This paper is a user evaluation of a mobile phone audio guide, developed for visitors to use at the National Gallery of Denmark. The audio guide is offered as a downloadable MP3 file at every incoming visitor who is carrying a mobile phone with an open bluetooth connection. The guide itself is structured through association, offering an experience more comparable to an audio documentary than a traditional guided tour. Instead of directing the visitor's focus of attention to selected points and objects provided by the museum as a producer, the sound collage relates indirectly to the objects of the exhibition, emphasizing visitors' agency and authorship. The paper reports on a number of strategies developed by visitors experiencing an unfamiliar guide structure. These strategies reflect a conflict between the initial expectation of guiding instructions and the freedom of making choices according to personal interest, and a conflict between the expectation of a learning experience rather than an aesthetic experience. The results indicate that most visitors are able to make sense of the guide and to use it successfully, in different ways, to enrich their visit. The evaluation also shows that visitors are fund of using their own mobile phones - but they have several problems with their phones in downloading the MP3 file (accepting the file, finding the file, memory problems, etc.). A presentation from Museums and the Web 2011 (MW2011)

2. Guided Expectations
a case study of a sound
collage audio guide
Ditte Laursen, Danish Center for Advanced Media Materials

4. the audio guide

5. the audio guide
• sound collage

6. the audio guide
• sound collage
• relates to thematic areas and more indirectly to
specific objects

7. the audio guide
• sound collage
• relates to thematic areas and more indirectly to
specific objects

8. the audio guide
• sound collage
• relates to thematic areas and more indirectly to
specific objects
• developed to provide visitors with more control
(the course, the choice of objects)

12. data
• semi-structured, qualitative interviews
• video recordings (via video glasses)

13. using the mobile phone
• very positive response to the audio guide mediated
by the mobile phone
• guide could be played on their own phones
• guide was percieved as personal
• high degree of control
• no visual demands

14. “technical” problems
• accepting the file
• downloading the file
• memory problems
• locating the file
…

15. audio presentation

16. audio presentation
• the pairs who wore a headset left each other after a
short while and walked on their own

17. audio presentation
• the pairs who wore a headset left each other after a
short while and walked on their own
you tend to get isolated

18. audio presentation
• the pairs who wore a headset left each other after a
short while and walked on their own
you tend to get isolated
• the pairs who used open air sound split up or agreed
to share one phone

19. audio presentation
• the pairs who wore a headset left each other after a
short while and walked on their own
you tend to get isolated
• the pairs who used open air sound split up or agreed
to share one phone
• the pairs who used open air sound were confronted
with their own and other visitors’ norms and practices
for how to behave in an art exhibition

20. audio presentation
• the pairs who wore a headset left each other after a
short while and walked on their own
you tend to get isolated
• the pairs who used open air sound split up or agreed
to share one phone
• the pairs who used open air sound were confronted
with their own and other visitors’ norms and practices
for how to behave in an art exhibition
there was an old lady that looked like she thought ‘What are
those girls thinking off playing loudly in a museum?’

21. pre-defined expectations

22. pre-defined expectations
• expected a learning experience, not an aesthetic
experience

23. pre-defined expectations
• expected a learning experience, not an aesthetic
experience
It created an atmosphere; it painted a mood – it gave a feeling
when walking around at least.

24. pre-defined expectations
• expected a learning experience, not an aesthetic
experience
It created an atmosphere; it painted a mood – it gave a feeling
when walking around at least.
• expected the guide to be linear, with a predefined,
precise route

25. pre-defined expectations
• expected a learning experience, not an aesthetic
experience
It created an atmosphere; it painted a mood – it gave a feeling
when walking around at least.
• expected the guide to be linear, with a predefined,
precise route
I was unsure whether to stop and wait or move on. And
sometimes when it mentioned some artwork, we weren’t sure if
we should look for them or what. We then found some of them

26. pre-defined expectations
• expected a learning experience, not an aesthetic
experience
It created an atmosphere; it painted a mood – it gave a feeling
when walking around at least.
• expected the guide to be linear, with a predefined,
precise route
I was unsure whether to stop and wait or move on. And
sometimes when it mentioned some artwork, we weren’t sure if
we should look for them or what. We then found some of them
• expected a one-to-one relation between the audio and
the paintings, instead of the audio relating to thematic
areas in the exhibition

27. pre-defined expectations
• expected a learning experience, not an aesthetic
experience
It created an atmosphere; it painted a mood – it gave a feeling
when walking around at least.
• expected the guide to be linear, with a predefined,
precise route
I was unsure whether to stop and wait or move on. And
sometimes when it mentioned some artwork, we weren’t sure if
we should look for them or what. We then found some of them
• expected a one-to-one relation between the audio and
the paintings, instead of the audio relating to thematic
areas in the exhibition
It talked about a painting that was sold for a lot of money, but we
didn’t know which painting it was. So we looked around to find it

28. visitors’ main strategies

29. visitors’ main strategies
• listening to file while moving around freely

30. visitors’ main strategies
• listening to file while moving around freely
• listening to the entire sound file right after entering
the exhibition but before moving around

31. visitors’ main strategies
• listening to file while moving around freely
• listening to the entire sound file right after entering
the exhibition but before moving around
• pausing after each part in order to study the paintings
in greater detail

32. visitors’ main strategies
• listening to file while moving around freely
• listening to the entire sound file right after entering
the exhibition but before moving around
• pausing after each part in order to study the paintings
in greater detail
• deselecting the file

33. visitors’ main strategies
• listening to file while moving around freely
• listening to the entire sound file right after entering
the exhibition but before moving around
• pausing after each part in order to study the paintings
in greater detail
• deselecting the file
• trying repeatedly to find a one-to-one relationship
between the paintings in the exhibition and the audio
file

34. conclusion
• visitors are very positive about using their own mobile
phone, but in practice it is difficult for them
• visitors preferred audio delivered through speakers,
but were confronted with their own and other visitor’s
norm of a silent art museum
• visitors initially anticipated a traditional guide (precise
directions to pre-selected objects, learning
experience), and it confused them
• with a few exceptions, visitors quickly adapted and
used the guide in individual and meaningful ways,
striking a balance of being guided and being able to
choose objects and to choose where and when to
walk