IMPROVEMENTS TO BE MADE TO THE EXHIBITON

There are many improvements that me made to both the overall museum experience and specifically the one concerning whaling, I have described below the ideas that are both originally mine and also researched.

OUTDOORS
– Use outdoor building projection to project an underwater world to life.
– In the evening reactionary projections can be made onto the floor. This could allow people to look under their feet have the water react with their steps?
– Use holographic projections to mark every hour, the captain will shout “watch whale ahead”.
– Model boat outside with actor standing on top

INDOORS
– Allow the users to pick their topic first, and the level at which they want to learn (relate these with the 4 classes from research social, intellectual, emotional or spiritual?). This will directly impact the route they are given and the amount of information provided.
– Augmented reality can bring elements of the exhibition to life and add extra information about these things that can be explored (point a camera at the whale skeleton, the skin would appear on it, it would pop up as a 3D which can show the different elements within the animal, like skeleton, organs, muscles and skin. This will also have a more info button to allow you to compare the animal in size to other piscine creatures, it’s life expectancy, YOY breed estimations, are they endangered? It could also be used to scale the animal against other animals associated with it.(Use black & white for contrast on live camera, while the content that can be interacted with is in colour – example of this contrast working is http://latenightedm.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/alison_wonderland_run-new-edm-music.jpg)
– A mood board of a looped video of a whale user enhanced adaptations on each frame, see this music video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nntGTK2Fhb0) and pause anywhere after 1:06 and notice it is all individual artwork (Also see image below). This creates a social bond between all visitors, old, new and future.

– Let the user know that there are more exhibitions to see if they were to visit again, it also suggests other places of interested around the city.
– In app voice commands (like Siri) could allow users to ask a specific question about the animal and get it answered immediately. These questions could be targeted at the stories fictional captain by saying “Hey Captain”
– A boat radar should be used for location within the museum relation to interactive elements, when clicked showing the floor plan of the museum and all the interactive elements across the museum.
– Sea biscuits as snacks should placed along the route for people to eat (Info about the Weevil)

EXTRA
– Moby Dick swallowed a whaler. (Could be the story in which the users travel the museum) & can be related to the outdoor hologram of the whale jumping from the ground on the hour.
– Visitor Number #9172/competition(With spending money for the gift store)
– Link with Facebook for competitions, and allowing the user to save information they want to read another time,or allow them to access saved information at their next visit? (Data collection & Improvement of services for user)
– Choice of Language
– Time sensitive responsiveness (Good morning/Good Afternoon)

Advertisement

Personas

Understand the user is vital to creating immersive experience to suit them. With research, discovering my target audience would be adults between 18 and 26 years old, I need to create a application that is accessible and easy to use whilst still creating interest in the exhibition.

To maximize the amount of people visiting the exhibition, the success of the exhibition experience, I must concentrate on marketing meaning that I create a brand around the exhibition and get people talking about it, something that was suggested by top marketer Sean Dromgoole at his TedX talk about “the future of marketing”.

The purpose of this application is to create a more immersive experience for people visiting a museum. It should cater too all ages and genders, people with little and large amounts of education. It should allow people from all types of professional backgrounds to enjoy the exhibition. The application should be designed and built in such a way that the user doesn’t need any previous experience using technology to use it.

Getting people through the door in the first place is the hardest step, this must start outside of the from door.

There has to be lots of information available but not lots of reading.

The route must be set but allow users to experience the information at their own pace.

 

References;

Kar Yan Tam , Shuk Ying Ho, Web Personalization as a Persuasion Strategy: An Elaboration Likelihood Model Perspective, Information Systems Research, v.16 n.3, p.271-291, September 2005

Alfred Kobsa, Generic User Modeling Systems, User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, v.11 n.1-2, p.49-63, 2001

Sung Min Bae , Sung Ho Ha , Sang Chan Park, Fuzzy Web Ad Selector Based on Web Usage Mining, IEEE Intelligent Systems, v.18 n.6, p.62-69, November 2003

http://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/personas.html

Questionnaire

This questionnaire was administered on 1/10/15 between the hours of 3-5pm and as a random sample should not be regarded as definitive. Speaking to people within the museum itself allowed me to understand my target audience better. Other surveys will undoubtedly refine the figures, but as an initial exercise this proved useful. Some conclusions are below.

56% of the visitors were over fifty years old, which suggests that while fulfilling a useful function as entertainment and education for the older generation, there is an opportunity to target younger visitors. There were slightly more men than women. Various methods of modernisation might be explored as to how to promote more youthful interest [see later.]

It was the first visit for half the visitors, which suggests that the museum has captured interest enough to encourage revisits. Of the remaining half, however, the majority were not inspired enough to want to revisit. 20% of the visits were impromptu. [See later.] Once again, the younger element needs targeting.

Only 16% of the visitors spent more than an hour at the venue. This was useful as an indication of what may be targeted for improvement. While the Heritage in St Petersburg and the Louvre in Paris are so well stocked with material it is not possible for it all to be displayed at any one time, the Maritime Museum is limited in the amount it can offer.
Suggestions submitted by the survey participants addressing this included a reconsideration of the layout and the addition of more “hands-on” features. Other suggested enhancements included the devising of a set route to slow down the visitors and encourage a more immersive experience, addition of olfactory and aural elements, video features, guides and information officers (“talks and discussions from professionals”) and the use of other languages. It was encouraging that many of these issues would be positively addressed by the use of iPad, Facebook or other media involvement, and that 80% of the participants would be prepared to be involved in some measure. It may be advantageous to consider different routes round the museum, targeting different features of maritime life; this could encourage revisiting.

It was felt by some visitors that regular changes to the exhibition might encourage repeat visits, and there was an indication that a cafe, possibly incorporating a lounge, would be an improvement.

Visiting might be improved by better advertising. This could not only be in terms of “Tourist Information” flyers available at targeted spots (other museums, The Deep, etc.) but on-site initiatives (possibly at set times, e.g. on the hour) such as screens attached to the outside of the building giving previews of the content inside, holographic projects of whales and ships
emerging from the floor outside the main entrance and/or a costumed nineteenth century sea captain standing outside performing, or as a photograph opportunity with children against a marketing backdrop for the museum [“Free photograph at the end of the tour.”] This might create much greater appeal, especially to the younger members of the public.

Museum Demographic

While I have conducted my own research about the museums, I tried to contact the Maritime Museum for help with regards to the demographical footfall. Unfortunately they were unable to help me, therefore without their support, I took to the web to discover the average statistics of museum goers. This is what I found;

 

Gender
40% Male
60% Female

Age
10% 0-24
57% 25-55
33% 55+

Visiting Patterns (Yearly)
32% – 1 Visit
27% – 2 Visits
21% – 3-5 Visits
14% – 6-10 Visits
6% – 11+ Visits

4 Main Reasons to visit a museum
3%   – Spiritual (Religious) – Creative Stimulation & Quiet Contemplation
11% – Emotional (Spa)
38% – Intellectual (Archive)
48% – Social (Attraction)

30% visits are based on word of mouth, therefore suggesting that the visits need to be dynamic and stimulating enough that people will want to talk about what they’ve seen.

Museums see on average an increase of 40% in visits when advertising with flyers and television.

NOTES:
The group that attends the museum the least is the 18-24, this is the target audience that should have the experience should rive to improve whilst also increasing the other groups too!

Target Audience is between 18-24 because they are the lowest audience group. The reason to exclude the younger part of the group is because it would be a different service to offer and there are external elements such as family that influence the visits of children. Understand the reasons why this age group both do and don’t attend a museum is going to be vital in part of the research stage.

People will revisit a museum, I should make an digital experience that would have different elements to allow for multiple visits.

I need to create an experience that relates to people on many different emotions, the stronger the connection the more they will take away from the exhibition.

It is important to the footfall of the museum for the visitors to share their experience with friends and family to maximise the potential visitors. The design must include and easy way for the users to do this while they are still caught up in the excitement of the experience.

References;

http://reachadvisors.typepad.com/museum_audience_insight/2010/04/whos-coming-to-your-museum-demographics-by-museum-type.html

Click to access digest05.pdf

Click to access audience%20knowledge%20digest.pdf

Plan of work

This brief requires research into marketing and search engine optimisation while creating a website that implements the use of both. I need to show that I have an understanding of usability/accessibility, identity/branding & technological drivers.

My idea for the brief is to create a website about the magic of alchemy, while also trying to improve my design and coding skills.

This is the plan for the work I need to complete and when it needs to be completed by;

I have added an empty two weeks at the end to allow for any mistakes.

Plan of work

This brief asks that I create an online artifact that will be viable in the rapidly changing environment of museum exhibitions. I have to develop and explore a variety of online communication methods and interactive environments.

This is the plan for the work I need to complete and when it needs to be completed by;

I have added an empty two weeks at the end to allow for any mistakes.