Augmenting outdated museum exhibits with embodied and tangible interactions for prolonged use and learning enhancement

Abstract

Exhibits in science museums must be capable of attracting and holding visitors’ attention, but some exhibits are always neglected by visitors. In this study, we propose a virtual companion, an independent yet collaborative system that augments the original exhibit in both pre-use and in-use stages, based on embodied interaction. The virtual companion attracts visitors and builds prior experience for them to interact with the original exhibit more effectively in the pre-use stage. For that, we conducted a design study with one of the unpopular physical exhibits in a local science museum. We established main design goals based on a focus group interview with educational experts at the museum and visitors’ opinions. Then, digital augmentation strategies were designed and evaluated at the museum in an iterative manner. Field studies showed that the capture rate of the augmented exhibit increased by 9.54 times while significantly improving holding time, learning experiences, engaging behaviors, and positive emotions. Moreover, the results demonstrated the significant impact of prior knowledge and positive emotions, formed in the pre-use stage, on the prolonged use and enhanced engagement with the original exhibit. We expect that our experiences shared in this paper would help enhance the educational values and visitor experiences of many outdated physical exhibits in informal learning environments.