Exploring technology through the design lens

Abstract

In this paper we explore the design of a museum system developed to increase accessibility to and interaction with a museum collection. We conducted a case study in which we interviewed participants involved in the design project, and reviewed documentation that spanned a decade of planning, building, and implementation. The goal of this research is to explore information interaction through the lens of a interdisciplinary team, which consisted of systems and museum personnel.In doing so, we emphasize the human and collaborative elements of design, and the human-to-human exchange in developing technology in the museum setting.Information interaction research has approached the topic of design from a viewpoint of deficiencies, focusing on the chasm between design and use. The transition from system-centered, to user-centered, to interaction-centered [4] approaches has enabled us to see users in a more holistic way; information interactions are complex and shaped by users' actions within and reactions to their environments, as well as their cognitions and emotions.However, our focus on the user has promoted the "invisibility" of the system [12]; invisible systems promote engaging experiences for our users by minimizing interruptions due to usability issues. Saracevic's [20] Stratified Model of Information Retrieval is comprised of the: 1) Surface Level (inputs and outputs); 2) User Level (cognitive, affective, and situational information interaction); 3) Processing Level (software and the programming languages that run it); and 4) Content Level (text, images, etc. and meta-data). The Stratified Model demonstrates the complexity of