Notes for Reading Seminar I and First Museum Visit

Problem space is obviously different to different target groups, and identifying the problem space is instrumental to this project. Often the staff in a museum have quite a bit of understanding of their target groups and what they should attempt when they start up a new project. However, we don’t, so where do we start? Do we identify a target group first and then their problem space? Or if we see an obvious problem, do we start from there and then explore target groups for different solutions. I think we should pursue the first example – and if the group identifies any obvious problems at the museum, those concerns will have to be integrated into our survey of the target group we have picked. Connecting to the users from the very start and continuous contact with them has been emphasised both in the reading material and lectures.

Also, I believe conceptualising will be an important part of this project. It is something we will need to create both understanding of the problems we will encounter and solutions to these. I think conceptualising will help us find a core understanding of what we are trying to create with our prototype. Conceptualising and interface metaphors go hand in hand, and the latter might be a powerful way to integrate museum exhibitions and technical solutions and ideas.

We will have some pretty limited time to interview and observe at our chosen museum, and contextual observation of our target group is stressed as something very important in the literature, as is iterative designing with users continuously evaluating the system. We won’t be able to do this as extensively as any of the literature suggests. Therefore, I’m thinking we should find a target group that we also can have a dialogue with outside of the museum setting – our time frame is really very crucial. Right now, we should be focusing on the contextual interviews and understanding our target group’s problem space as well as already starting to think about how to break down the usability terms efficiency, satisfaction, and adequateness (ändamålsenlighet) into parts that can be integrated into our system, as the literature has made it clear that this is important to focus on from the very beginning.

Discuss: How do we best use interface metaphors with regards to our target group?