Contextual Inquiry Plan

One group of people who may find our design helpful is parents who need a way to keep their young, active children engaged with the art while visiting the museum. Another group of people who may use our design is art history students. Our app could become a useful study tool, a fun way for the students to quiz themselves on the intended meanings behind pieces of art for their class. If we are able to implement the museum gift shop reward system with our design, the museum employees in charge of running the gift shop could be interested in our app as a tool to bring more traffic through the shop and increase sales. For this first contextual inquiry, we plan on interviewing an art history student in an art history class that currently has an exhibit in WCMA. For our subsequent interviews, we’ll reach out to parents of young children, a museum giftshop employee, or another Williams student. We know several families in the area with children due to babysitting jobs and professors, and can ensure that the interviewer is not the group member who knows the family. We’d also like to interview a Williams student who does not have a specific tie to the museum. The other categories of people mentioned are groups who probably already have a vested interest in our design. We would use this interview to predict how our design might be received by the general student body. Would we be filling a need that exists for most students, or is our design more niche? While we have not yet reached out to a parent, giftshop employee, or average Williams student, we have contacted the students in ARTH 104 and 222 by email and are hoping to receive a response soon.

As apprentices, we’ll ask our contextual interview participant to treat us as though we have never visited a museum before and only have the vaguest idea of what a museum is. We would assume this role as a way to access and observe the participant’s own individual mode of interacting with a museum without unintentionally biasing them with our own museum-related habits and opinions. We’d like to observe how often they divert their attention from the art with an act like checking their phone, as well as how long they stay with each piece. Do they find it captivating, or are they moving quickly between pieces? As we observe these behaviors, we’ll ask them to explain why, is it conscious or unconscious, do they feel bored or interested, and any other questions that arise organically. We’d also like to ask how often our participant visits the museum, and why. If they are a recurrent visitor, we’d also like to ask what brings them back- is it new exhibits? Old favorites? The general atmosphere? Or, if they do not visit often, why not? With these questions and ones that come up naturally, we hope to assess the specific reasons for and ways in which a museum visitor might not be engaged, and if there are specific areas of the museum in which this is a greater problem than others.