Museum of Anthropology Visit- November 3, 2009

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Informant: Sivia Sadofski

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Researchers: Kevin Muise, Leah Maestri

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MOA's Collection Management:

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The main management system feeds artifact information to both the CAT system (a kiosk-based system for visitors) and the RNN system (a community portal for academics and members of the aboriginal community).

INFORMATION SYSTEMS:

MOA CAT System (In-museum kiosk):

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• Breaking down academic barriers to the content (Sivia discusses old paper- based system that was un-usable by visitors because of it's formatting and language being written for academics). This is in correspondence with the idea of openness – that the MOA doesn't own the information, and that it is free. This is a reason why they wanted visitors to be able to browse in different ways (by place, object, location)
• They wanted it to be object-centric, and so the idea of having images come to the surface was important
• The CAT system should appeal to people who are non-native English speakers ( she mentions the issues surrounding the use of icons, and the use of language for buttons – making them easy to understand )
• The desired visitor experience is to learn more about the artifacts in the gallery for those interested in a specific artifact, and also to allow the visitor to come across things that they were not looking for.
• There is a desire to place CAT online (with limited features) so that it further encourages this notion of openness from the part of the MOA.
• The interface design was simple, with large buttons (the size of one's finger print). The purpose was to make it easy to use, and their design was informed through user studies (paper prototyping).

Journey Framework - Discussion

The MOA CAT is seen as a secondary point of interaction where it is assumed the visitors will either choose to explore the galleries without the its use, or that they will use it for getting more detailed information on specific objects.

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• It has to be simple and implementable for museum staff because of limited staffing, and lack of technological knowledge.
• The museum staff use Apple technology, and are planning to use 24-inch Apple Cinema displays with touch overlay technology (The displays are more aesthetically pleasing).
• Mentioned that DELL recently announced a multi-touch screen for $550
  Comments on museum culture:
• Developing galleries and exhibits is a highly involved process that may include members of the aboriginal community, the design lead, and museum staff.
• The use of technology in certain parts of the museum was not welcomed by some of the First Nation communities.

CULTURAL HERITAGE MUSEUM CONSIDERATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS - Possible Heuristics

Technology Placement and context of use:

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