Studio 8 | Identifying research activities and methods

Research Activities

Four workshops, all videotaped with 'key utterances' transcribed. Also, a school fieldtrip.

Workshop 1 focused mainly on interview -- the curators pointing out key locations and points of interest through the use of a map. This helped to solidify researchers' ideas of requirements for the system.
Workshop 2, consisting of three guided tours of the grounds, in succession, by three different curators. Researchers observing to try to solidify knowledge of requirements even more. Also, video and audio recording were made which could be used with the system.
Workshop 3's main purpose was to convince the curators of the power of the new system; new ideas for tours, i.e. dynamic tours led by the end-user as opposed to static, linear tours led by the curator.
School fieldtrip, again, helped to convince curators of the power of the system. Observations by researchers helped to test the system's capabilities.
Workshop 4 aimed to wrap up the other workshops and further convince curators of how the system can develop. Curators show developed understanding of technology.

In the initial interviews, the research team were confronted with the curators' preconceptions that a tour should be fixed and a lack of understanding of how technology could be applied to change this. To change this, the research team used several prototypes to demonstrate the capabilities. Firstly, reorganising previously recorded audio clips and running a 'Wizard of Oz' prototype. Later on, a practical demonstration involving end-users was used (the school fieldtrip). A video of previous applications of similar technology was also employed, showing the 'Ambient Wood' project.

Through discussion and observation, both in real-time and by analysing recorded video and audio, the team were able to gain a picture of how the tours were currently being led. This, in combination with more discussion, developed into ideas for a ubiquitous system.

All research methods used were qualitative.