As we’ve continued to refine and add content to our prototype app, we’ve been thinking a lot about who’s going to be using the app.
We tend to think of our core audience in the Curiosity Corner exhibition as our members and we designed the content to extend the interaction and learning happening at those exhibit components between children and their caregivers. In our early evaluations, we heard from some members that while the tips and resources are helpful, they already feel like they know this exhibit really well and they’d rather have an app for areas of the museum that they know less well.
Who are these apps most useful to at your institutions?
Rizwan
Ali, I can understand the members reaction since they are well aware of this particular exhibit. The observation I have done with More CMH app concluded with both member and first-time visitors finding things that is helpful to them. For example, member usually tend to explore and spend most of your time on Do this at Home, Dig Deeper, and Fun Facts categories. On the other hand, first-time visitors spend most of their time on What Do I Do and Try This categories. If time permits, first-time visitors also check out other areas of the component in the app.
Sean Rooney
Hey Ali, I agree this is an important question to ask. It’s one that we have been curious about here at OMSI and the testing over the past several months have helped us to see it more clearly.
We have had the same experience that Rizwan from CMH mentions above; therefore, we focused content mostly on two groups, people that were familiar with OMSI (members) and those not familiar with OMSI (non-members.)
One other interesting note is nearly always the parents are the users of the app, and interpreting it for the children. Therefore, when creating text content we kept that in mind, and used language that would work well for an adult. However, when creating audio or video content, we applied it to all ages, with the thinking that the adult would show the child, which often happens.
Ali Jackson
Hi Sean and Rizwan,
Thanks for your comments! I’ll just echo that for us, in particular, the key audience is definitely parents and caregivers of the young children who frequent the Curiosity Corner. I like the suggestion to think of the photos (and videos if we had them) as being for a wider audience.
Thanks,
Ali