Mobile user testing results, Participant 2 (Engage 0.3)

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: "It takes a while to load"
P: "Is this what it's talking about?" (looking at "read more" of an exhibition and the physical space)
P: "It's a little confusing... what the introduction [screen] is" (specifically, the "Simply Montreal" initial screen)
Went to 'Simply Montreal' under Exhibitions first
Made a conceptual link between exhibitions catalogue and the space
Uses exhibitions catalogue as the primary mode of navigation through the space and objects
Finds the Exhibition intro page ("Simply Montreal") a bit confusing; and the use of exhibition catalogue mode even more confusing
On artifact view:
P: "The pictures are cool"
Finds the pictures cool (repeated twice within the span of a minute or two) [we should capitalize on this more]
P: "It's confusing... where you should be looking, what pictures you should be looking at while you're going through the exhibit?" (not sure what to look at while in exhibition with application)
After a few minutes, seems to be finding objects in space in the catalogue pretty well---made a number of positive hits [this is surprising!]
Discovered artifact comments feature, but made no use of it yet
P: "I'm a little lost as to where these headings (exhibitions catalogue), what I should be looking at."
Participant is lost: where are the items; difficulty in making a physical space vs. catalogue list relationship (P is trying really hard to find/make that relationship)
P: "Are the titles under the exhibitions catalogue the same as the physical section spaces?"
P: "Are the pictures (really means "these artifacts") additional content? Are they not in the physical space? Possibly from other places (outside the collection [or in storage])?"
P: "What does it do you when you 'Collect'? Maybe if you're thinking of buying a picture, to buy print afterward? At the end of the exhibit you have a collection of stuff?"
Sees evening dress in front of her, sees evening dress thumbnail, makes the conceptual link
Likes how it says what it is on the device screen (re: the virtual tombstone label); tells you the date
Collected it; P: "Don't know what it does"
Made a link between a section on the catalogue and the physical space because P saw an object in the space that she saw on the device just before
P: "Now that I know where I am, feeling a little less lost" [only needed a single object link to feel that comfort]
Currently feeling less lost, after seeing familiar objects in the space and in the catalogue list
Sees artifacts on the device, but where is it in the space? (P: Where are the bottles?) Asks, "Is it additional content?"
Sees artifacts in the space, but where is it on the device?
Attempting to use comments feature:
On entering a comment, and trying to use the on-screen keyboard: P: "Might need a little pen [stylus]"
Participant has not yet use the "view all" functionality in catalogue; just the default full catalogue view
P: "Maybe if it [device] tells you where to go first..."
Would like the device to provide direction/path, where to go next [this participant wants something predefined, linearity]
Notes "view all" option in catalogue
P: "I think I figured it out, I'll click on view all, that's where I got confused, only saw four items per section"
Likes the list of all those artifacts; P: "Pretty cool"

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: Showed object code labels and object code (participant did not recognize them in the space in reality testing)
P: "So object code is like those handheld devices where you can enter a code to learn more"
P: "Is there an enter button?" (while waiting for the artifact view to load)
Really likes the extra textual descriptions (noted this several times) (provides more than what's on the label)
Really interested/curious in seeing what My Collection is for
Sees video icon on physical label; P: "Does it have a video?"
Tapped on 'Play' of video (even though it plays automatically)
Really loved the video---made new interesting discoveries
Likes the close-up video, and the Ken Burns Effect video (hockey trophy)
Not always paying less attention to the video---looking at space/the object a lot while watching
P: "Will we have headphones? Might be annoying to others if video is playing."
P: "Are pictures playing in the video also part of the exhibit? (or are they extra?)"
On hockey trophy video: participant unsure which object the video/label is for (object label was stuck to a case containing multiple objects)
Likes close-up images in video because you can't see the detail in the object itself, even when it's right in front of you
On related objects: "neat"
P: "Are these the related objects? No?" (pointing to space)
P: "Are the objects actually around here, in the space? – Maybe not, could be an extra; not really expecting them to be in the space" [need to make in space and not in space more explicitly]
P: "I like that there are extras"
P: "It'd be cool if you could zoom into the pictures"
P: "Explanations are helpful---didn't actually know what it was before" (re: foot warmer)
"My Collection"
P: "What do you do with them? Maybe like a bookmark?"
(on entering email for send) P: "Where are the symbols?" (for '@')
Leaving comments for exhibition
P: "Is there a section for that from 'Home'?"
P: "Would think that's just under the pictures (for artifacts)"

III. Interview notes

Bullet numbers correspond to the interview question number.

Easy? Found it pretty easy to use the application. A little confusing at the beginning because P didn't realize that the pictures went with the different sections of the exhibit. Understanding what's in the space, what's not took time.
How long to understand? Took less than five minutes to understand how the application generally worked. Can't imagine P's mom would find it immediately intuitive though; might ask, "Wait, you would touch it here?"---would take her a while to learn, but not too long.
Problems? Video crashing (we had a kernel crash on the device). No major frustrations. Touched the wrong buttons sometimes (e.g., instead of tapping collect, accidentally tapped back button). Didn't think right away to keep scrolling on artifact view and look at related items.
Improvements? Tell people how it works, explain how it works briefly when they come in. Like it the way it is right now. Thought it was pretty cool.
Additional features? Liked the videos. Would like it if videos gave more visual context and use.
Discoveries? Yes. Foot warmer. Didn't know what it was before, even having visited before; just looked like a box. Liked the hockey trophy video---told the history of it. Easier to listen to it than read it on the label [or device], especially if it's a long passage. M: "What about audio vs. video?" Prefer video, because it showed different pictures, though some videos like the foot warmer only had audio with one picture.
Museums & mobile? Yes, especially if you had a device already; wouldn't need to rent one from the museum. Liked "Send" feature (My Collection). Wouldn't need to carry a camera around; more convenient. Wouldn't need to sit there and take a crappy picture---instead, the museum's already done it for you professionally.
Best video? Really liked hockey video because of interest in hockey, and history of it. But also liked curling one because of the different pictures and angles and zooms.
N/A.
Overall impression? Think the application is cool. Liked the pictures. Liked the videos best, and being able to read more.
Revisit when it's done? Yes, would revisit museum after the application is complete, and go through all the object code numbers.