As technologies and their capabilities continue to be further\ndeveloped every day, it is important to observe the ways in which they become\nintegrated with existing forms of and institutions for different types of\ninformation. Museums are among the institutions that preserve information and\nprovide the public with access to it, whether art, history, culture, etc..\nAccording to Bates, information can be thought of as, \u201can objectively existing\nphenomenon in the universe, which is also constructed, stored, and acted upon\nby living beings in countless different subjective ways, each way distinctive\nto the individual animal having the experience\u201d (Bates, 2006). Audio tour\nguides have been utilized in these spaces for a long time, serving to both\nprovide information, and maintain the integrity of a silent shared space.\nHowever, the information that typically makes up the contents of audio tours\nfollows the museum in a single direction, providing all consumers with the same\ninformation in the same progression. I see this as an opportunity to use UX\ndesign to improve upon an existing way in which information is transmitted in\nthese spaces, and to make museum goer\u2019s experiences more customized to their\ninterests with the use of more specified user interface design and AI\ntechnologies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To gain more of an understanding of other people\u2019s experiences\nwith audio tours, I conducted an interview with an avid museum goer, Suzanne.\nSuzanne, who loves consuming information about art and history in many\ndifferent forms, explained to me that the main issues she has with following\naudio tours are: a.) an abundance of information, not all of which is\ninteresting b.) a predetermined path through the museum space c.) a pre\nestablished pacing based on the length it takes to transfer the predetermined\ninformation. From her experience, her critiques can be broken down into\ndissatisfaction with the current \u201caffordances\u201d of the existing technology into\nissues of content, use of and transmission through space, and time (Sengers,\n2000). For Suzanne, the perfect audio tour would be one in which she could\nautonomously control where in the museum she would like to be, which pieces she\nwould like to hear information about, and the duration spent at each piece.\nThis idealized vision is similar to what Senger calls the \u201cAI Dream\u201d, or the\nhope that, with the use of artificial intelligence, technology will be able to\ntake on some human characteristics and make things much more enjoyable and\npersonalized for the consumer, learning what they like and dislike through\ncontinuous use and data collection (Senger, 2000). However, when applying\nBates\u2019 definition of information as \u201csome pattern of organization of matter and\nenergy given meaning by a living being (or a component thereof)\u201d, how does this\nconception allow for the \u201csemiosis\u201d, or linking of different components of\ninformation, with AI and other technologies that also take on life like\ncharacteristics (Bates, 2006)? It is a question for which the answer unfolds as\nthese technologies are applied in real time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For this reason, it is important to\nlook at Yvonne Rogers\u2019 detailed work in theoretical approaches to Human-\nComputer Interaction. Rogers highlights the fact that many people who are at\nthe forefront of developing technologies, although they are aware of and wish\nto apply certain theories, often are competing with the race to be the next\ninnovation, and do not always have the ability to develop a technology\ncompletely theoretically before it is demanded on the market (Rogers, 2004).\nRogers concludes her in depth account of theories with a call for those\ndeveloping technologies, particularly user interface design, to discuss and\nresearch which theories to apply and why. By doing such work, Rogers hopes a\nmore universal language for developers will be created in order to be able to\nuse and integrate these ideas into technology as it is being developed, instead\nof conceptualizing the effects after users are already engaging with it. After\na theoretical framework is established, different decisions can be made to\nexpand and refine the affordances of technologies in relation to what users\nneed and want from said technologies (Rogers, 2004). I believe this is pivotal\nin order to create user interface designs that are useful and specified to the\ndesires of the user. It is through interviews, like with Suzanne, that\ndevelopers on all levels of technology can get a better understanding of what\npeople want, where technology can improve, and inspiration for where new\ntechnologies should be aiming. In order to more fully develop how audio tours\ncould be improved and what consumers are looking for, it would be very useful\nto conduct more interviews in museum spaces and work to create a version that\ntakes into consideration all variables that are considered important, and make\nan audio experience that is catered specifically to each individual user. I\nhope to be able to continue exploring theoretical approaches to human computer\ninteraction. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As technologies and their capabilities continue to be further developed every day, it is important to observe the ways in which they become integrated with existing forms of and institutions for different types of information. Museums are among the institutions that preserve information and provide the public with access to it, whether art, history, culture, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,245],"tags":[551,323,406],"class_list":["post-6763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-field-reports","category-sula","tag-audio-tour-guides","tag-digital-humanity","tag-human-information-behaviour"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763","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\/699"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6764,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763\/revisions\/6764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}