Integrating Smart Objects into Self-Guided Exhibitions: Challenges of Supporting Self-Guided Exhibitions through Non-idiomatic Technologies

This position paper presents key challenges that have been identified in the early stages of designing interactive digital, self-guided, exhibition sites through the use of low-cost context aware technologies. The next wave of smart technologies, such as context aware objects and devices, enable new opportunities for facilitating self-guided exhibitions through digital experience layers. However, these technologies often fail to gain traction when the user does not understand how to operate or interact with these systems, due to new or unfamiliar interaction modes. The purpose of this paper is to present work-in-progress of implementing two app prototypes: 1) a mixed reality game for smartphones and 2) a digital guide, that uses Bluetooth beacons at a fully automated exhibition in Northern Denmark. Two of key challenges that this research projects revolves around is how to on-board new users and how to transfer experiential knowledge from other systems that the user is familiar with to a system that is unknown to the user. Through an iterative design process, two prototypes are being developed to investigate these challenges.