Mobile user testing results, Participant 7 (Engage 0.3)

N.B.: This user has some bias as she had (limited) involvement with setting up the pilot, and knows the exhibition very well.

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.

Assumes that the museum would have told a bit about how the device should be used when it was rented, or maybe not
Playing around with the application first
Accidentally chose the wrong language, attempting to correct, takes a long time. P: "The spooling is quite long"
Goes to 'Simply Montreal' under Exhibitions first to "get ready" before exploring the space [because they're given to this in-museum, visitors must think every part of the application is useful/needed for the in-museum mobile experience]
Currently in 'Simply Montreal', but sees object code label in the space, and remembers seeing an object entry icon in the application
Afraid that tapping 'Home' will bring P back to the language selection (and not the main menu)
Tapping 'Back'---P: "Back? Back is not working. Back? Okay... back." (performance issue)
Expected to see an object code entry option under 'Simply Montreal' in exhibitions, but not seeing it [user thinking that 'Simply Montreal' under Exhibitions is the one-stop shop for mobile experience for 'Simply Montreal'!]
Enters object code for object in front of her
Expecting sound to come out after entering the code, even though she saw the book icon on the label
P: "Where's the enter? Oh, 'Opening artifact page'. I thought there'd be an enter key."
Same picture? Yes, no, yes, no, yes. (it's not exactly the same---the physical picture is a reprint, the digital one is of the negative)
Skimming through extended description---P: "There's a lot of text here... that's a lot of text"
Information on physical label didn't prepare her for the quantity of information presented on the mobile device; lots of scrolling; would want more introduction into the matter before having all that content
Went to Exhibitions to try and find object code entry again (trying 'Read More', and 'Catalogue')
Tapped on 'Read More'. Expecting introduction text, and an index of some sort, links towards different access points (podcasts, texts, etc.)
Just sees introduction text. P: "I probably would've already read this prior to coming here."
Sees an object in the space in the catalogue, and taps on it to see what's there
P: "No information more than what's on the tag. Not really much use to me right now."
Sees 'switch to grid mode' icon, taps on it thinking that it'd bring the object code entry screen
P: "It's giving me the same sort of objects, but in a more gallery view... Really thought that'd be an access point where I can punch in the object codes, but now I realize I have to get completely out of this to get to the object code entry."
Enters an object code for object in front of her (red sleigh)
Compares physical and digital tombstone labels---notes that they're different, and more precise on the mobile device
Reading full text (tapped 'More'); notes that the digital description is very similar to the one that's the one in the physical space
Tapped 'Less' instead of scrolling up because "I'm lazy"
P: "It's too bad that the whole page doesn't fit on the screen---if I'm at the end, I have to scroll all the way back up"
Anxious to see something more visual, less text
P: "I'm getting very nifty and good at [using] this" (approx. 15 minutes into session)
On comments entry:
P: "There's nowhere to type in a comment. There's no keys. There's something missing, because there's nowhere I can type in my comment. Is it recording my voice? Is there something I'm missing? Am I trying in vain? This must have been thought out. Is there something I'm not finding, or is it not done?"
Accidentally tapped the box, and keyboard came up
P: "This is a weird keyboard"
Confused about the international globe symbol on the keyboard, sees that it's a change language [could cause confusion---keyboard and application languages might be different]
P: "I have pretty good eyesight, but I can't read what I'm typing" (font too small)
Wanted to see if her comment was there, and looked for her comment
P: Tapped 'Show comment' several times, but appeared as though nothing happened (comments expanded below the fold)
On an object with media:
P: Tapped 'Show audio and video' several times, but appeared as though nothing happened (audio and video list expanded below the fold)
Successfully started and restarted (via scrubbing to the beginning) video
P: "How long is this video? Oh, a minute twenty-two left."
P: "Just an image and nothing else" (video of static image and audio track)
P: "It said I have a movie, why all the text?"
On related artifacts:
P: "Probably not something that's not here because there are no engravings in front of me"
P: "That's neat."
P: "Even though it's not identified, it looks like it's an object in the collection that's somewhere else or not in the collection... but it wasn't too obvious that it was an extra bonus information, and not something that was in front of me."

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.

On foot warmer video:
Would be nice if there are other images, a slideshow of related objects
Can't zoom on the image
No interest in watching it--eyes would be elsewhere in the space--but maybe that's a good thing
On getting to the curling stone object from the foot warmer object:
Going to use 'Home' instead of 'Back', because learned that using 'Back' makes you go through a lot of pages before getting to where you want to go
Ended up using 'Back' anyways, and got to the object code entry screen quickly
On curling stone video:
P: "A lot more interesting---that's what the other one should have showed" (slideshow of images, some related objects, some zoom-ins of the current object)
P: "This video is really good... well, it's not really a video, but a slideshow. A lot more satisfied."
P: "All the movies should be like this."
M: "What do you think 'Collect' does?"---P: "I guess it does something like a shopping basket, which I think I access from 'Home'?"
Went to My Collection, but didn't use "Tap to go to My Collection" even though it was showing. Went to 'Home' -> 'My Collection' instead
On sending collection:
P: "I don't know if it was sent, it didn't say 'Your message was sent', but I'm guessing it was sent. Maybe I didn't submit properly? A bit confusing."
On reading a comment of an artifact:
P: "Oh, abuse reported---someone did something nasty." (P didn't appear to notice the garbage comment, 'ddkfjsiejf')
On hockey cup video:
Nice that it's zooming in on the object, because it's a small object to begin with
P: "I think that's a nice feature, to zoom on the object"
Confused about comments vs. guestbook vs. note

III. Interview notes

Bullet numbers correspond to the interview question number.

Easy? Too bad that the object code entry was not in the digital exhibition environment--had to exit that to enter the codes. Would have felt more like a guided visit if once at the 'Simply Montreal' page, could have kept that open while looking through the exhibition. Instead of hide-and-seek to find things, would have been nice to have an index of things what was offered. No idea how much one should be using the device--having an index can indicate how much mobile content there is for the exhibition. Sometimes text was small and hard to read. Performance problems.
How long to understand? Fairly quick. Understood object code and My Collection well, but not Exhibitions.
Problems? Small text, long load times. Link between "pod" and exhibition is feels disjointed--should be entering the code in the exhibition. "Pod" space is like the exhibition space. Once a visitor has entered the 'Simply Montreal' virtual space (the detail page), that's where you should get detailed information--that's the context. It seems odd that you have to go back to the home page and into object code entry.
Improvements? Video clips that presented a static image were not interesting. When there are related artifacts, visitor should understand that it's not something you should go hunting for (because it's not in the space). What makes the tool interesting is that what you're getting is a bonus---P doesn't know when what's being displayed is a bonus or not.
Additional features? Having more video. Different views of objects. Restoration before-and-after images of objects. Showing what's hidden about the object (e.g., underneath the object, inside of a coat), showing a whole side of an object that you can only see virtually. Showing how the object was used. Spent a lot of time looking at the device, and not the exhibition itself, maybe too eager to find flashy things on the device. Device didn't entice P to look at the space, except for the object that it was directly referring to (e.g., "Hey, if you liked this, you should look at the object to the left.").
Discoveries? Yes, but not patient enough to read all of the text. Would be nice to have the text narrated, because P is a lazy text reader. But also would be nice to have captioned video---not sure the average person would be able to hear the video at the device's maximum volume (w/out headphones).
Museums & mobile? Some reservations. Would be more inclined to look at content before and after visit, taking time to browse through it. Device you can take home, always have it with you. But the exhibition is something you can only experience when you're there. Would like exhibition/device to tease the visitor to look at it more at home afterward.
Best video? Curling stone video, because it showed context, how it was being used, who would use it, where you'd play it, etc. The hockey cup second best, because it zoomed in.
N/A.
Overall impression? Not there yet. Still too complicated. Maybe it's P not being comfortable with it yet. And device is taking too much time out of experiencing the exhibition.
Revisit when it's done? Yes, for sure.