MuseumScrabble (original) (raw)
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Mobile technology has created new possibilities for location-based playful learning experiences. This paper describes the MuseumScrabble mobile game, aimed at children visiting a historical museum. The game requires that the players should explore the museum and link abstract concepts with physical artefacts using a mobile device. The focus of this paper is on the interaction design process and the subsequent observations made during field evaluation of the game. Design principles that guide the development of such a game are presented and concern playfulness, learning, social interaction, physical aspects of the game and flow between physical and digital space. We explore how these design principles are reflected in the study and how problem-solving strategies and collaboration and competition patterns are developed by children in this multi-player educational game.
Mobile technology has created new possibilities for location-based playful learning experiences. This paper describes the MuseumScrabble mobile game, aimed at children visiting a historical museum. The game requires that the players should explore the museum and link abstract concepts with physical artefacts using a mobile device. The focus of this paper is on the interaction design process and the subsequent observations made during field evaluation of the game. Design principles that guide the development of such a game are presented and concern playfulness, learning, social interaction, physical aspects of the game and flow between physical and digital space. We explore how these design principles are reflected in the study and how problem-solving strategies and collaboration and competition patterns are developed by children in this multi-player educational game.
Playing with museum exhibits: designing educational games mediated by mobile technology
Proceedings of the 8th …, 2009
In this paper, we describe two educational games mediated by mobile technology which were designed for use in the context of a traditional historical museum by young children. Our analysis focuses on the principles of the educational design, on the use of mobile technology and on the envisaged interaction between the exhibits and the children. The main argument of the paper is that mobile technology can support the play with the exhibits of a museum -instead of just viewing them in the more traditional way– and in this context the spectrum of children interaction with the exhibits can be broadened and enriched.
Mobile games in Museums: from learning through game play to learning through game design
Yiannoutsou, N., Avouris, N., (2012). Mobile games in Museums: from learning through game play to learning through game design, ICOM Education, vol. 23, pp 79- 86 (available in http://ceca.icom.museum/node/203), 2012
This paper investigates aspects of learning in museums through mobile games, i.e games that are played usually by groups of players, using mobile devices that allow interaction with the space and the exhibits and physical mobility of the players. It is argued that playing these games (which usually follow the pattern of scavenger hunt or role playing narratives), results in visitor engagement, motivation and knowledge about museum exhibits. Despite of these positive aspects, it has been observed that learning remains at the level of transfer of factual information about the exhibits. It is argued that in order to enrich the learning experience of game play we need to also involve the visitors in the process of designing mobile games for the museum.
Intrigue at the Museum: Facilitating Engagement and Learning through a Location-based Mobile Game
International Association for Development of the Information Society, 2014
The use of portable devices to explore informal learning environments has recently exposed museums to a mobile learning (m-learning) scenario. In particular, location-based mobile applications that take into account not only a specific physical venue, but also the personal and social context can be valuable resources to enhance the visitor experience. Game-based applications that leverage on fun and social interaction to facilitate the meaning-making process represent a promising approach, since they favor both learning and entertainment activities. This paper presents the design and evaluation of "Intrigue at the museum", a location-based game addressed to children visiting Palazzo Madama-Museo Civico d'Arte Antica (Turin, Italy). This piece of work offers a methodological insight into the evaluation of engagement as a precursor of learning and provides evidence that a resource of this kind can contribute to a meaningful and enjoyable exploration of the museum by chil...
Playful museum: mobile audiences and exhibitions as game experiences
Digital media constitute challenges not only to institutions communicating art, history, cultural heritage, but to all types of institutions, organizations and businesses. And especially with the emergence and vast (and fast) spread of so-called social or participatory media and Web 2.0 technologies these challenges are but increasingly inviting us to rethink communication all together. The open-endedness and the playfulness of these media and media technologies, the radical possibilities for dialogic processes, for collaboration and co-creation when it comes to game-like, user-centered experiences and content vouch for methodologically (re)thinking communication as dynamic processes whichinstead of processes transporting information/media contentis regarded as something whichappropriating the idea of the perpetual betais continuously developing and constantly at play and changing as a result of a communication format characterized by collaboration, participation and co-creation. This paper focuses on how this way of applying digital media in museum communication has been put to use in an augmented reality 'game' telling the Renaissance story of Danish city Kolding, using smartphones and the city as a ubiquitous game universe. The paper demonstrates how the interplay between mobile media technology and physical places is a potent tool when it comes to meeting the challenges and potentials put forward by digital, mobile media to museums when it comes to creating new and engaging experiences which are based on playful collaboration, participation and co-creation.
Mobile Games for a house museum
Convergences - Journal of Research and Arts Education
The paper discusses a formal didactic activity in a higher education context, which brought to the design, development, and testing of thirteen Location-Based Mobile Games (LBMGs) for the Bagatti Valsecchi House Museum. The activity involved BSc Design students in developing and testing interactive solutions aimed at reaching out to the "under 35" community of the museum with engaging and entertaining experiences. For this purpose, the stakeholder group of the museum experts was also involved in co-designing the solutions. On the one hand, this study focuses on the beneficial approach of involving Design students in the multiple roles of designer, player/visitor, and target audience. On the other hand, it looks at those aspects that may turn LBMGs into a means for engaging and entertaining museum visitors' experiences. We focus on four LBMGs (out of thirteen) that the museum selected to be tested with their younger community, highlighting those elements that emerged as...
Mobile Serious Game for Enhancing User Experience in Museum
Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage
Mobile technology offers new opportunities to enhance the visitor experience in museums. Mobile serious games can support experiential learning with authentic exhibits in an authentic museum environment based on the contextual learning model with the interaction between the personal, socio-cultural and physical context. In developing the game, we wondered whether it could appropriately motivate and engage different age groups in the museum experience with its challenges of different difficulty levels; whether a mobile game could, through its challenges interacting with the museum environment, prevent the “head-down” behaviour; and whether museum exhibits could be better recalled by visitors participating in a tour with a mobile game than in two other traditional tours (i.e. guided tours, tours with museum brochures). The results of the study showed that a tour with a mobile serious game with challenges of different difficulty levels is suitable for visitors of two target groups (i.e...
Training social learning skills by collaborative mobile gaming in museums
Proceedings of the …, 2008
The use of handheld computers as a tool to enrich the museum experience has found its way into many museums, opening up new possibilities to increase the attractiveness of museum visits, especially for youngsters. We developed a mobile guide framework that supports the creation of mobile guides and adheres to social-constructivist principles of learning. The mobile museum game we created with this framework aims at developing the social, cognitive and technical skills of the users. Large scale evaluations ...