ART AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

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ART AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

• Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Handheld
  Computer Tours

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Key Questions

• How valuable is automatically collected data?
• Can this data show if visitors are having a
  positive museum experience?

Johnson Museum Background

• Midsize museum on college campus in rural
  upstate New York
  
• Four educators, four curators, and no IT person
  on staff
  
• More than 30,000 works in the collection

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From data collected in the Buddhist Art in Asia
handheld computer tour for adults

• We wanted to find out
• WHO used the handhelds?
• HOW did visitors use the handhelds?
• Did the handhelds contribute to a POSITIVE
  museum experience?
  
• Did visitors learn new information?
• Did they notice new things about the works of
  art?
  
• Did they enjoy the tour?
• Would they do it again and recommend it to a
  friend?
  

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Project Introduction Buddhist Art in Asia
Handheld Tour for Adults

• Illuminates 12 works of art and the evolution of
  Buddhism through the Asian world
  
• Part of a comprehensive interpretive plan for the
  Asian galleries
  

Why the Johnson Museum created the handheld tours

• To provide more information about Asian art, the
  largest and least understood collection
  
• To provide visitors with options to learn about
  Asian art and explore different forms of
  interpretation and learning tools
  
• Incorporate technologyof great interest to
  students
  
• Opportunity to work with Cornells HCI Group

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WHAT did the data tell us?

• Data collected from handhelds was both active
  (visitor survey) and invisible (tracking and
  timing)
  
• 45 visitors participated
• 39.82 of visitors who used the handheld took the
  survey (45 out of 113)

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WHO used the handhelds?

• Gender 25 males, 20 females
• Median age 33 Mean 35.6 Age range 9-92
  Mode 9, 14, 47. 10 were ages 9-21 18 were ages
  22-36 and 17 were 40
  
• 19 first-time visitors 15 occasional visitors,
  11 frequent visitors
  
• 26 had never used a handheld computer 12 had on
  occasion and 7 used one frequently
  
• How they visited 15 were alone 17 were with one
  other person 13 were with two or more other
  people
  
• Knowledge of Asian art 27 rated themselves
  beginners 4 as intermediates and 14 as experts
  
  
• They were visiting for entertainment (10) for
  learning (11) for reflection (12) group trip
  (1) for something to do (7) other (4)

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HOW did visitors use the handhelds?

• Tour featured 12 works of art 16.7 (or 7) of
  the visitors viewed 4 objects during the tour.
  Average number of objects viewed was 6. Two
  visitors viewed all 12 objects, and 3 viewed 11
• Average tour length was 44 minutes median tour
  was 37 minutes longest tour was 2 hours and 20
  minutes and shortest tour was 2.5 minutes
  
• Most popular work of art on the tour was a large
  statue of Guanyin (76.2) and the least popular
  was the Standing Amida Buddha (28.6)
  
• Average time spent viewing a work of art ranged
  from 4 minutes to 9.5 minutes visitors spent the
  longest amount of time looking at statues of
  Lohan, Yamantaka, and Guanyin
• Popular tour features were Why does it look like
  this? and the Glossary

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What the data DIDNT give us

• Valuable anecdotal information from visitors
  this was captured through interviews
  
• Interactions with other visitors/friends seen
  through observation
  
• How much time spent looking at object versus
  looking at handheld
  
• Things we didnt think to ask

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Could the data tell us if the visitors were
having a POSITIVE museum experience?

• Ease of use 32 said easy / very easy 7 were in
  the middle and 5 said difficult / very difficult
  
  
• Enjoyment factor 29 said enjoyable / very
  enjoyable 12 were in the middle, and three not
  / not at all
  
• Frustration level 30 said low / very low
  frustration 6 were in the middle 8 were
  frustrated / very frustrated
  
• How informative was the handheld 36 said
  informative / very informative 5 in the middle
  and 3 said not informative
  
• How much did visitors learn? 29 rated it high /
  very high 9 were in the middle 5 were low /
  very low

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• Overall satisfaction with the tour 34 said high
  / very high 7 were in the middle and 2 were
  low / very low
  
• Handheld increased enjoyment / enhanced
  experience 31 high / very high 7 in the
  middle 4 low / very low
  
• Handheld was distracting 29 said no / not at
  all 7 in the middle 6 agreed / strongly agreed
  
  
• Handheld caused me to notice new things 29
  agreed / strongly agreed 6 were in the middle 7
  disagreed
  
• Would you use the handheld again? 39 said yes 3
  said no
  
• Would you recommend it to a friend? 40 said yes
  2 said no

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Surprises

• Tour appealed to a broader age range than
  anticipated (9-92) thought it would be most
  popular with college students
  
• The vast majority found the handheld easy or
  relatively easy to use
  
• The majority of visitors said the handheld caused
  them to notice new things about the works of art
  
  
• Visitors spent a longer time with the works of
  art than we anticipated we believe the handhelds
  encouraged this

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Comparison with the Museums First Handheld OMNI
China Object Detectives, for children

• Data collected by direct observation, video
  recording, and interviews not captured in
  handhelds
  
• Object Detectives engages third graders
  participating in the OMNI China school program in
  an interactive, inquiry-based exploration of 5
  works of art
• Object Detectives was developed with teachers and
  students in Groton Elementary School in upstate
  New York
  
• Pilot study compared the handheld version of
  Object Detectives with the original paper and
  pencil version of the gallery activity
  
• Study conducted with Cornells HCI Group

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WHO Participated

• 140 third grade students participated in the
  study80 students in the handheld exercise 60
  in the paper and pencil version.
  
• Students worked in pairs with a work of art in
  the Chinese galleries, as part of the Museum
  curriculum-based study unit
  
• Students were interviewed in the classroom one
  month after the Museum visit

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Results

• Higher retention of information by students using
  the handhelds 72 correctly remembered hard
  facts about the objects (design, age, materials)
  versus 62 correct responses from students using
  the paper and pencil activity
• True of retention of soft facts (attributes not
  inherent in the object itself, such as social
  usefulness, mythology, etc.) handheld users
  exhibited 82 correct recall as opposed to 78 in
  the paper and pencil group
• Affective response students using the handhelds
  exhibited and expressed a greater sense of
  excitement and engagement in the activity than
  paper and pencil group

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Downside

• Some participants focused more on the handheld
  than the work of art, even though the handheld
  was designed to keep them looking back at the
  object.

Unexpected benefit
Students with ADD, ADHD, and other learning
disabilities were able to focus and attend better
with the handhelds. It appeared to help them
screen out distractions in the galleries.
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Missed Opportunity

• Through automatic capture, we could have
  learned
  
• How long spent at each question/component
• Did children miss any steps?
• Did children use the glossary? How often?
• Could have gotten feedback on
• Ease of use
• Enjoyment
• Benefit

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Conclusions

• Automatically collected data helped us determine
  that handhelds contributed to a positive museum
  experience
  
• Majority of visitors stated increased knowledge
  and enjoyment of the works of art and noticed new
  things about the art
  
• 92.8 would use it again 95.2 would recommend
  to a friend
  
• Data would be more useful if
• Delivered in a more accessible way time
  consuming to extract data from spreadsheets
  
• Combined with interviews and observations
• Based on our experience, well continue to
  collect automatic data in our handheld tour of
  visible storage, currently in development.
  

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Follow-up

• We created a website for the handheld tour to
  view after the visit (and extend the learning
  that took place)
  
• www.museum.cornell.edu

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