Open-Ended Explorations in Exhibition Spaces: A Case for Information Visualization and Large Direct-Touch Displays
Abstract
Large interactive displays have become more commonplace in museums, libraries, and art galleries. Their interactive capabilities and size offer opportunities to present information to visitors in an engaging yet informative way. However, the characteristics of exhibition spaces, such as diverse audiences, brief interaction times, and self-guided exploration styles present challenges to the design of such exhibits. In this doctoral thesis, I present four case studies that investigate how open-ended exploration can be promoted using visualization-based large display exhibits, how shared interactions with such exhibits can be characterized, and how multi-touch capabilities influence interactions in exhibition spaces.
Case Study I, memory [en]code, touches upon the concepts of serendipity and participation as different ways to promote engagement with information via direct-touch displays. Case Study II, EMDialog, investigates how museum visitors experience interactive information visualizations as part of an exhibition of traditional paintings. Case Study III, the Bohemian Bookshelf, explores how serendipitous discoveries can be promoted by combining information visualization with large display exhibits in the context of library book collections. In Case Study IV, I investigate visitor interactions with two multi-touch tabletop exhibits. I focus on how the interface design influences individual and collaborative exploration strategies, and I explore the role of multi-touch gestures as part in open-ended exploration.
My research contributes to the areas of information visualization, museum studies, and interactive surfaces on a design and empirical level. I introduce the idea of promoting open-ended exploration in exhibition spaces by combining information visualization with large display technology. I provide a new perspective on serendipity, as one important aspect of open-ended information exploration.
I show how visitors experience and interact with large display exhibits. In particular, I contribute a detailed characterization of collaborative activities that evolve around visualization-based exhibits. Furthermore, I provide insights on how multi-touch gestures are applied around large display exhibits.
On a methodological level, my field studies expand on qualitative methods in the context of real-world study settings. The four case studies as a whole show how visitor expectations toward large display exhibits have changed across the years and provide a glimpse into future research directions.
Description
Keywords
Computer Science
Citation
Hinrichs, U. (2013). Open-Ended Explorations in Exhibition Spaces: A Case for Information Visualization and Large Direct-Touch Displays (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27202