Supporting Visitors’ Interest within and beyond the Museum with Mobile Media

Authors:

Daniel Wessel, Carmen Zahn and Friedrich W. Hesse
Knowledge Media Research Center
Tuebingen
Germany

Abstract:

This paper addresses three questions regarding visitors' interest during and after the visit of technical and natural science museums: "What makes an exhibit interesting?", "Can we support interest during the museum visit by mobile media?", and "Can we support visitors' interest after the museum visit?". These three questions were tackled in a laboratory exhibition (study 1) and in an existing museum (study 2). The authors propose that mobile media in combination with a webpage can support visitors' interest during and after the museum visit. Mobile devices were used to make the information immediately accessible (study 1 and 2), offer addition information (study 1) and allow the bookmarking of interesting exhibits for easy access on a webpage after the visit (study 1 and 2). Results from a visitor questionnaire (study 2) indicate that four factors determine the interestingness of an exhibit, named "attraction power", "instant enjoyment", "familiarity", and "information value". Additional information on the mobile device within the exhibition seems to positively influence visit duration, evaluation of the exhibit and post-visit activity (study 1). Preliminary results indicate that immediate access to information during the visit also leads to a more positive evaluation of the museum and longer visit durations (study 2).