I. Reality testing
P refers to participant. M refers to moderator. Quotes are paraphrased, not verbatim. Side notes/observations in round brackets. Initial thoughts in square brackets.
- P: "Does it guide me? Or do I guide it?"
- Started by going to exhibitions
- P: "What exhibition am I in? ... Must be 'Simply Montreal'"
- P: "I had to scroll back all the way up to the top when I was at the bottom of the page---not nice." [a persistent, always-on-top bar would help with some of this]
- Viewing the default full catalogue. M: "Why did you choose this?". P: "Because it was on the screen; would guess that it's asking me what I'd like to see" (reasoned that because it was there, that's what he was supposed to do and see)
- On full catalogue: P: "Lots of options here"
- P: "Doesn't guide you in a linear way"
- P: "Takes a bit of time to load up"
- P: "Shows me the picture [of an artifact] but not where in the exhibit it is"
- P: "Would be easier if there was a map of the exhibit floor and tell me where I can find this item"
- Standing in front of case with winter clothing, going to full catalogue to try and find objects
- P: "Looking visually for it."
- P: "Are all these items [physical space] in the database? Are they grouped by case?"
- Sees groups of artifacts on device, but not sure where they are in the space
- P: "Clearly not a linear exhibit, very open-ended exhibit"
- P: "Would be easier if I could tap on a map where I am, and it would bring up the case that I'm looking at"
- Sees section headings/titles in catalogue
- P: "Not sure where in the exhibit where it gives me that title; don't see areas with that title"
- P: "Don't seem to be able to search for artifact on the mobile guide"
- Would like to be able to type in a keyword/title like "Stove" and get the object; and if able to find that, would think to be able to find objects nearby it
- P sees physical object, but can't find it on the default full catalogue view (doing a visual scan); not sure if all the objects in the exhibit are in the guide
- Notices "view all" option
- P: "Kind of small---would be better if it were bigger and more noticeable"
- P: "For those who aren't used to these sorts of devices, it'd be good if there'd be a tutorial on how to use it beforehand... handbook, or demo on device"
- P: "Would be nice to type in a word and see if you can get more information" (search ability)
- Looking at a print in the space, looked for it on the device through the catalogue view using view all, and successfully found it. M: "How did you find that?" - P: "Print looked like it was in a sports-themed case, so I scanned the section headings and I tapped on 'view all' of a sporty-like name"
- P: "To get back to the previous screen, need to scroll all the way back up; would be nice if there were buttons on the bottom too"
II. Task-based testing
P refers to participant. M refers to moderator. Quotes are paraphrased, not verbatim. Side notes/observations in round brackets. Initial thoughts in square brackets.
- M highlighted the object code labels and object code entry option on the device
- P used object code to access an artifact, but made a typo on the second digit; entered an invalid code, but recovered from it quickly (no difficulty)
- On asking how to refer back to an object for the future, P responded by using "add a note" under an artifact [note vs. comments could have caused misunderstanding here]
- On the comment/note entry screen:
- P: "Doesn't say how to enter a note" (no keyboard popped up)
- On trying to submit, tapped: RET, then DONE, then SUBMIT
- M: "What do you think comment does?" — P: "Leaves a note to self, or for subsequent visitors. Are comments permanent? ... It's probably for subsequent visitors"
- M: "What do you think 'Collect' does?" — P: "Don't know." (tapped 'Collect', tapped 'Go to My Collection') P: "Looks like you can assemble and send email of it to yourself or others."
- P watching an artifact video; finding the volume is low; P put the device to ear to try and hear better, but then back in front of self to view the video
- P: "No way to turn off the video mid way?"
- While watching the video, P looks mostly at the video, but sometimes at the actual physical object too
- Looks like P wanted to tap the screen a few times during the video, but restrained self for some reason (not sure what it would do, didn't want to 'break' it?)
- After sending My Collection to self: P: "It's apparently sent to my email?" (no submit feedback)
III. Interview notes
Bullet numbers correspond to the interview question number.
- Easy? Sort of easy. Don't have an iPhone, and no experience with handheld touchscreen, but pretty easy to get used to it. Maybe an older person would have difficulty with it.
- How long to understand? Not too long.
- Problems? Screen is very sensitive, need to be careful about where you're touching, and not touch things accidentally. If you're looking for something in the physical space, can't really find it on the mobile device. A map would be nice---to tap where you are in the museum, and see what's there. Or a search feature, and when you tap on one of the objects, it shows nearby objects too. (M: What if all objects had object codes?) It'd be helpful, but it might be a lot to put on every single item, and might not be useful to put an object code on objects without much information.
- Improvements? A static navigation bar so that you don't need to scroll all the way up.
- Additional features? No way to stop video mid way through or scrub back to an earlier scene. Might be good to have earbuds so as to not disturb others.
- Discoveries? Yes, very interesting, especially for some artifacts that don't have a lot of description (on the physical label), nice to go more in depth.
- Museums & mobile? Great idea; a lot handier than carrying an exhibit guide with you. Would use it if the museum offered it.
- Best video? Didn't have a preference; would be based more around interest of topic.
- N/A.
- Overall impression? Think it's interesting. Can be improved. It's an ingenious tool. Interested in seeing it, interested in seeing what the final version looks like.
- Revisit when it's done?