Families and Mobile Devices in Museums

Abstract

This article presents an observational study of eight families engaging with a bespoke tablet experience produced for a space science centre. It documents the various ways in which family members orientate themselves to the usage of technology in this environment, with a particular focus on the work done to manage the tablet and facilitate the engagement of younger children with the narrative of the experience. These findings are considered in the broader context of the need to design experiences that cater to engagement by families as a whole. We conclude by motivating the need for technologies that are robust in light of regular disengagement and by family members, and which provide functionality to directly support facilitation work.

Representation and Preservation of Heritage Crafts

“…Cultural tourism has moved away from the traditional interest in static museums and monuments and demands interactive experiences, including tangible and digital artefacts, as well as engagement with local communities. There is a strong need to satisfy demanding visitors, particularly young people who usually do not find interest unless engaged in activities or games [9]. In many cases, participants of thematic tourism have little knowledge of the place, but a strong intent to become aware and learn.…”

A Qualitative Analysis of Participant Learning and Growth Using a New Outward Bound Outcomes Instrument

“…Additionally, unlike mobile technology uses in museum and K-12 settings reported by Liu et al (2014), Naismith andSmith (2009), andRennick-Egglestone et al (2016), some mobile technology uses require changes to the physical landscape of wilderness areas to foster those changes (e.g., cell towers, unnatural noise through technology use, increased traffic in areas with wildlife sightings). It is important to consider and weigh perspectives of naturalists in the integration and appropriate use of technologies in outdoor education.…”

“…Museums use mobile technologies to highlight collections and vary patron experiences. Naismith and Smith (2009) and Rennick-Egglestone et al (2016) leveraged mobile devic-es to present varied museum tours to patrons without compromising the curated aesthetics. Interested patrons leveraged Internet devices to receive audio commentary about specific exhibits, to role-play events, and to differentiate collaborative experiences.…”

Flow, Staging, Wayfinding, Personalization: Evaluating User Experience with Mobile Museum Narratives

“…In particular, the role that one group member takes can impact that member's or even the group's engagement with the content. For example, in the case of parents visiting with children, the experience was mainly led by the latter (who usually carried the device); parents acted mainly as content mediators, thus sacrificing having an experience of their own for the sake of facilitating their children [19].…”

“…However, parents experienced difficulties when they had lost track of where their children were in the experience; they did not have sufficient knowledge; they could not hear what their children were listening to; or the children were showing signs of frustration or boredom and parents did not know how to move on or skip unessential content. Possible solutions to these issues may be to allow synchronization of progress when families are using several devices; to create extra channels of information to parents, which they could use in this structuring work; to use multi headphone splitters; and to provide sufficient information about the structure of a visit to allow choices to be made [19].…”