Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE
Mobile
Learning
26 to 28 February
Barcelona, SPAIN
2009
Proceedings
Edited by:
Inmaculada Arnedillo Snchez
Pedro Isaas
PROCEEDINGS OF THE
IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
BARCELONA, SPAIN
FEBRUARY 26-28, 2009
Organised by
IADIS
International Association for Development of the Information Society
iii
Copyright 2009
IADIS Press
All rights reserved
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material
is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other way, and storage in data banks.
Permission for use must always be obtained from IADIS Press. Please contact secretariat@iadis.org
ISBN: 978-972-8924-77-5
iv
ABSTRACT
The Virtual Guide project developed an advanced Guide system for Museums and Exhibitions using low-cost
technologies. The goal of the Virtual Guide project was to offer a rich and interesting visiting experience and to
improve the attractiveness and accessibility of Museums and their exhibits.
Operation Scenario: The visitor enters a Museum and picks up a portable electronic device (PDA) in the reception. He
registers his profile and selects one of the available tours. The Virtual Guide system provides automated location
awareness and rich multimedia and interactive content.
The focus of the present paper is the Evaluation procedure that ran through the Virtual Guide project and was divided
into Front-end, Formative and Summative. This procedure aimed to include in the design and implementation of the
project the demands and needs of the potential users from a PDA-based guide for Museums.
KEYWORDS
Museum, Technology, PDA, Virtual Guide, Evaluation.
1. INTRODUCTION
Information and Communications Technology (ICT), with its various experimentations and applications in
the context of the modern Museum world, has changed the scenery in these cultural settings in various
sectors (Owen, et al., 2004; Rowland & Rojas, 2006; Bentley, 2007). Regarding visitors and the interpretive
tools offered to them, ICT can contribute significantly and can cover the different interests or preferred ways
of learning of a multivariate public.
Within this context the Museum society nowadays becomes more and more interested in the possibilities
of handheld computers or PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) (CHIN, 2003; Proctor & Tellis, 2003; Tellis,
2004; Raptis, et al., 2005; Proctor, 2005; Pes, et al., 2006). These devices can trace, mainly through wireless
networks, the location of the user and provide multimedia information relevant to the object of interest.
Handheld computers have been introduced in various Museums since the 1990s and have generated
debates about their actual and potential role in the interpretive, social and overall Museum experience.
Reasons for the experimentation with this technology were the provision of alternative interpretive tools for
the visitors, the integration of new technologies in the galleries, the support of people with disabilities, the
attraction of greater visitor numbers, especially of young age etc.
The current paper presents the design, implementation and results of the Evaluation that took place during
the Virtual Guide project. This research was based in relevant international theory and practice (Crawford,
2005; Damala & Kockelcorn, 2006; Taylor, 2007). The Evaluation was divided into three parts, Front-end,
Formative and Summative, and its importance lies in the Museological point of view, from which it was
conducted, as well as in the rareness of relevant publications regarding the Museum world in Greece.
2. VIRTUAL GUIDE
The Virtual Guide developed an advanced Guide system for Museums and Exhibitions using low-cost
technologies (CETI, 2007). The project aimed a) to provide a rich contextualized, multimedia and interactive
181
experience to the visitor, b) to improve access to the collections and exhibitions, c) to reinforce the visitor's
cultural experience as a whole, d) to help the Museum world provide multiple entry points to a wide and
differentiated public, e) to bring the Cultural Heritage closer to the public and e) to enhance the cultural
impact of the Exhibitions.
A suggestive Operation Scenario can be the following: The visitor enters a Museum and picks up a
portable electronic device (PDA) in the reception. He registers his profile (age, knowledge or interest level
etc.) and selects one of the available tours (according to theme, duration etc.). The Virtual Guide system
provides automated location awareness (through RFID tags and readers) and rich multimedia and interactive
content, which is essentially context adaptive (Figure 1).
The basic functionality of the Virtual Guide system is simple. A Museum is equipped with a wireless
network, a central content management system and a navigation aid application, which has access to
information stored in a database. The Virtual Guide has an automated location awareness that recognizes
the users location in the area.
The structure of the system relies on several web-based subsystems: 1) Collection Management system
(essentially the Museums database), 2) Content and PDAs Management system (for the correspondence of
multimedia material to exhibits in another database, the creation of tour scenarios, the administration of the
multimedia database and the management of the actual visits with the PDAs), 3) PDA Applications (for the
correspondence of the RFID tags to exhibits and the initialization of the PDA tour) and 4) Additional
applications (e-shop, log data management, educational applications, print or email of exhibit information).
The Museological study of the program included a literature review as a secondary research, a Front-end
evaluation as a primary one (Tsiafaki & Michailidou, 2007), the collaboration with the technology team in
order for the system to serve best the Museums and the public (Tsiafaki, et al., 2007; Tsiafaki & Michailidou,
2008a; Tsiafaki & Skoulariki, 2008; Michailidou & Tsiafaki, 2008), a Formative evaluation, the content edit,
the creation of a Demo scenario and a Summative evaluation (Tsiafaki & Michailidou, 2008b; Tsiafaki &
Michailidou, 2008c).
The Virtual Guide system was installed and pilot-tested in the Ecclesiastical Museum of
Alexandroupolis in North-Eastern Greece. Primary goal for the system, though, was to be applicable with
minor adjustments or not, to any Museum or Gallery. The system manager of any Museum has the possibility
to adjust the tours, texts, the multimedia content and the various system components to the demands of every
exhibition, target group, desired outcome etc.
182
When
11/2006-5/2007
b. Formative
3/2008
c. Summative
5-6/2008
How
Questionnaire: 69%
Interview: 31%
Interview: 33%
Observation: 67%
Interview: 60%
Observation: 40%
Who
Museums: 18
Public (visitors and non-visitors): 82
Ecclesiastical Museum: 1
CETI: 2
Public (visitors): 3
CETI: 2
a. The first stage, the Front-end Evaluation, aimed to finger the demands of the future users of the Virtual
Guide project,
b. the second, the Formative Evaluation, aimed to analyze the effectiveness of the Content Management
system, the main subsystem for the creation of the multimedia database and the PDA tours and
c. the third stage, the Summative Evaluation, aimed to evaluate the guided tour with the PDA itself.
On the whole, this Evaluation procedure intended to include in the design and implementation of the
project the demands and needs of the potential users from a PDA-based guide for Museums. The term user
comprised both Museums and their visitors (end-users), but these two target groups were studied separately.
18
55%
45%
100%
44%
39%
0%
PUBLIC
(visitors and non visitors)
Number
Questionnaire
Interview
Total
Visitors
Non visitors
Total
82
83%
17%
100%
58%
42%
100%
183
Others
Total
Thematic
Archaeological
Folk-ethnological
Art
Ecclesiastical
Historic
Byzantine
Science-technology
Total
17%
100%
32%
17%
11%
11%
11%
6%
6%
6%
100%
Adult visitors
Adult non visitors
Adult visitors with children
Non Greek adult visitors
Disabled people-non visitors
Teachers-visitors
Teachers-non visitors
Pupils-visitors
Pupils-non visitors
Total
22%
22%
11%
10%
9%
9%
5%
6%
6%
100%
On the one hand, we were interested in extracting numbers, percentages from the Museums but also their
problems and future directions regarding the following issues and the possible connection of the latter to a
PDA-based guide. The issues were 1) Visitor numbers, 2) Collections, 3) Exhibitions, 4) Services, 5)
Relation to New Technologies and 6) Human Resources. The Museums asked to participate were varied in
terms of theme, size and legal status, while the response rate was 62%.
On the other hand, regarding the public, we contacted more than 80 people, visitors and non visitors of
the Ecclesiastical Museum. We investigated 1) their needs in terms of interpretation in Museums and 2) their
expectations from a PDA-based Museum guide. We used Questionnaires, but also brainstorming in the
Interviews with Teachers and Pupils.
The data from the Front-end Evaluation were related to the activities of the Museums in 2005 and they
were analyzed with the computer programs Microsoft Excel 2003 and SPSS 11. The present announcement
includes only the most important conclusions.
184
Figure 2. a) The PDA Application for the placement of the tag in the Museum space, b) The content fields for an exhibit
and its preview in the CMS
185
The recommendations regarding the CMS referred mostly to issues like the simplification of the Menu
and the use of Greek terms in the system, where possible, the provision for future changes in the graphic
design of the systems interface to adjust to other Museums and the need for printed instructions.
Figure 3. Screens of the PDA tour: a) explanation of the basic application buttons, b) main screen of an exhibit and c) the
map of a room.
On the one hand, the PDA users liked or understood rather easily: the use of the RFID reader in the PDA
and the relevant tags in the exhibits; the texts in the PDA that were interesting to them, that were not
repeating the information already available in wall texts and were redirecting them to the displays (Figure
3b); the exhibits that had video-based information. The participants specifically underlined the potentials of
this type of PDA tour in the Museum. They acknowledged that this mobile technology offers a very powerful
tool for modern Museums. The various collections and exhibitions can come to life and approach the public
in an educational and fun way (edutainment).
On the other hand, the PDA users disliked or had troubles with: the Museum ground plans used in the
PDA to orientate and guide the users (Figure 3c); the lack of a help button throughout the entire guided tour
and the lack of any sound or music; the long texts that were attracting their attention from the actual exhibits;
186
the buttons in the screen which, they thought, were taking up too much space from the screen (Figure 3a); the
available tours that were not thematic, but they were constructed based on the expressed interest and
knowledge of the visitor regarding the ecclesiastic art and the orthodox religion.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The introduction of handheld guides in Museums presupposes the consideration of multiple issues, with the
intention of ensuring that this technology will not be an end in itself but will act as an auxiliary mean for the
improvement of the Museum experience. The Virtual Guide project, being museo-centric, with its
technological part to play a supportive role to the museological needs and demands, aimed to be flexible and
user-friendly.
The Evaluation, which as a procedure, ran through the Virtual Guide project had very important results
that contributed to correcting mistakes and pointing out issues in every step of the way. By collecting,
treating and publishing these results we contribute to the literature an integrated, methodic and interesting
example of Evaluation of ICT in the Greek Museum sector. This paper presented the basic aims, structure
and results of the Evaluation that took place.
Moreover, 1) the continuous use of the PDA in the Ecclesiastical Museum, 2) the creation and elaboration
of more thematic PDA tours with rich content in the same Museum and 3) the Evaluation of these tours by
the visitors can all conduce to the broader satisfaction of the needs of the users, both the Museum and the
end-users. Future publications will present how the Virtual Guide can adjust in other Museum settings.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We wish to acknowledge the valuable help of the Virtual Guide partners (PRISMA Electronics, INA and
the Ecclesiastical Museum of Alexandroupolis) the Museums and the public which have participated in the
Evaluation of the Virtual Guide project.
The Project "Virtual Guide: Intelligent Multimedia Museum Navigation with Wireless Technology" was
carried out under the framework of the Regional Development Programme of East Macedonia - Thrace and
was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Region of East Macedonia - Thrace
with final beneficiary the Greek Secretariat for Research and Technology.
REFERENCES
Bentley, A., 2007. Advanced Information Communication Technologies and Heritage. Proceedings of ICHIM07.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada [Online] Available at: http://www.archimuse.com/ichim07/papers/bentley/bentley.html
[Accessed 4 June 2008]
Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), 2003. Tip sheets: Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) [Online] Available
at: http://www.chin.gc.ca/English/Digital_Content/Tip_Sheets/Pda/ [Accessed 4 March 2006]
Crawford, V., 2005. Framework for design and evaluation of Mobile Applications in informal learning contexts.
Proceedings of the Electronic Guidebook Forum 2005. San Francisco, California, USA, pp. 46-48 [Online] Available
at: http://www.exploratorium.edu/guidebook/eguides_forum2005.pdf [Accessed 15 October 2006]
187
Cultural and Educational Technology Institute (CETI), 2007. Virtual Guide [Online] Available at:
http://vguide.ipet.gr/en/index.htm [Accessed 4 September 2007]
Damala, A. & Kockelcorn, H., 2006. Evaluation strategies for mobile museum guides: a theoretical framework.
Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Museology: Audiovisuals as Cultural Heritage and their Use in
Museums. Mytilene, Greece, pp. in press.
Dawson, D., et al., 2004. User Evaluation: Sharing Expertise to Build Shared Values. Proceedings of Museums and the
Web 2004. Toronto, Canada [Online] Available at: http://www.archimuse.com/mw2004/papers/dawson/dawson.html
[Accessed 20 November 2007]
Diamond, J., 1999. Practical Evaluation Guide: Tools for Museums & Other Informal Educational Settings. Altamira
Press, New York.
Galloway, S. & Stanley, J., 2004. Thinking outside the box: galleries, Museums and evaluation. Museum and society,
vol.2, no.2, pp. 125-146 [Online] Available at: http://www.le.ac.uk/ms/m&s/Issue%205/galloway.pdf [Accessed 20
October 2006]
Korn, R. & Borun, M. eds., 2003. Introduction to Museum evaluation. American Association of Museums, Washington
DC.
Michailidou, N. & Tsiafaki, D., 2008. Educational activities in Museum PDAs. Museology (submitted in March 2008).
Nielsen, J., 1994. Heuristics Evaluation. In Nielsen, J. & Mack, R.L. (eds.). Usability Inspection Methods. John Wiley &
Sons, New York.
Owen, R., et al., 2004. Identifying technologies used in Cultural Heritage. Proceedings of VAST 2004. Brussels and
Oudenaarde, Belgium, pp. 155-163 [Online] Available at: http://public-repository.epoch-net.org/deliverables/D2.2.1Report%20on%20Vert%20Int%20Annex.pdf [Accessed 4 March 2006]
Pes, J. et al., 2006. Working knowledge: handheld guides. Museum Practice, vol. 34, pp. 45-62.
Proctor, N., 2005. Off base or on target? Pros and cons of wireless and location-aware applications in the Museum.
Proceedings
of
ICHIM05.
Paris,
France
[Online]
Available
at:
http://www.archimuse.com/publishing/ichim05/Proctor.pdf [Accessed 4 March 2006]
Proctor, N. & Tellis, C., 2003. The State of the Art in Museum Handhelds in 2003. Proceedings of Museums and the Web
2003.
Charlotte,
North
Carolina,
USA
[Online]
Available
at:
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2003/papers/proctor/proctor.html [Accessed 4 March 2006]
Raptis, D., et al., 2005. Context-based design of mobile applications for Museums: a survey of existing practices.
Proceedings
of
MobileHCI
05.
Salzburg,
Austria,
pp.
153-160
[Online]
Available
at:
http://hci.ece.upatras.gr/pubs_files/c98_Raptis_Tselios_Avouris_MobileHCI2005.pdf [Accessed 4 March 2006]
Rowland, N. & Rojas, F., 2006. Bringing technology back in: a critique of the institutionalist perspective on Museums.
Museum
and
Society,
vol.
4,
no.
2,
pp.
84-95
[Online]
Available
at:
http://www.le.ac.uk/ms/m&s/issue%2011/rowland%20rojas.pdf [Accessed 20 March 2007]
Taylor, J., 2007. Evaluating Mobile Learning: What are appropriate methods for evaluating learning in mobile
environments? Sharples, M., ed. Big Issues in Mobile Learning. Nottingham, University of Nottingham, pp. 26-28
[Online]
Available
at:
http://www.lsri.nottingham.ac.uk/Publications_PDFs/BIG_ISSUES_REPORT_PUBLISHED.pdf
[Accessed
5
December 2007]
Tellis, C., 2004. Multimedia Handhelds: One Device, Many Audiences. Proceedings of Museums and the Web 2004.
Arlington,
Virginia
/
Washington
DC,
USA
[Online]
Available
at:
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2004/papers/tellis/tellis.html [Accessed 4 March 2006]
Tsiafaki, D., et al., 2007. Virtual Guide: User Requirements and Museological Study [Study] Xanthi, CETI.
Tsiafaki, D. & Michailidou, N., 2007. Virtual Guide: Front-End Evaluation. [Survey] Xanthi, CETI.
Tsiafaki, D. & Michailidou, N., 2008a. Virtual Guide: User Requirements for the Museum experience in the 21st century.
Proceedings of EVA 2008. Florence, Italy, pp. 206-211.
Tsiafaki, D. & Michailidou, N., 2008b. Virtual Guide: Formative and Summative Evaluation [Study]. Xanthi, CETI.
Tsiafaki, D. & Michailidou, N., 2008c. Virtual Guide: Feasibility study [Study]. Xanthi, CETI.
Tsiafaki, D. & Skoulariki, D., 2008. We went digital. And now what? Proceedings of CIDOC 2008. Athens, Greece
[Online] Available at: http://www.cidoc2008.gr/cidoc/Documents/papers/drfile.2008-06-18.7012006233 [Accessed
20 September 2008]
188