The Phenomenon of Learning in a Museum in a Modern Educational Space: Opportunities of Using Smart Technologies

The article analyzes the peculiarities of organizing learning in a museum in the system of smart education with modern smart technologies aimed at the process of gaining skills and competencies for flexible and adapted interaction with social, economic and technological environment. Smart technologies are emphasized to not only allow creating the effect of presence but also to advance the content sharing, change its quality, and ensure the possibility of communication between all the participants of the educational process. The phenomenon of learning in a museum is viewed in the context of gamification, edutainment, the storytelling technique and the project method. The opportunities of using smart technologies in museums as centres of communication, studying and leisure in the context of a modern knowledge society are defined

Using mobile phones to map online community resources to a physical museum space

The use of mobile technologies to support museum visitors has primarily been concerned with the adoption of the technology as an information device. This has been found in several evaluation studies to promote a 'heads-down' interaction with the device, rather than a 'hands-on' interaction with the museum exhibits. This article presents an application where museum visitors use their own mobile phones to send a text message that bookmarks the things they find interesting during their visit. Afterwards, they can explore a personalised set of online resources which are organised as a series of presentation structures that are tailored according to their identified interests. This enables the visitors to engage fully with the museum exhibits during their visit, knowing that they can find out more information online on any topic they request. In this application, the resources are produced by an online community of interest that is associated with the museum. The community knowledge base is repurposed to fit the needs of the museum visitors. The visitors' use of these resources is fed back to the source community which, in turn, informs and motivates its ongoing content production

Isotope : Informing Science Outreach and Public Engagement. Final report of the NESTA-funded Isotope project

This is the final report for the Nesta-funded phase of the Isotope project, which ran from January 2007 to July 2009. In this report the authors document: the wider context within which the project was conducted, alongside an overview of some of the core research findings (Section 1); the aims of the project (Section 2); the management of the project, noting how the key project milestones were achieved, including some of the problems encountered and lessons learned (Section 3); the various outputs from the project, including a description of the website and research papers (Section 4); the evaluation of the project deliverables, noting how the findings informed further website development (Section 5); the impacts of the project (Section 6); and, finally, a brief overview of the future plans for Isotope (Section 7)

Public attitudes towards the display of non-adult mummies in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Sicily

The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo are one of the most visited sites on the island of Sicily and are home to one of the world’s largest assemblages of human mummies. Within the framework of a multidisciplinary project aimed at investigating the biohistories of non-adults buried at this site, the authors wished to better understand how visitors felt about the display of these young individuals and whether they had prior knowledge of these mummies before their visit. In order to capture guest feedback, questionnaires were distributed to 105 visitors in September 2022. While there were no clear-cut patterns based on the demographic and social attributes of visitors, this research revealed some recurring themes. Several visitors felt that there should be signs warning guests of the Children’s Room due to the large number of young individuals displayed in this area. Furthermore, visitors felt that more information was needed throughout the site and queried whether the non-adults, or their kin, had consented to their display. These issues could be addressed by the inclusion of information boards in the catacombs. The findings of this research ultimately have implications for the way in which non-adult remains are displayed in catacombs and other heritage contexts

Unterstützung von Interesse und Wissensaustausch mittels mobiler Geräte und Bookmarking in Wissenschafts- und Technologie-Museen

Why are some exhibits interesting for a particular visitor? Is it possible to support this elicited interest during the museum visit with mobile devices that offer additional information or with the information that is available in the museum on the spot? Is it possible to support interest after the museum visit when visitors are able to bookmark the information that they personally found interesting during their visit and to view this information on a personal webpage after the visit? These three questions are addressed in the two studies of the present dissertation thesis in the context of science and technology museums. The first study was conducted in a laboratory exhibition about nanotechnology with 62 student participants and the two factors “availability of additional information” and “availability of bookmarking” on a mobile device. Availability of additional information had a strong effect on visit duration as a behavioral indicator of interest, but no effect on self-reported interest or knowledge measures. However, visitors with additional information reported more post-visit involvement with the topic, possibly indicating a “foot-in-the-door” effect of additional information. Bookmarking did not show an effect, as the exhibition webpage was rarely used. To alleviate constraints with paid student participants, a second study with higher ecological validity was conducted in an actual museum. The sample comprised 188 regular visitors, with the experimental group (n = 75) having immediate access to all exhibition information on the mobile device and being able to bookmark information, while the control group (n = 113) visited the museum unassisted. An exploratory factor analysis (PAF, varimax) led to the identification of four factors in the visitor-exhibit relationship that determine whether a particular exhibit is interesting for a particular visitor: Attraction Power, Instant Enjoyment, Familiarity, and Information Value. These four factors can explain why interactive and the by far largest exhibit is mentioned more frequently as the most interesting exhibit than their occurrence in the museum would suggest. The four factors can also explain subjective theories of museum curators and the theories of museum professionals regarding interesting exhibits. A strong effect of the device was found for visit duration, but not for self-reported interest and knowledge. Bookmarking was rarely used by the experimental group. The influence of the device can be explained by Rounds’ (2004) application of information foraging to the museum context if this theory is augmented by the effects of using a mobile device in the museum. Adding a virtual information space on a mobile device on top of the information space of the physical museum can enlarge the interest landscape for the museum visitor (Study 1) and support the visitor in exploring it (Study 2). This has beneficial consequences for visitor behavior — information is accessed, and visitors spend more time in the exhibition using the device before museum fatigue sets in, while self-reports show no difference as they were assessed after the visit (where interest has reached the same level for all conditions). Consequently, mobile devices can be used to support visitors’ interest. While bookmarking is used by some visitors, no effects could be found, as museum visit wrap-ups by visitors were rare. Visitor motivation for museum visit wrap-ups must be supported first before bookmarking can have any effect.Warum sind einige Ausstellungsstücke interessant für bestimmte Besucher? Ist es möglich, in Ausstellungen auftretendes Interesse mit mobilen Geräten zu unterstützen, die Zusatzinformationen zur Verfügung stellen oder die im Museum verfügbaren Informationen an Ort und Stelle verfügbar machen? Ist es möglich, nach dem Ausstellungsbesuch Interesse zu unterstützen, wenn Besucher interessante Informationen während des Besuches speichern können und diese nach dem Besuch auf einer persönlichen Webseite ansehen können? Diese drei Fragen werden in dieser Dissertation bezüglich Wissenschafts- und Technologiemuseen in zwei Studien untersucht. Die erste Studie wurde in einer Laborausstellung über Nanotechnologie mit 62 studentischen Versuchspersonen mit den Faktoren “Verfügbarkeit von Zusatzinformationen” und “Verfügbarkeit von Bookmarking” auf einem mobilen Gerät durchgeführt. Verfügbarkeit von Zusatzinformationen hatte einen starken Effekt auf einen Verhaltensindikator von Interesse, Dauer des Besuches, aber keinen Effekt auf die selbstberichteten Interessens- oder Wissensmaße. Besucher mit Zusatzinformationen berichteten allerdings über eine höhere Beschäftigung mit dem Thema nach dem Besuch, was möglicherweise auf einen “Fuß-in-der-Tür”-Effekt von Zusatzinformationen hinweist. Bookmarking zeigte keinen Effekt aufgrund der seltenen Nutzung der Ausstellungswebsite. Um die Beschränkungen von entlohnten studentischen Versuchspersonen aufzuheben, wurde eine zweite Studie mit höherer ökologischer Validität durchgeführt. Die zweite Studie wurde als Feldstudie in einem realen Museum mit 188 normalen Besuchern durchgeführt. Die Experimentalgruppe (n =75) hatte sofortigen Zugang zu allen Ausstellungsinformationen auf dem mobilen Gerät und konnte Informationen speichern, während die Kontrollgruppe (n = 113) das Museum ohne technische Unterstützung besuchte. Eine exploratorische Faktorenanalyse (PAF, Varimax) wurde durchgeführt, welche zur Identifikation von vier Faktoren in der Besucher-Ausstellungsstück-Beziehung führte, die bestimmen, ob ein bestimmtes Ausstellungsstück für einen bestimmten Besucher interessant ist: Anziehungskraft, Sofortiges Vergnügen, Vertrautheit, und Informationswert. Diese vier Faktoren können erklären, warum interaktive und das mit Abstand größte Exponat überzufällig häufig als interessantestes Ausstellungsstück genannt werden. Sie können auch die subjektiven Theorien von Kuratoren und die Theorien von Museumsforscher bezüglich interessanter Exponate erklären. Ein starker Effekt des Gerätes auf die Besuchsdauer wurde gefunden, allerdings nicht für die selbstberichteten Interessens- und Wissensmaße. Bookmarking wurde von der Experimentalgruppe selten verwendet. Der Einfluss des Gerätes kann erklärt werden, wenn man die von Rounds (2004) auf Museumskontexte angewendete “Information Foraging Theory” um die Effekte von mobilen Geräten im Museum erweitert: Wenn ein virtueller Informationsraum mit einem mobilen Gerät über den Informationsraum des physischen Museums aufgespannt wird, kann dies die Interessenlandschaft für den Museumsbesucher erweitern (Studie 1) und dem Besucher die Exploration der Interessenlandschaft des Museums erleichtern (Studie 2). Dies hat positive Konsequenzen für das Besucherverhalten — die Information wird abgerufen und die Besucher verbringen mehr Zeit in der Ausstellung mit dem Gerät, bevor Museumsmüdigkeit auftritt, während die Selbstberichte keine Unterschiede aufweisen, denn sie wurden nach dem Besuch erfasst (als das Interesse für alle Besucher wieder die gleiche Stärke erreicht hat). Entsprechend können mobile Geräte genutzt werden, um das Interesse von Besuchern zu unterstützen. Obwohl Bookmarking von einigen Besuchern verwendet wurde, konnten diesbezüglich keine Effekte gefunden werden, da eine Nachbereitung von Museumsbesuchen sehr selten ist. Die Motivation der Besucher, den Besuch eines Museums nachzubereiten, muss zuerst erhöht werden, bevor Bookmarking einen Einfluss aufweisen kann

Mobile Learning for Just-In-Time Knowledge Acquisition at the Science Museum Group

The Science Museum Group (SMG) Service Desk team in the United Kingdom (UK) faces the challenges of Service Level Agreement (SLA) breaches. Furthermore, the museum sector suffers significant reductions in funding made by a major sponsor in the UK. Thus, ICT Service desk staff are required to manage incidents and other demands with minimal resources. To address this problem, this paper recommends serving just-in-time knowledge in the form of knowledge articles that are also responsive to mobile devices to service users. This offering could reduce ICT support calls, increase productivity for both service desk staffs and the service user. Moreover, it presents an opportunity to develop functional technical knowledge among non-ICT SMG staff. The use of knowledge articles log files and ICT incident report log files were used to find out which staff are more likely to read knowledge articles or report ICT incidents for the purpose of targeting those staff with the just-in-time knowledge articles. As with any technological change, challenges are pervasive in technological adoption. This study uses the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model to explain the determinants of mLearning adoption at SMG. The current study makes an original contribution to theory and practice by broadening the body of knowledge pertaining to understanding the factors contributing to mLearning adoption and its potential use for just-in-time knowledge acquisition for staff in a UK Museum context. The results from this study indicate that the UTAUT constructs Performance expectancy, Effort expectancy, Social influence and Facilitating conditions are all significant determinants of behavioural intention to use mLearning. Surprisingly, the newly proposed construct, Self-determined learning was not a significant determinant of behaviour intentions. Further examination found age and gender moderate the relationship between the UTAUT constructs. These findings present several beneficial implications for mLearning research and practice at SMG and in a wider context. For example, to inform a broader set of technical adoption research and strategy