Designing for Dream Spaces
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DESIGNING FOR DREAM SPACES: EXPLORING DIGITALLY ENHANCED SPACE FOR CHILDREN’S ENGAGEMENT WITH MUSEUM OBJECTS KATARZYNA WARPAS A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy April 2013 This work or any part thereof has not previously been presented in any form to the University or to any other body whether for the purposes of assessment, publication or for any other purpose (unless otherwise indicated). Save for any express acknowledgments, references and/or bibliographies cited in the work, I confirm that the intellectual content of the work is the result of my own efforts and of no other person. The right of Katarzyna Warpas to be identified as author of this work is asserted in accordance with ss.77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. At this date copyright is owned by the author. Signature……………………………………….. Date…………………………………………….. 2 “BUILDING THAT BRIDGE BETWEEN VISITORS AND OBJECTS (…) IS THE ESSENCE OF A GOOD MUSEUM DESIGN.” JOHN H. FALK, 2009 3 4 ABSTRACT This thesis presents an investigation into the potential of digitally enhanced exhibition spaces to foster the engagement of children within family groups with museum objects on display, i.e. where physical contact is prohibited. The main focus is on the influence of digital enhancement on visitors’ engagement with artefacts and not on the digital elements themselves. This study has taken the mixed methods approach. It combines ethnographically- informed field studies with a design intervention within an overarching methodology of action research. In the review of literature, research from multiple fields including museum studies, interaction design and play research was brought together and examined from the perspective of exhibition design. This led to the development of the Social Dream Spaces Model. This model, which describes how visitors engage with museum objects, was used as the basis for a design intervention aimed at enhancing children’s engagement with exhibited artefacts. In-gallery participant observations were carried out in Bantock House Museum, Wolverhampton. Insights, based on data analysed from the perspective of the Social Dream Spaces Model, were used to develop a prototype of a digitally enhanced space, which was implemented into the existing exhibition. Data gathered in observations before and after the design intervention were compared in order to determine any changes in visitors’ responses to the exhibition. This study demonstrates the benefit of using the Social Dream Spaces Model for designing digitally enhanced exhibition spaces that promote children’s engagement with artefacts and social contact around them. The findings also confirm that designing subtle and non- intrusive digital enhancement can facilitate intergenerational interaction in exhibition spaces. 5 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract................................................................................................................................................5 Table of contents ..............................................................................................................................7 List of figures................................................................................................................................... 11 List of tables .................................................................................................................................... 13 Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................... 15 1 Introduction to the research of digitally enhanced exhibition spaces .......... 17 1.1 Children’s experience of museum space - project ‘Reiselogie’......................................18 1.2 Re-establishing the performance of exchange.....................................................................20 1.3 Design perspective ..........................................................................................................................23 1.4 The research question and methodological approach .....................................................24 1.5 Ethical implications.........................................................................................................................26 1.6 The structure of the thesis ...........................................................................................................26 2 Literature review............................................................................................................... 29 2.1 Conventional exhibition practice in the museum...............................................................29 2.2 The museum object.........................................................................................................................34 2.2.1 Evocative objects.....................................................................................................................36 2.2.2 Object-centred sociality........................................................................................................36 2.3 The child as a visitor.......................................................................................................................38 2.3.1 Children’s engagement through play..............................................................................40 2.3.2 Family as a design challenge ..............................................................................................42 2.4 Digital enhancement as a means to engagement................................................................44 2.4.1 Digitally enhanced spaces in the museum context....................................................46 2.4.2 Digitally enhanced spaces from outside museum practice....................................52 2.4.3 Summary: Designing for object-centred social interaction...................................56 2.5 Toward human-object engagement .........................................................................................58 2.5.1 The Symbolic Spaces Model................................................................................................59 2.5.2 Expanding dream space into social interaction..........................................................61 2.5.3 The Social Dream Spaces Model........................................................................................63 2.6 Summary: Designing for engagement .....................................................................................63 7 3 Measuring the inconspicuous........................................................................................65 3.1 Indicators of social dream spaces .............................................................................................65 3.2 The research plan.............................................................................................................................68 3.3 The mixed methods approach ....................................................................................................71 3.3.1 Action research ........................................................................................................................72 3.3.2 Design ethnography ...............................................................................................................74 3.3.3 Summary of methodological approaches......................................................................76 3.4 Data collection tools........................................................................................................................76 3.4.1 Participant observation........................................................................................................77 3.4.2 Notebooks...................................................................................................................................79 3.4.3 Cameras.......................................................................................................................................80 3.4.4 Interviews...................................................................................................................................81 3.4.5 Field notes..................................................................................................................................82 3.4.6 Sampling strategy....................................................................................................................82 3.5 Evaluation and analysis methods..............................................................................................83 3.5.1 Reading data: literally, interpretatively and reflexively. ........................................83 3.5.2 Approaches to sorting and organising data..................................................................84 3.5.3 Summary.....................................................................................................................................87 4 Stage 1: Initial observations...........................................................................................89 4.1 The research venue: Bantock House Museum .....................................................................89 4.2 Results and findings........................................................................................................................97 4.2.1 Time spent