Marcus Frisell interview and state of the APP analysis

Hello, we are students from the mediatechnology program at KTH and are currently doing a study, mind if we interview you?

No that’s okay.

Do you usually visit museums?

Yes, when I go to other countries i want to learn as much as I can about them.

Allright, why do you usually visit museums?

As I said, I want to learn as much as I can.

What goal do you have coming to a museum?

The answer is the same, haha, I want to learn.

Do you think there is enough information about the exhibitions here?

I think that there actually is very little information about all the exhibits, I would like more.

Oh okay! Do you think that can be improved upon somehow?

Haha, if they add more information.

If technology wasn't a problem, do you think some sort of technology could be helpful for this?

I think so, maybe something interactive at the museum or an application or something.

What do you think this app or computer should be able to do?

Show me information, maybe by putting my phone next to the exhibited object.

Would you download an app like that for the museum, even for a small cost?

Absolutely.

State of the APP analysis.

My main focus in this analysis is oriented at the developement and continually increased usage of mobile applications for visitors at the museum. I chose this subject because I think applications are an absolute vital part of visiting a museum, yet it does not exist at most of the larger Swedish museums.

Exhibitions are often interesting and a great way to learn new things. The issue is often that most exhibits, at least the ones we visited, were lacking of ways to interact in a motivating learning environment and therefore became uninteresting and forgetable. I think that an application developed specifically for a museum or exhibit could give the costumer new ways to process the information and reach greater levels of interaction. This in turn will help the customer to remember a greater part of the information presented at the exhibit.

As mentioned, most of the Swedish musems have not developed applications to accomodate their exhibitions. However, Moderna muséet is an exception. Their application is exclusively an audioguide, and provides audio feedback at exhibited objects. An appliction developed for visits at museums like Moderna muséet needs, in my opinion, a intuitive, easy and fun interface to interact with all the different exhibitions, which unfortunately is something that Moderna museéets application lacks, mainly because it has no other features than the audioguide. But it is definitely a great start.

Another application I have examined is the one at Etnografiska, where they have a more refined user experience where the costumer can do more with the application than to just listen. In their application you can play little games, learn about exhibited objects at a very detailed level and easily get an overview of the museum. I think they are on the right track but even though they have done many things right, there are certain parts of the application that can be elaborated. The interface is relatively un-intuitive and does not really have an appealing layout either. The design is somewhat outdated, something a newly developed application cannot afford to be. Museums often have the connotation of being old and boring, and to develop a mobile application is a perfect opportunity to breake away from that feeling and bring the museums new life.

In conclusion I believe that mobile applications developed for museums often miss one of the main purposes of user interaction. They include the obvious part, which is the information about the exhibitions. The problem is that no one is going to use an application if it is boring, unintuitive and difficult to interact with. If the application looks stale or old fashioned, the user is going to get the same feeling and then the visit might not be what it could have been.