wireless connectivity (802.11) • Browser UI • Web pages easily accessible • Issues with stylus • Battery life will continue to be an issue • Potential for getting lost in cyberspace! Cooltown User Studies

  17. Phase I key findings Domain-specific (Exploratorium-related) • Most appropriate user groups: teachers, explainers, repeat visitors • Easy adoption with younger visitors • Personalization of content is important • Audio needs earplugs • Users reacted positively to the 'my scrapbook' idea • Potential negative effects • distraction from exhibits by on-line content • carrying devices affects interaction at the exhibits • Ongoing: evaluation of content for self-directed informal learning Cooltown User Studies

  18. Choosing a tool Web pages • Informer, Suggester • Too obtrusive for many visitors • Guider, Communicator • Less frequent distractions • Rememberer • Minimizes attention shifts • Extends engagement to post-visit • User interest Virtual Physical Exhibits Cooltown User Studies

  19. What is Rememberer? • Record of the exhibits to remember. User controls what is captured. • Components • "remember-this" technology for selecting objects during the visit • the visit record (set of web pages) • a physical token, which reminds the user of the visit Cooltown User Studies

  20. Phase II infrastructure: Rememberer personal artifact (web page, postcard, etc.) content server RFID IR 802.11 Internet “remember-this” real exhibit Cooltown User Studies

  21. Rememberer: research questions • Interference with exhibit manipulation? • Does the tool help with recall? • Influence on discussion and social interaction • among people who visited together • with people who are remote • Does the tool help as a resource? • in itself • as a launching point for further exploration Cooltown User Studies

  22. Rememberer: experiments • Round 1: informally verified basic concept • RFID tags, cameras, web pages for photos • Users like having photos taken this way • Web pages accessed after the visit and annotated • Round 2: detailed evaluation (23 individuals/groups) Cooltown User Studies

  23. Round 2: experiment description • Experiment setup • Mixture of exhibits; non-instrumented, with beacon, with beacon & camera • Individuals and small groups • Control: no device, all exhibits non-instrumented • Observations & interviews • Diverse Exploratorium-associated volunteers (!) • Kids and adults, male & female Cooltown User Studies

  24. Use of ‘remember-this’ • Propensity All instrumented exhibits - 74% Exhibits w/ beacons - 67% Exhibits w/ beacons and camera - 86% • ‘Interference’ Beacon pickup: 10 out of 17 said “easy or very easy” Observed beacon problems: 10% of 140 uses Camera adjustment: 25% of 63 uses 50% said wanted more camera control (what/when) Cooltown User Studies

  25. Time spent at exhibits • Camera: visits 20% longer than control group Cooltown User Studies

  26. Home use • 10 out of 17 revisited web pages • 4 twice • 3 of them about 10 days after the experiment Cooltown User Studies

  27. Moving forward • Continue analysis of Rememberer at Exploratorium • More widely applicable ‘remember-this’ • e.g. Jornada with camera Exploratorium Multiple domains Feb ‘02 Electronic Guidebook Rememberer Cooltown User Studies

  28. Conclusions • Nomadic computing tools – simple applications that enhance interaction with the physical world • Cooltown physical hyperlinks are an effective mechanism for invoking web-based services • Exploratorium findings are likely to apply to other domains that are dynamic with high demand on user attention Cooltown User Studies

  29. More information • Electronic Guidebook project information www.exploratorium.edu/guidebook/ • Most recent TR: HPL-2002-54

  30. Backup slides Cooltown User Studies

  31. Sample content: orientation page Cooltown User Studies

  32. Sample content: exhibit instructions, information nuggets Cooltown User Studies

  33. Research focus: Physical vs. Virtual navigation Web pages Virtual Physical Exhibits Cooltown User Studies

  34. Phenomena under investigation Higher order effects (informal learning, engagement, social interaction, …) Paths through physical and virtual space (attention switching: exhibits, devices, content, companions, …) complexity Attention to artifacts (exhibits, online content, …) Basic affordances (handhelds, beacons, web pages, audio, …) Cooltown User Studies

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