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Subject:
From:
Luigina Ciolfi <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Luigina Ciolfi <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 4 May 2005 11:59:26 +0100
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Deadline is approaching!

**CALL FOR PARTICIPATION**

International Workshop:

RE-THINKING TECHNOLOGY IN MUSEUMS: TOWARDS A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF PEOPLE'S
EXPERIENCE IN MUSEUMS

Limerick (Ireland), 29th-30th June 2005

Web: http://www.idc.ul.ie/museumworkshop/

Sponsored by Convivio, The Network for People-Centred Interactive Design

http://www.convivionet.net

 
THEMES OF THE WORKSHOP
The workshop will focus on discussing novel approaches for understanding
people¹s experiences in museums and art galleries and for designing
interactive technologies to support these experiences.
Existing research discussing the role and impact of interactive technologies
within this domain is mainly focused on the design of computerized systems
that would provide museum visitors with large amounts of information
regarding certain museum artefacts and exhibits.  The technologies that have
been employed for this purpose range from touch-screen kiosks, to portable
digital assistants and ³ambient² technologies.
However, this approach to designing interactive installations for museums
presents certain limits: these installations can undermine people¹s
appreciation of the exhibits, as they are sometimes intrusive and
distracting. Also, visitors¹ social interaction with others is not supported
adequately as most of these installations support single user interaction
and might isolate people (for example in the case of audioguides).  Finally,
these installations tend to replace existing informational resources such as
human guides, museum docents, guidebooks and paper labels, although these
³traditional² forms of visitor support are informative, engaging and
unobtrusive. 
An increasing number of research projects dealing with the design and
evaluation of interactive museum installations is being conducted with an
experiential approach in mind: how to engage visitors into a meaningful and
rewarding experience, rather than submerging them with information and
distracting them from the existing museum holdings. Such a design approach
is focused on understanding experiential qualities of the museum ­rather
than simply visitors¹ activities or behaviours- such as the visitors¹
relationships with others, with the place and the artefacts they are
exploring, and the museum staff¹s attitudes towards the exhibition policies,
the museum holdings and so on.
Existing museum education literature is also focusing on the experiential
nature of the museum visit in order to provide recommendations for exhibit
and workshop design.
 
In this workshop we are aiming to discuss in further detail how the design
of interactive, non-desktop technologies can be aided by studying in depth a
variety of issues related to visitors and staff¹s experience of the museum.
Installations of this sort would augment specific features of the museum in
order to provide engaging and educational activities for visitors.

 SUBMISSIONS AND WORKSHOP STRUCTURE
We encourage the submission of position papers discussing:
-      Conceptual approaches to studying the experiential qualities of
museum visits (such as social interaction, development of a sense of place,
learning and critical reflection);
-      Descriptions of methodological approaches for understanding visitors¹
experience;
-      Case studies describing museum¹s staff experiences in understanding
and supporting visitors;
-      Case studies describing the design of interactive (low-tech and
high-tech) museum exhibitions;
-      Case studies describing the development of educational workshops
and/or installations in museums.
  
We encourage social scientists, museum education experts, curators,
interaction designers and computer scientists to submit a paper to the
workshop. 
We welcome submissions from museum experts, describing their current
practices in supporting visitors¹ experiences and concerns in supporting
visitors¹ engagement, interest and informal learning.
 
Participants will present their work, discussing the most important issues
they encountered in conducting this type of research within museums, the
methodologies they used and the significant outcomes arising from their
work.
Following the presentations, the group will engage in discussion and
collaborative exercises focused on 3 main questions:
-      What are the different dimensions characterizing the museum
experience?
-      How their study can be beneficial for the design of interactive
installations that would be engaging and present a strong educational value?
-      What are the existing methodologies that can be used to conduct such
a study and how could they be extended?
The debate will focus particularly on how the design of educational
installations could benefit from an experience-oriented approach.
 
Participants will be invited to submit extended versions of their papers for
possible inclusion in a journal special issue and, potentially, an edited
book (we are currently negotiating with publishers).

 
The topic of this workshop presents strong links to the CONVIVIO themes and
concerns:  the workshop will focus on a specific application domain from a
people and activity-centred perspective. The participants will discuss novel
ways of conceptually approaching the problem of designing interactive
installations within this domain, as well as examining current methodologies
adopted for the study of people¹s experience of museums within several
disciplines.
 
Participation in the workshop is free of charge for presenters  thanks to
the support of CONVIVIO.

 
SUBMISSION DEADLINES AND IMPORTANT DATES
Position papers (5 pages max.) due on 10th May 2005
Electronic copies of the papers (preferably in .doc or .pdf format) are to
be emailed to [log in to unmask]
 
Notification of acceptance: 30th May 2005
Workshop dates: 29th-30th June 2005
 
Organising Committee:
Luigina Ciolfi, Michael Cooke, Liam Bannon, Tony Hall
University of Limerick, Ireland
 
 
For more information: http://www.idc.ul.ie/museumworkshop/
 

-----------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Luigina Ciolfi
Interaction Design Centre
Engineering Research Building, ER1 005
University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel. [+353] 061 213530
Fax. [+353] 061 202734
Web: http://www.idc.ul.ie
          http://richie.idc.ul.ie/~luigina/
          http://www.shared-worlds.org/
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