BYOAD: Multiple Perspectives: Weekly Updates

Project Overview

WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 WEEK 3&4 | WEEK 5 | WEEK 6 | WEEK 7 | WEEK 8

Week 8 (Due 4/28/21)

This week I updated our prototypes to include the postcards that Wendy made! I also played around with the audio, however, Figma doesn’t allow you to add any – Shehara

Added AR userflow/prototype to the Figma – Dazhen

AR could provide a way to scan the postcard or picture to listen to the audio description, but SparkAR to Instagram’s userflow is a little complicated and not that accessible. Another advantage of this way is to encourage visitors to share and comments about the history museum or exhibits.

If AR app could be provided for users to download, it might be easier to use.

Figma template that outlines AR userflow

Week 7 (Due 4/28/21)

Some examples for postcards that can be provided to complement the exhibition. The text needs to be reviewed and references to be added. (Wendy)

Postcard with Slab Harry imagePostcard with Slab Harry story

Japanese business owners image Story for Japanese business owners in Bainbridge Island

Photograph of Filipino workers Stories of Filipinos in Bainbridge Island

Photograph of Japanese strawberry farmer Stories about strawberry farms

I worked more on the templates for the website. Using the quotes we found from the websites we were given, I made a prototype that shows what happens when you click Show and Hide transcript. We are still working on getting the audio for the quotes! – Shehara

Week 6 (Due 4/14/21)

Worked with Nelson from the templates team to create a prototype for what the multiple perspectives would look like on the website (Shehara)

 

Ecology and the effects of logging:

I did research on how logging impacts the environment and further growth. I found that logging/clearcutting will delay further growth, wipe out animal and plant species, contribute to further forest fires, and increases compound gases in the air, contributing to climate change. On Bainbridge, colonizers eventually forced the Squamish tribe to relinquish their land so that they could further destroy the forests.  

https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/id/4253/

https://www.historylink.org/file/8274

https://dahp.wa.gov/sites/default/files/PortBlakelyMillCR_Report.pdf

 

AR demo (Dazhen)

Try this link: https://www.facebook.com/fbcameraeffects/testit/788328758471794/ZWZmN2M0OGJjMDYzZmY0YWZhNjllNDJiNjAwMGM2M2Q=/      You could copy this link into the browser, then open Facebook camera.

AR working in SparkAR
AR working in SparkAR

When the user scan the logging image, there would be stickers of multiple perspectives shown around the picture. And there would be sounds of interview recordings or audio to read the text aloud. 

The problem I still have to fix is that the text is not clear enough to read, and it would blink on the screen.

Referred to these instructions:

https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/learn/articles/world-effects/target-tracker/#adding-target-tracking

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59736959/cant-import-audio-to-spark-ar

https://online-audio-converter.com/cn/

https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/learn/tutorials/audio-basics/#adding-interactivity

AR in Facebook
AR in Facebook

Week 5 (Due 4/7/21)

Research

AR Storyboard/Conceptualization (Shehara)

1/4 of the AR Storyboard - Scan Image 2/4 of the AR Storyboard - AR experience Pops Up
3/4 of the AR Storyboard - Click a Person 4/4 of the AR Storyboard - See perspective
Wireframes for the User Flow of an AR Filter on Snapchat

Week 3&4 (Due 3/25/21) (Feedback Form)

Research

Shehara’s Notes

  • This week I worked mostly on looking into the AR side of things. I watched a bunch of tutorials on Spark AR and tried to come up with ideas for how we could best implement it. Here are somethings I came up with
    • Use image trackers (a qr code or image of an item from the exhibit) when you can the image with your phone, it will come up with a bunch of people’s pictures surrounding the object/exhibit. When you click on the people’s images it will start to play the quote of their perspective of the exhibit.
    • Another idea I had was to give the background information using AR so when you scan the object/exhibit it will tell you the history behind the object, what year is it from, why was it created, why is it important, people related to it. Maybe we can also have a feature that details similar exhibits that are in the museum
    • Lastly, I thought that we could use AR to guide people around the exhibit – kind of like what to look at first and guide them sequentially through the exhibit.
  • Some of the drawbacks of using Spark AR however is that since it is still a new software, they haven’t added the capabilities to add captioning to an experience – therefore we would have to hard code the captions in which wouldn’t be sustainable for people who don’t know how to use Spark AR
  • Here are some notes I took from our discussion 2 weeks ago
    • Participatory perspectives – how can they think of the different types of communities they can tap into. At intrepid, they have former crew members, and people who put the exhibit who could reflect on their experiences. Setting framework for different communities – creates
    • Thinking about things that could be used in a wide variety of places. Think about their staff – high and low tech. Approaches to collecting information, what questions to ask, E: We are also eager to find ways to have the interpretation be available on-site – in person
    • I: Get to go to the place where history happens – go back to the physical version as well – sickbay – perspectives from doctors, someone who was getting treatment, people’s stories – how visitors could go through these spaces and go through it themselves
    • E: it’s great that you’re reading a lot and expanding ideas – in terms of developing a prototype helpful to see how this interpretation could happen on site. For it to be effective, in the physical environment – Sick Bay – emergency medical services that everyone took advantage of – could also pharmacists and chemists and learn about the creating of different medications – could be as simple as Audio stations to learn the perspectives of a former crew person, 21st-century naval doctor – developing a strategy for what communities you want to invite to your project
    • Recommend with one of the other historic site museums – write a few bullets of what we want – will communicate with collaborators.
    • Look at annual reports to see how their audience is

Dazhen’s Notes

  • Reading The White House Visitor Center: a case study in inclusive exhibition design
    • Large tabs or knobs for people with difficulties in motor coordination could help them to turn panels and flipbooks easily. Similarly, on digital interface, we should ensure buttons easy to press and prevent pressing wrong areas by mistake. And fo our project, AR model might be allowed for users to rotate on the screen, so that they could see it in different angles. So we need to consider how it could be easy for users with difficulties in felxibilities of fingers to figure out how to rotate the model. Should we just provide two arrows for certain angle of rotating each time clicked, or just to wipe on the screen to rotate the model freely?
    • In the reading, tactile maps are mentioned several times, which is an efficient way for visitors to understand the whole space and floor plan. And audio description should complement to visual and tactile experiences, so it inspired me that we could combine tactile map with audio description, that having sensors inside the map.
    • While researching and user testing, there might be some conflicted opinions and feelings, how could we deal with it? Sometimes it is difficult to meet everyone’s need and realize universal design.
  • Technology part
    • https://docs.unity-ar-gps-location.com/guide/#quickstart
    • There is truly some limitations in Spark AR, so we might try to engage with Unity, Vuforia and the GPS plugin.
    • We could decide the tool to use after we finished the concept phase when we should fully consider the conclusive design and interaction process.

Melissa’s Notes

Wendy – ideas for physical interactions

Tactile and audio map
Texture and raised graphics depicts the terrain and buildings in a visitor campus

Tactile and audio interface for an exhibit

Week 2 (Due 3/11/21) (Feedback Form)

Research

  • Further Research on Multiple Perspectives as well as some UX designs for the website (Shehara)
    • Tara Chadwick – Multiple Perspective Interpretation in a Historical Museum Context
      • is a participant in their own existence. Everyone brings their viewpoint to bear on their interpretations of the six steps of the scientific method: observation, theory, hypotheses, testing, conclusion and analyses 
    • People to Ask for their perspectives on different exhibits
      • Professors who are knowledgeable in the area/topic that the exhibit covers
      • Curators from other museums that are similar (ie/ historical v fine art)
      • Directors of different programs at universities that relate to the exhibit
      • Visitors of the Exhibit from different parts of the country
        • Kids, Adolescents, Young Adults, Adults – based on the content of the exhibit
      • People who have cultural ties to the exhibit
      • Other artists who create similar work – or is interested in that field of work
    • Examples of Multiple Perspectives at Different Museums
    • Some UX concepts we could use for the website design
2 Versions of UX design for website - one with the exhibit image one without UX design of website with video boxes and image box

Melissa’s Notes

  • Why is having multiple perspectives important?
  • Who should be giving the perspectives
    • Historical: objective
      • The same narrative can remain but there must be an emphasis on who this narrative is coming from and what their biases are
      • The different groups involved in the object’s history should all be represented
        • Whether this be through historians, professors, or every day people
      • Those within certain cultural groups may have differing opinions so having more than one perspective is important
      • Important questions could be,
        • “What does this object mean to this culture currently and how is it tied into their history?”
    • Art: subjective
      • Art is typically more subjective and therefore open to interpretation
      • Views on art could be taken from art critics, educators, museum curators, but also average people across the world
      • Questions could be
        • “How do you interpret this object?”
        • “What does it mean to you?”

Dazhen’s Research

  • Multiple perspectives
    • Multiple Perspectives on Beuys    
      • The exhibition interprets ‘multiple’ in another way other than the individual’s various opinions but different forms that could convey the art work.
      •  Distribute art and idea to a wider audience.
      •  different display strategies to place the multiples in the artist’s own cultural context.
    • Opportunities and Challenges for museums pursuing participatory visitor engagement
      • History museums
        • Community Dialogue programming & comment boards
        •  accuracy and authenticity
      • Art museums
        • creative social activity
        • Distraction from the aesthetic experience with connection to exhibits
      • Science museums and centers
        • participatory design challenges
        • Off-topic     inappropriate ways
  • Augmented Audio
    • Morgan Library & Museum
      • Create audio narrative
      • Spatial audio recording
    • LISTEN: a user-adaptive audio-augmented museum guide
      • Inherent everyday integration of aural and visual perception
      • Immersive, natural personalized experience in art exhibitions

Wendy – 

Week 1 (Due 3/4/21) (Feedback Form)

Research

Our research includes: examples of similar projects being done, the practicality of building the experience (technology, timeline… etc.)

  • Research multiple perspectives (Melissa)
    • American Museum of Natural History https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/addressing-the-theodore-roosevelt-statue/perspectives-today
      • Multiple perspectives on the statue of Theodore Roosevelt on a horse with an African American man and a Native American man standing below him
      • Perspectives were taken from professors and educators of history, indigenous studies, museum studies, etc, museum directors,  and visitors from NYC and other states in the US.
    • Smithsonian Learning Lab https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/exploring-multiple-perspectives-with-american-art/vfmvuz2fcNP8tkqt#r/558667
      • This lesson plan implores students to ask themselves questions while they view historical American art. Questions asked to include “What do you see?” “What do you think about it?” “What does it make you wonder?”. Additionally, it lists the following:
        • “Step In: What do you think this person might feel, believe, know, or experience? “
        • “Step Out: What would you like or need to learn to understand this person’s perspective better?”
        • “Step Back: What do you notice about your own perspective and what it takes to take somebody else’s?”
    • LACMA “Home” Exhibit https://www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/news/GuardianLibertyVoice_LACMAExhibit_061017.pdf
      • The “Home” exhibit offers approximately 100 different pieces all relating to the theme of “home”. Juxtaposing different objects and art together to show alternate perspectives of the theme and allowing visitors to easily compare and contrast.
      • Divided into subcategories of “Model Homes”, “Archelogy of the Home”, “Mapping Home”, “Recycled Homes”, “Home as Forms”, “Embodied Homes”, “Troubled Homeland”, and “Going Home”
        • This variety comes from all different artists to show the difference of meaning from multiple perspectives
    • Change of Museums by Change of Perspective: Reflecting Experiences of Museum Development in the Context of “EuroVision—Museums Exhibiting Europe” (EU Culture Programme) https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-29544-2_9 
      • Goes over how important it is for museums to be able to provide historical information in an accessible way and to continue transmitting its meaning
      • With society continually changing and shifting, museums need to adapt to portray a wider array of perspectives for their audiences.
      • With more “migration” places are becoming more mixed and blended, which means more perspectives need to be included to appeal to younger audiences especially
    • Seems like some museums offer different/multiple perspectives on different exhibits but often do not. I was able to find some examples but it seems like there is mostly research articles and books describing how museums can offer multiple perspectives and that is their duty to offer them to their visitors
  • Research social narratives (Shehara)
    • Smithsonian Social Narrative
      • They only had one 
        • Maybe we can look at creating video versions or multiple versions that are more customizable for different people
        • Maybe a checklist and then based on preferences it creates a social narrative fit for you
    • Smithsonian Pre-Vist Videos
      • They are usually pretty short – under 5 min
    • Intrepid Museum
      • Hard to locate the social narratives
      • Only one perspective
      • Maybe we can do something like this for the social narratives
      • Include sensory guides?
    •  New Museums Social Narrative 
      • Their social narrative focuses on “visitors on the autism spectrum and/or people with sensory sensitivities” 
      • I think that the document is very well laid out, the images are clear and provide visitors with a really great perception of what happens when you get there 
      • I do think that they should have more social narratives with people with other disabilities 
    • Mac Access created a Learning Module to help people create Social Narratives. I think that this is a great guide for how to first approach a social narrative. They break down step by step what information visitors need and how you can fill that need. 
    • The Mets Social Narrative 
      • I really liked the Mets Social Narratives because they had 6 different ones for different family sizes and different ages. 
      • They were also super super in depth and linked to different resources throughout the museum 
      • I also liked how they added information for people to contact them if anyone had any questions. 
    • Aspen Art Museum
      • They created diagrams for different situations which I found to be super helpful
      • At the end of the document they included all the accessible areas of the museum and where they are located.
    • I also found this NYU Website about Social Narratives that I think Amy and Anita might have made – it has a lot of super useful information.
      • Has templates as well as other information they can include.
    • Overall somethings we can implement are
      • Making the social narratives videos 
      • Creating a module for people – it would be more immersive
      • Adding extra info into the social narratives and from different perspectives 
  • Research access/engagement while visiting–AR (Dazhen)
    • Research
      • Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
        AR app in the iconic Bone Hall. This app, called Skin and Bones, shows what the skeletons would have looked like while alive.
A reference of the AR experience at the Smithsonian

 

        • The Art Gallery of Ontario
          Add some animation to the art, which could help to tell the story and make the scene more vivid. “transform a simple interaction — viewing a painting in a museum — into a visceral, explorative and magical experience.”
        • A New Model for Access in the Museum
          • The reading inspired me about how people communicate and discuss could be an interesting and meaningful engagement in museums. Since different opinions and perceptions are also part of the art, if AR could record these ideas and show these to more people, which could meet the social demands of museum and historical sites’ engagement. 
        • Engage with visitors during the pandemic    https://blooloop.com/museum/in-depth/museums-coronavirus-social-distancing/
          • Virtual Collections:360-degree views of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History exhibits        This VR exhibition document and show details well, but AR could help to bring these exhibits out of the glass window and get visitors closer to exhibits.
          • Museum From Home:Several museums are tweeting interesting facts, videos and insights about their collections with the hashtag #MuseumFromHome. It’s the most simple, effective and convenient way to appreciate art in daily life.
          • Education for kids:Some museums would provide some video for kids to educate them about history, culture and art.
    • Ideas
      • AR description that could describe information in text more intuitively for people with cognitive disabilities who have difficulty in reading long paragraphs and for non art-educated people.  To improve engagement while keeping social distance during coronavirus.
      • Bring exhibits into daily life using AR. i.e. Users could scan walls to see exhibits on the street, which is GPS-based, like Pokemon Go. For non art-educated people.To improve engagement while keeping social distance during coronavirus, and find a new way for museums to break the space constraints and enlarge audiences.(This could also be a part of social narrative during pre-visiting)
      • Add AR form of animation or video into social narratives for teenagers.
      • New way to add audio guides using AR, so that users could hear the text description in front of them scanning the exhibits using their phones’ AR function. For vision-impaired.
    • Questions
      • Does accessibility design include design for non art-educated people who could be considered as cognitive disability in museums? (Since they could not understand the jargon.) 
  • Research sonification of museum space (Wendy)
    I haven’t found an example of a museum using sonification to present their exhibition. However, there are quite a few examples of how this experience can be done:

    Sound can be experienced in 3D, further conveying spatial information:

What are we doing next week?

  • After doing our individual research, we are going to finalize what direction we want to go to with for the project (All)
  • Do more research about the practicality of our ideas (All)
  • Choose more concrete goals and outcomes (All)
  • Start to look at big picture ideas and narrow them down to smaller details (All)
  • Figure out who is working on what (All)
  • Reach out to Beth and Elaine and ask them what they think about the outcome of our project and whether or not they think it is a good idea (All)

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