Rotunda Museum Visit (06/10/2010) - Tony Ball

On Wednesday 6th October the group and I had the opportunity to visit the Rotunda museum and explore the "Shell Geology Now" exhibition as well as seeing the workspace where our interactive patch will be installed. We spent our time familiarising ourselves with the environment and installations already on display.

The main room hosted a variety of installations. I was immediately drawn to the largest wall mounted screen which was identifying fossils around the room and relating them to dinosaurs materialised on screen. I didn't read any of the information around the room but found it was possible to complete the questions proposed by the quiz nevertheless. I felt that the option to 'try again' with incorrect answers was good way for the user to not lose interest and it barely affected the momentum of the game. With frequent opportunities for the user to create their own prehistoric scene it succeeds in keeping the users concentration.

I enjoyed the occasional (yet optional) additional information given by Dr Martin Whyte of The University of Sheffield about various animals or plantation. However with the commotion of a large crowd I found that I was only catching half of what he was saying. I felt a pair of headphones or a small caption box would have been ideal for this situation. A caption box would also cater for those hard of hearing.

The screen's touch response I felt was good. I found it was easy to navigate and the layout was always clear to what I had to do. I did however find the colour scheme occasionally didn't quite match up to my expectations. For instance when applying Dinosaurs to my prehistoric scene some colours I felt were quite bold and unnatural. As a dinosaur's appearance is currently undetermined, I can't say their colour scheme is outright wrong. However I felt choosing more subtle colours, or even just opting for a similar colour scheme to the one used in 'Jurassic Park' would have enhanced the reality of the subject matter.

The usability of the installment overall I felt was good. It contained clear linear structure which I found easy and enjoyable to follow. The freedom to be slightly silly in creating the prehistoric scene helped it become a more memorable experience from my visit.

I then moved onto the podium style touch screen installments. I spent most of my time exploring the section on coastal erosion, reading through the information presented. Like the previous installment the layout was clear and attractive to look at. These particular installments were clearly aimed at a different audience as they contained a lot more in depth information. However, I found myself loosing interest quite quickly purely because I felt inundated by the information. I felt presenting the information in this fashion wasn't effective in keeping user concentration.

I proceeded onto interactive game expecting it the match the dinosaur installment by giving me the same information, boiled down and delivered in an interesting way. Instead it testing me more on the knowledge I should have gained from the previous pages so I already felt my enthusiasm to continue begin to diminish. I felt to add more interest to the interactive game they could have shown the consequence of the coastline when they pick the wrong form of protection.

From this particular experience I've concluded that Information needs to be brief and digestible. I expect there will be occasions where someone will have limited concentration and an interactive game should cater for this. Passing over useful information in an interactive game is a fun and effective way to engage with the younger audience whilst ensuring they come away having learned something.

As our installation will be set up at the end of the corridor outside it is quite possible for our installment to be passed by unnoticed. So, it is essential that we cater for all types of audience making sure they are kept entertained by our presentation and information. After meeting up and discussing our experiences at the Rotunda museum I feel confident this will be achieved.