This document discusses using mobile projectors in workshops and exhibits to allow for layered and performative interactions. It examines how workshop methods contribute to understanding different types of exhibit interactions afforded by mobile projectors, such as sequencing and layering.
Intro So for this project, we looked at how digital handheld projectors might be used to enhance and create museum learning experiences. The idea is that these projectors wil soon be integrated into our phones, just as camera’s are now standard in phones. So if we can think ahead a bit and understand what these can do for social learning interactions, we can start to design them into museum learning experiences and other learning in public spaces
Series of workshops. 2 workshops. 1 with 8 12 and 15 year old children. 1 with 9 experts in museum and technology and design. Future Tech Workshop and World Café Small group discussions moving through a series of activities Start with strange scenarios to get creativity going and think beyond existing constraints
Only halfway through did we introduce projectors Let the children and adults manipulate them, explore a bit and see how they work Studio space
Towards the end, they were instructed to imagine use scenarios - stories - about how these projectors might be used in a museum experience.
We have broken up our findings into 2 categories - methodological and content based. I’ll touch on a few of each today. First, the video scenarios worked really well. Gave them flip video camera’s, used them creatively to express their ideas Second the sequencing seemed to be very significant. We didn’t introduce the projectors until halfway through the workshop - after they had begun thinking about broad uses for projectors.
In particular, the children repeatedly referenced features of the iphone when describing their own ideas. Perhaps describing a new interaction in terms of existing technology is the easiest way for participants to express their ideas. By not giving the participants these projectors as an early reference point, we avoided the constraints of the technology as a limiting factor.
Many ideas involved users presenting particular content to an audience of fellow museum visitors. Experts - blank room next to an art exhibit where visitors could project their own content onto blank canvases Similarly, children experimented with literally placing themselves inside a work of art by projecting an image of painting on top of their bodies. These ideas suggest a shift in control whereby information and content from an exhibit can now be manipulated by visitors wielding their own handheld projectors. The personal experience of interacting with a mobile phone screen becomes a social experience where visitors may perform for each other in public museum spaces.
Related to this theme of performativity is the notion of layering. This concept was apparent across many ideas generated from the workshops – from children placing themselves as a new human layer in a painting to one group of experts’ fascination with the potential to illuminate the layers of paint in the creation of a work of art. Another group of expert participants also discussed particular museum settings where physical constraints limit the interactions. For example, in an old church, adding signs and screens may interfere with the preservation of the place. Pico projectors may allow for an added layer of interaction on top of preserved surfaces. These ideas of layering seemed to spark a whole range of affordances for this technology by suggesting that all surfaces are possible screens of digital information.
Other patterns: sharing, layering, performativity, manipulation/ augmentation, contexualization, personalization FT workshop: imagineering, modeling, roleplay/ scenarios, retrofit, everyday, futurefit, requirements ++ a big issue with mobile devices is their small screen size - so in places like museums, social learning interactions tend to be through this screen and not really face to face. I think we've begun to identify new possibilities for mobile learning that supports face to face interaction. the projector allows for shared experiences..