{"id":5512,"date":"2019-04-10T19:50:06","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T23:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/?p=5512"},"modified":"2019-04-10T19:50:10","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T23:50:11","slug":"observation-of-national-geographic-encounter-ocean-odyssey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/2019\/04\/10\/observation-of-national-geographic-encounter-ocean-odyssey\/","title":{"rendered":"Observation of National Geographic Encounter \u2013 Ocean Odyssey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By: Michelle Kung<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
INFO 601-02 Assignment 3 Event Attendance<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
What is it<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
National Geographic\u2019s Ocean Odyssey is an exhibition about marine\nbiology and conservation that promises visitors an interactive and immersive\nexperience. Visitors get to see, hear, and feel what ocean life is like for\ndifferent sea creatures. A member of staff guides small groups of visitors\nthrough the interactive spaces and encourages everyone to explore every part of\neach space. The Ocean Odyssey starts in the shallows of the Pacific Ocean and\ntakes visitors all the way to the Californian coast.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I visited the Ocean Odyssey in March, 2019 had found this\nexperience to both be a lot of fun and highly educational. The new technology\nused gave the exhibition a lot of affordances that visitors were not familiar\nwith. And the guide, acting as mediator, served as the signifier to ensure that\nvisitors\u2019 experiences were pleasurable and not frustrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Immersive environments created by audio visual elements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Effective\nuse of audio and visual elements made interaction with information truly\nimmersive and entirely effortless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Visual<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The Ocean Odyssey experience featured multiple audio-visual displays.\nBut unlike conventional single screen-based information, these experiences were\nhighly immersive. Users were invited to enter rooms in which every surface was\na screen, including the ceiling and sometimes even the floor. Many rooms had\ncurved walls that surrounded groups of visitors. Our guide encouraged us to\n\u201cswim\u201d into the rooms, adding to the immersive experience. Many users attempted\nto interact with different visual elements, by pointing at them, stepping on\nthem, and following them. Sometimes, digital elements responded to users\u2019\nphysical movements but sometimes there was no digital\/ physical connection. On\nthe whole, visitors seemed delighted when interaction was possible and not at\nall disappointed when it wasn\u2019t. Perhaps users haven\u2019t developed an expectation\nto be able to interact with any digital element yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the most spectacular exhibits was a 3D video of a life size\nhumpback whale displayed in a room on a curved wall that surrounded visitors. Visitors\nwere invited to wear 3D glasses to improve their experiences. The video showed\nhow humpback whales feed on krill by opening its gigantic mouth. Users were so\nmesmerised and immersed in the video that a user screamed out loud in fear when\nthe photorealistic whale swam towards the screen with its mouth wide open! Such\nrich visual information elicited emotional responses in users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Audio
\nButtressing the vibrant visuals were rich and realistic audio elements. Effective\nuse of sound allowed users to be immersed in the underwater environment created\nby the Ocean Odyssey. In an exhibit showing what the ocean is like in the night\ntime, sound was the main medium. Users sat in a small auditorium completely\ndevoid of light, listening to the sounds of whales, dolphins, and other sea\ncreatures. Users were passive receptors of audio information.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interactive videos enraptured users<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The Ocean Odyssey also featured gesture controlled interactive\nvideo elements to teach users about the behaviour of sea lions and about bio\nluminescence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our guide explained what bio luminescence was as users moved their\narms in front of a screen. The screen detected motion and displayed\ncorresponding lights, representing bioluminescent bacteria. Users were\nencouraged to interact tactilely with all elements of the bioluminescent\nexhibit. This hands-on approach allowed users to learn about an otherwise\nabstract part of the ocean that they have probably never heard of or thought\nabout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the sea lion exhibit, our guide demonstrated using the screens\nto learn about sea lions. Individual users stood in front of individual\nscreens, waving their arms and watching the sea lion swim in corresponding\nmovements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Traditional displays sadly forgotten<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Unlike a traditional museum environment where static images and\ntext are the bulk of the information, in this experience, they were peripheral.\nUnless the guide purposefully drew users\u2019 attentions to non-digital image and\ntext, they were largely ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps a better designed information environment would make a\nmore seamless transition between information that is digital presented to\nusers, and traditional forms of information like posters and displays. Compared\nto interactive and immersive digital elements, traditional static visual graphics\nwere much less interesting to users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quizzes and games <\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the exhibit, our guide led users into a room with\nmany different games and quizzes on ocean ecology and conservation and allowed\nus to interact with them independently. \nMost of these activities were screen based, apart from colouring sheets\nwhich no users used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Users interacted with different screens equipped with pressure,\nlaser, and gesture sensors, making each game interesting and different. Adults\nand children alike were captivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reflection<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
I think the Ocean Odyssey experience was a really well designed\ninformation environment which allowed users to experience information in a fun,\nexperiential, and dynamic way. It proves that learning doesn\u2019t have to just be\ncognitive and challenges traditional approaches to learning by allowing users\nto engage with information physically and emotionally. I think this kind of\nexperience, when curated as well as the Ocean Odyssey, can have great impact on\neducation and edutainment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I\u2019m not sure whether or not the information environment was\ndesigned with affordances in mind. Users were guided by a trained guide\nthroughout, and were given instructions on how exactly to interact with each\naspect of the experience. Of course, interactive experiences that blends\ndigital with the physical are still very new so there isn\u2019t as yet an\nestablished semiotic system that can allow users to know exactly how to\ninteract with exhibits without a guide. I can imagine, in future, when more\nexperiences incorporate interactive digital elements in physical spaces, there\nwill be a need for the design of a standardised semiotic system that is well\nunderstood by the user to act as navigation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
References<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Norman, Don. The Design of Everyday Things<\/em>. New York: Basic Books, 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Michelle Kung INFO 601-02 Assignment 3 Event Attendance What is it National Geographic\u2019s Ocean Odyssey is an exhibition about marine biology and conservation that promises visitors an interactive and immersive experience. Visitors get to see, hear, and feel what ocean life is like for different sea creatures. A member of staff guides small groups […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":5517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[243,4],"tags":[399,162,397,398,224],"class_list":["post-5512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bowler","category-field-reports","tag-immersive","tag-museum","tag-national-geographic","tag-ocean","tag-user-experience"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/04\/PHOTO-2019-03-19-21-46-13-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5512"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5524,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5512\/revisions\/5524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}