Living Liquid: Design and Evaluation of an Exploratory Visualization Tool for Museum Visitors

Abstract

Interactive visualizations can allow science museum visitors to explore new worlds by seeing and interacting with scientific data. However, designing interactive visualizations for informal learning environments, such as museums, presents several challenges. First, visualizations must engage visitors on a personal level. Second, visitors often lack the background to interpret visualizations of scientific data. Third, visitors have very limited time at individual exhibits in museums. This paper examines these design considerations through the iterative development and evaluation of an interactive exhibit as a visualization tool that gives museumgoers access to scientific data generated and used by researchers. The exhibit prototype, Living Liquid, encourages visitors to ask and answer their own questions while exploring the time-varying global distribution of simulated marine microbes using a touchscreen interface. Iterative development proceeded through three rounds of formative evaluations using think-aloud protocols and interviews, each round informing a key visualization design decision: (1) what to visualize to initiate inquiry, (2) how to link data at the microscopic scale to global patterns, and (3) how to include additional data that allows visitors to pursue their own questions. Data from visitor evaluations suggests that, when designing visualizations for public audiences, one should (1) avoid distracting visitors from data that they should explore, (2) incorporate background information into the visualization, (3) favor understandability over scientific accuracy, and (4) layer data accessibility to structure inquiry. Lessons learned from this case study add to our growing understanding of how to use visualizations to actively engage learners with scientific data.

Entertaining the similarities and distinctions between serious games and virtual heritage projects

“…Virtual heritage projects don't necessarily have to include 'great art' or highly dramatic Shakespeare-level experiences, a more pressing problem is how to incorporate what is known, with the mechanics required to provide both a sense of agency and thematic meaning (Paolini & Di Blas, 2014;Pujol et al, 2012). Due to their typical classroom or museum settings, participant time may be severely limited so intricate narratives may be counterproductive (Davey, 2005;Kubota & Olstad, 1991;Ma, Liao, Ma, & Frazier, 2012;Serrell, 1997).…”

Fluid Grouping

“…These include the adult and child gender [11,21,25], a group's size and age composition [4,7,8,10,20], and a group's strategy for learning [3]. However, it is unclear if any of the observed effects apply to interactive multi-touch exhibits, which may facilitate different forms of group engagement.…”

“…However, it is unclear if any of the observed effects apply to interactive multi-touch exhibits, which may facilitate different forms of group engagement. Previous HCI research has studied group engagement around interactive tabletops in general [1,13,18,27,28,29,30,31,33,35,36,37] and in museums in particular [14,15,16,25,31]. This includes understanding which gestures are used, how visitors approach surfaces in public spaces, transitions between user groups, and physical and verbal interaction between users [13,14,16,18,30].…”

“…In recent years, multi-touch research has moved out of its infancy and into "the wild" [13,14,15,16,18,25,27,31]. Large multi-touch displays are now available through several commercial vendors and many real-world applications have emerged.…”

“…Museums have received particular attention from the research community, as supporting meaningful social interaction is seen as central to learning in informal environments [12,22]. Several research studies have established that multi-touch technology has the potential to engage visitors in fruitful collaborative learning [14,15,16,25,31].…”