Introduction

In this project, we will through the research, investigation, and design to help users better understand some collections in a museum or gallery. In order to protect some precious exhibits, the organizer puts the exhibits in protective covers or prohibits visitors from close contact, which may result in the low cognitive participation due to the limitations of the exhibits during the visit. Moreover, due to various visiting propose and background, the visiting experience is different from person to person and some audiences who lack the related background knowledge of the exhibition may be dissatisfied with the browsing results because they are not able to get effective help in the museum in time.

Based on the theory of education and social sciences, we hope to find a way that can help visitors improve their cognition and learning experiences and help them can better achieve their visiting goals. Cognitive participation describes the state of deep participation and enjoyment of individuals in a learning context (Webster & Hackley, 1997). And it can be briefly summarized as: attention, enjoyment, and curiosity. Since this theory is very suitable for the environment of museums or galleries, thus, we will focus on these psychological factors of users in the design process. Because of the rich and varied cultural life of people, museums and galleries have become an important leisure location to some extent. In addition, enjoyment is an important indicator of learning in an informal learning environment, such as museums (A.C.H. Lin & W.D. Fernandez & S. Gregor, 2012). So, improving enjoyment should also be a crucial consideration. At the same time, immersion enhances the entertainment of the user experience and enriches the user's sensory experience, and it has become a target for measuring contemporary technology experiences (Fornerino & Helme-Guizon, 2015). Because many audiences may visit museums because of curiosity, for museum-based design, satisfying users' entertainment needs and curiosity while ensuring the authenticity and reliability of the content can optimize their visiting experience and purpose (J. Rounds, 2004).

Through this project, we hope to help users improve their museum experience and help them better achieve their visiting goals. By the end of the semester, our team wanted to develop a fully functional prototype to extend the connection between visitors and exhibits in the museum.

Domain

During the background research, we read lots of related academic articles to board our understanding in this domain, clear how we should investigate further and factors that should be considered in the design. Most museums adopt a plain form of presenting the exhibits to express information to the visitors. Generally, the inadequacy is that it will lead to the boredom of the visitors and they will lose interests during the lasting routes. So, it is crucial to set the emphasis and draw visitors’ attention to help the museums tell the story better. In order to better convey the educational significance, the content of the museum should be well prepared and the skills of delivering the content should be taken seriously as well. Today's learners tend to acquire knowledge through experiential processes. Thus, Interactive technologies or virtual environments can be adopted in museum display (Wulandari, 2017).

There is research shows that people go to the museum for the purpose of venerating, social, amateur and instructive (López Sintas, 2014). In some previous course experiments, museums in Italy adopted the characteristics of design, cultural heritage and computer science to make museum experience design with these new methods. In these designs, there are interactive projections, video games, and virtual dialogue robots. This series of methods is most suitable for theme museums (Falco,2017).

The emotion and cognition have close ties which are affected by the surrounding and personal needs. That will work together and change behavior (Scheidegger, 2016). The flow and immersion of the visiting process are impacted by the interactive elements, sensor enhancement and changeable exhibit (Harvey, 1998). The usability and interactive, which are the information technology dimensions, impact the cognitive engagement in the emotional changing. That has a significant influence on the learning process. Higher cognitive engagement is related to direct interaction (Pallud, 2017). In the previous attempt, the exploring desire of audience was enhanced by improving their emotional experience which was achieved by establishing an immersive environment (Buchtová, 2012).

In the past, some museum tried to use omnidirectional video to create an authentic and immersive environment for the visitor. Viewers can choose their interest points to watch, which adds interactivity. The engagement of the interactivity and immersion can satisfy the user and establish possible ways to communicate information (Cheok, 2017).

To improve cognitive participation in the museum, there will be faced with the issue of raising the level of cognitive engagement. By using possible forms that arouse the curiosity of the visitors and increase immersion and enjoyment.

Target user

The target user of this design is young people. During the research process of this project, we observed it in the Museum of Brisbane which located in Brisbane City Hall. The observation was aimed at the Brisbane City History Exhibition Board in the museum.

During the one hour of observation, a total of 35 visitors noticed the exhibit and read the contents of the panels in different degrees, but 28 of the 35 visitors were middle-aged and above. Which mains young audiences might do not have the patience to read through the content. Moreover, only a few of the 28 people read the panels carefully, and there is a big gap between maximum visiting time and minimum visiting time, which means there might be different levels of difficulty in reading and difficulty in reading comprehension from person to person.

In the founding of survey of young people in New Zealand and Australia, shows that young people's ideas about related modern arts do not match their worldview. Bartlett and Kelly (2000) also indicated that young audience does not have a good view about museums or galleries, which they think it is boring, no connection, untouchable and focus on past, in contrast to their interest in current entertainment or future technology. Young people, they show they do not believe they are a part of the museum. In the survey (Mason, D., & Mccarthy, 2006) they investigated that some specific categories in art were more attractive to young people, including the most modern stuff, graffiti, the latest art or some stuff could bring to an interactive experience. In young people's view of art, interactive art included virtual art gallery tours, create more activities to engage more visitors or hold the art theme party. However, this visual art is quite different from what is recognized in today's art culture.

Therefore, we hope that through our design, some young people who lack patience and appreciation can be increased their cognitive participation. And in the future, we plan to investigate more about young people such as their aim of visiting and insights and further narrow down the user group.

Design concept

Through literature review we found that experiencing immersion, enjoyment and curiosity might play an important role in improving cognitive participant and leaning efficiency (Pallud, Jessie, 2017). Combining the exhibits and techniques in the museum can help the audience to understand the content more easily, and this form of the exhibition is more attractive and this attraction can evoke the enthusiasm of visitors and increase the interaction between the exhibits and the audience (Tao Jiang, 2018). And IT technology can provide visitors with a richer sensory experience, thus, creating an immersive educational interactive environment through human-computer interaction can alleviate the tourists understanding difficulties to some extends, it might help users get a smoother visiting experience.

Inspiration

The Shark Sense 4D Virtual Reality Show is now available at the Frost Science Museum in Miami. It based on the principles of experiential learning, the designer develops immersive virtual reality educational games that help users understand shark hearing, smell, vision, and touch. During use, visitors can manipulate the 3D virtual reality underwater world through the handles and prey on different sensory fits. At the same time, visitors will experience an immersive experience. Feel the shark's sense of hearing through the built-in speakers, and the built-in fan will be used to simulate and help the user experience the smell of the shark. The vibrating display is used to simulate changes in the electromagnetic field perceived by the shark as the prey approaches.

Implementation

Technology

VR technology can create an immersive interactive experience to help users learn with high cognition. Experiential learning theory holds that associating learning events with physical behavior has a greater impact on individuals (Kiefer and Trumpp, 2012). VR technology can respond to participants' movements and activate learners' perception of themselves as a tool for developing an understanding (Stolz, 2015). Through the construction of VR environment, users will be placed in a certain context, immersive interactive experience will minimize the cognitive load of users so that users can accept the continuous input of information, and multiple sensory experiences can help users improve cognitive and learning efficiency.

Potential forms

Content display of virtual environment enables users to experience and interact with learning content in a set virtual environment. Users will be personally involved in a particular content (such as history) and be able to experience changes in Brisbane in a short time in a virtual environment.

Hassenzahi and Tractinsky (2006) proposed three aspects of improving the user experience: first, it goes beyond the instrumental point of view; second, the impact on the user's emotions; third, it involves empirical problems. The focus of the design is on increasing the user's sensory experience, entertainment or aesthetics (Hassenzahi & Tractinsky, 2006). Therefore, creating an engaging educational immersive interactive environment may be able to meet functional (education) and hedonic (entertainment) needs. In the process of interaction, users will experience a multi-sensory interaction and inspire users’ self-project, engaging users and improve their cognitive participants.

Team VC

Wenhui, Bu - UX Designer My strength might be designed background since I did my bachelor degree in interior design and landscape design. I also have several years painting and sketch experience, therefore, I believe that I can take responsibility for prototype design and do some sketch works. My weakness would be unfamiliar with programming and stuff related to IT. When meeting with the technical problems and implement issues, I might need to take a lot of time to consume it and hope to learn a lot from the course.

Through this course, I believe that I can deeply insight the relation between human and social context. Doing a lot of research helps me to explore the human-centered design and create a product based on end-users needs rather than the idea we came up with. Being more focus on identifying the dilemma that social or mobile technology could be addressed is what I want to learn in this course.

Yi, LU – Developer & Leader

A second semester interaction design master student with the background of computer science and technology. My strength is UX/UI design and good at painting.I also can do some develop work.

For interaction design, it is important to learn how to investigate the target user group and learn the strategy of communication and expression. In this course, I expect to learn more knowledge about how to fulfill users’ need through design and how to better collaborate with others.

Tiantian, Bao - Coordinator My strengths would be thinking and reflection which is something I have experienced last whole semester. I understand the idea and build on it immediately. In the background of design, I would also manage design tasks in the project.

My weakness would be coding. Because I am new in the code area, I feel tired when facing the coding problem. Since I am not proficient, I spend a lot of time on it. I hope to achieve more potential in this project and gain experience from the process.

Summer, Yang - Manager My undergraduate is accounting and now I am learning interactive design. It is a risk but also an opportunity to cross a large subject area. My strength is to have a quick mind and provide more visions. At the same time, I can also play the role of a connected organization in a team. Meanwhile, I’m with strong execution ability and have great enthusiasm for the areas I like. Overall, I’m a people person who loves peace.

Future Plan

SCORE Analysis

Strengths within the team

• Members of our group come from different backgrounds, such as business, computer science, food science, engineering, interior design. With a wide breadth of knowledge, we can explore different areas.

• The cultural background is unified, all girls, easy to communicate and work with.

• The team atmosphere is enthusiastic and positive

• There are no language barriers.

Strengths around the project concept

• Our target users are young people, and the team members are all about 20-year-old young students, which is convenient for communication.

• Team members like to visit museums, and the team has a deep understanding of the museum topics.

Challenges within the team

• How to unify different opinions and differences

• How to make the schedule compact and reasonable.

• How to coordinate the meeting schedule of different team members.

Challenges around the project

• The gap between design and practice capabilities, technical limitations.

• How to open thinking limits, cultural restrictions, and design a broader concept which is suitable for potential users with different cultural backgrounds.

Options

• VR devices may cause the user to feel bad and cause physical discomfort.

• More potential to learn new technical skills and break the subject barriers. Team members have more opportunities to get in touch with programming.

• More opportunities to learn soft skills and how to communicate with the team. After eliminating language barriers, we can communicate more smoothly.

• There are few kinds of research about the museum which means there are more opportunities to explore more on the museum experience. Improve the user experience.

Responses

• Redefine the functions of museum instructors. Maybe technology will replace the artificial profession.

• Older visitors have different levels of acceptance of technology and may cause physical problems.

• The museum may consider the cost of input, and a large amount of expenses and maintenance of the equipment will cause economic losses.

• Encourage future technology practitioners to promote the development and application of the technology industry.

Reference

Webster, J., & Hackley, P. (1997). Teaching effectiveness in technology-mediated distance learning. Academy of management journal, 40(6), 1282-1309.

Lin, A. C., Fernandez, W. D., & Gregor, S. (2012). Understanding web enjoyment experiences and informal learning: A study in a museum context. Decision Support Systems, 53(4), 846-858.

Cuny, C., Fornerino, M., & Helme-Guizon, A. (2015). Can music improve e-behavioral intentions by enhancing consumers’ immersion and experience?. Information & Management, 52(8), 1025-1034.

Rounds, J. (2004). Strategies for the curiosity‐driven museum visitor. Curator: The Museum Journal, 47(4), 389-412.

Mason, D. D., & McCarthy, C. (2006). ‘The feeling of exclusion’: Young peoples’ perceptions of art galleries. Museum Management and Curatorship, 21(1), 20-31.

Charitonos, K., Blake, C., Scanlon, E., & Jones, A. (2012). Museum learning via social and mobile technologies:(How) can online interactions enhance the visitor experience?. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(5), 802-819.

Wulandari, A. A. A., Fajarwati, A. A. S., & Latif, F. (2017). The Relationship of exhibition space design and the success of delivering messages to museum visitors in Jakarta. Humaniora, 8(3), 219-228.

López Sintas, J., García Álvarez, E., & Pérez Rubiales, E. (2014). Art museum visitors: interaction strategies for sharing experiences. Museum Management and Curatorship, 29(3), 241-259.

Dal Falco, F., & Vassos, S. (2017). Museum experience design: A modern storytelling methodology. The Design Journal, 20(sup1), S3975-S3983.

Harvey, M. L., Loomis, R. J., Bell, P. A., & Marino, M. (1998). The influence of museum exhibit design on immersion and psychological flow. Environment and Behavior, 30(5), 601-627.

Scheidegger, M., Henning, A., Walter, M., Boeker, H., Weigand, A., Seifritz, E., & Grimm, S. (2016). Effects of ketamine on cognition–emotion interaction in the brain. Neuroimage, 124, 8-15.Pallud, J. (2017). Impact of interactive technologies on stimulating learning experiences in a museum. Information & Management, 54(4), 465-478.

Jiang, T. (2018). Urban public art and interaction design strategy based on digital technology. Cluster Computing, 1-8.

Kiefer, M., & Trumpp, N. M. (2012). Embodiment theory and education: The foundations of cognition in perception and action. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 1(1), 15-20.

Stolz, S. A. (2015). Embodied learning. Educational philosophy and theory, 47(5), 474-487.

Hassenzahl, M., & Tractinsky, N. (2006). User experience-a research agenda. Behaviour & information technology, 25(2), 91-97.

Pallud, J. (2017). Impact of interactive technologies on stimulating learning experiences in a museum. Information & Management, 54(4), 465-478.

Buchtová, M. (2012, September). Interactive installation design to enhance audience immersion and informational behavior. In International Conference on Entertainment Computing (pp. 453-456). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Cheok, A. D., Inami, M., & Romão, T. (Eds.). (2018). Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology: 14th International Conference, ACE 2017, London, UK, December 14-16, 2017, Proceedings (Vol. 10714). Springer.

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