Assumptions and experiences How museums communicate interactivity and how visitors engage with instruction in the museum context

This thesis examines the forms of instruction designed for communicating interactivity with touch-screen installations that are physically embedded into the museum context of an exhibition space, exploring the design and development of such instruction and its impact on the museum visitor interaction experience. A framework is proposed for defining and discussing various forms of instruction that may be associated with in-gallery interactive installations (classifying instructional forms by their direct or indirect, static or dynamic characteristics), which is applied in the evaluation of two case study installations: The Gibraltar Touch Table, a large touch table within Amsterdam’s het Scheepvaartmuseum, and The Painting Lens, a touch-screen kiosk from the Gallery One exhibition space within the Cleveland Museum of Art. Members of the teams responsible for the development of the two case study installations were interviewed to better understand their approach to designing and implementing instructions associated with the two interactives. The impact of identified instructional forms on the user interaction experience is explored through visitor observation and post-interaction questionnaires. Comparing results from the team member interviews with the evaluation results reflecting actual user experiences reveals the limitations of assumptions made by development teams about user interaction behaviours and preferences for instructional forms. To avoid relying on unproven assumptions, this thesis contends that museums must invest time, money, and personnel into identifying and understanding their target audiences or users to ensure any provided instructions for interaction with in-gallery interactive installations are being communicated effectively.