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BIA-Brukerstyrt innovasjonsarena

VISITOR ENGAGEMENT

Alternative title: null

Awarded: NOK 7.9 mill.

Science centres and museums are meeting places where children, youth, and adults can explore maths, science, technology, and history through their own activity and together with other visitors. What engages the visitors? Results from VISITOR ENGAGEMENT include measurable visit observations and evidence of what engages visitors. The new, innovative tools will reduce the need for questionnaires and traditional user studies. A number of alternative technologies might be used to assess data. The project has evaluated installations using cameras, recognising visitors' emotions, position and movement patterns recorded by cameras and «beacons», and other sensors that can be used in the context of museums and that are able to deliver accurate and relevant data. The project has developed methods to compile bio-physiological data, event logs from the installations, and subjective data. Data assessment in museums should not record person-sensitive data without consent and satisfy the requirements for privacy regulations. The project performed case-studies at the Norwegian Museum for Science and Technology, the Norwegian Maritime Museum, and Engineerium. In these case-studies, students from secondary schools participated. The researchers evaluated engagement both by observing the visitors, how sensors and tools register such activity, and data analysis afterwards. These methods were used to validate the new systems and to document results. In the project, we studied «Energy Tivoli - Solar Cell» and the newly developed learning trails at the Norwegian Museum for Science and Technology, «Motorway of the Oceans» at the Norwegian Maritime Museum, and «eQuiz» and the learning game «Engineering Challenge» at Engineerium. The relations between visibly measurable emotions and expressed experience were important research questions in these studies. The new learning trails developed at the Norwegian Museum for Science and Technology use sensors, so-called beacons. At the Norwegian Maritime Museum, we tried equipment from game (e.g., Kinect). When used as intended Kinect-data can give good results in estimating engagement. For the development of installations and for the evaluation of existing installations, we proposed a design method that involves feedback from the visitors. The main purpose is classification of installations. This classification, called «Engagement Profile», describes the values for eight parameters that have an impact on engagement in an installation. Further, an app was developed that will be used as a tool for museums, developers, and designers. A museum-app was developed to run questionnaires with visitors. This app only asks a very limited number of questions that are tailored to the current context using, e.g., beacons. With this micro-survey, museums will receive good data using this method, and soon this app will be able to offer content tailored to position and emotions. The company Expology, the project owner, develops technical components for measurement of engagement. They are about to expand its technical platform XMS with a set of modules that implement the functionality from VISITOR ENGAGEMENT. Other participants in the project are the above mentioned science centres and museums, which participated in testing and validation of the new solutions. The Norwegian Computing Centre (NR) had the responsibility for research activities and project management. Researchers from NR were developing methodology to combine subjective and objective data that have been collected with the new system. NR was also responsible for sensor technology, data modelling, and system validation. The Department of Education at the University of Oslo performed visitor studies at science centres.

Vitensentre og museer skal være et møtested der barn, unge og voksne kan utforske matematikk, naturvitenskap, teknologi og historie gjennom egenaktivitet og i aktivt fellesskap med andre. Hva er det som engasjerer besøkende? I dag finnes det ikke gode mål inger for dette. Man teller gjerne besøkende, men det er ikke utviklet datainnsamlingsmetoder som forteller hva besøkende faktisk gjør, og heller ikke metoder som knytter sammen bruken med den subjektive opplevelsen. Prosjektet VISITOR ENGAGEMENT skal ut vikle et innovativt system for observasjon av hva som engasjerer besøkende i vitensentre. Hovedmålet med VISITOR ENGAGEMENT er å måle engasjement og brukeropplevelse i vitensentre. Dette skal gjøres ved hjelp av sensor- og kamerateknologi, og ved korte un dersøkelsen. Ved sensorteknologi kan man observere anonymt og uten at man forstyrrer brukeren. Resultatene fra systemet er besøksobservasjoner og tall for hva som engasjerer besøkende. VISITOR ENGAGEMENT har følgende delmål: * operasjonalisere begrepet e ngasjement og hvordan dette kan måles; * redusere behovet for spørreskjemaer for brukerundersøkelser i vitensentre * teknisk evaluering av kameraer og sensorer for å avdekke hvilke av disse som gir stabile data; * utvikle en metrikk for sammenstilling av bio-fysiologiske data og subjektive data * ivareta personvernet * ved case-studier validere system, og dokumentere resultater. Firmaet Expology er prosjekteier. VISTOR ENGAGEMENT vil utvikles som en ny modul i Expologys tekniske plattform XMS. Andre del takere er Norsk Teknisk Museum, Norsk Maritimt Museum og Engineerium. Disse vitensentrene vil delta i brukertester og valideringen av de nye løsningene. Intermedia ved UiO deltar i etnologiske studier. Norsk Regnesentral (NR) leder prosjektet og skal utvi kle metodikk for å kombinere subjektive og objektive data samlet inn ved bruk av VISITOR ENGAGEMENT. NR vil være ansvarlig for sensorteknologi, for datamodellering, og for å validere systemet.

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BIA-Brukerstyrt innovasjonsarena