Project Proposal

Problem Statement

When learners visit a museum, artifacts should be accessible and the object’s “life story” should be conveyed in a way that is relatable and meaningful. At Coronado Historic Site there is a lot that visitors can learn about the pottery at the site, but it is often behind glass and inaccessible. As a result, visitors quickly pass through exhibit spaces and miss important ideas and concepts that that the curator is attempting to convey with the artifacts.

Depiction of the Problem

Root Cause Analysis Diagram

Stakeholder Interview

For my stakeholder consultation I interviewed the following individuals

K - A docent at Coronado Historic Site

A - A giftshop volunteer at Coronado Historic Site

J - A casual visitor at Coronado Historic Site

E - A curator at Coronado Historic Site (myself)

Their viewpoints are as follows:

"A" said that the problem has to do with the personal interests of the visitors and that docents are key to helping people understand the exhibit because it gives the items a voice. They also said, " I just see a lot of people that just zip, zip, zip, zip around the museum to say that they have been here." "A" also thinks that changing content and choice of content that can be selected by the visitors is key.

"K" had a similar perspective to "A". "K" thinks that, "people miss out on tons of stuff at museums. I've done that at museums, just casually visiting. I think it is important for people to touch items. Get them connected with it..." "K" believes that physically touching an object related to the history of the site can draw in visitors and make them interested in learning more.

"J" had a very different perspective. He said, " visitors are going to do what they want, so the exhibit should be tailored towards them. If they are going to pay a little attention cater to them. If there is multimeida people are more likely to be interested." As a visitor "J" has a very visitor-oriented perspective which is a great insight.

As a curator, I often loose focus on the visitor and their learning style and just focus on the key interpretive themes that I am trying to convey. I tend to start with what the exhibit or display will be about then cater it to different learning styles. After discussing with "J" is seems that I should start with the visitor and work my way back. They all agreed that the exhibit at Coronado Historic Site is well done and that visitors enjoy their time there (whether it is a long time or a short time). They also all agreed that it is hard to quantify what people are learning from an exhibit so that time does not directly correlate to a meaningful experience.

Revised Problem Statement and Concise Reflection

When learners visit a museum, artifacts should be accessible and the object’s “life story” should be conveyed in a way that is meaningful to them and should be able to create their own experience with the history. At Coronado Historic Site there is a lot that visitors can learn about the pottery at the site, but it is often behind glass and didactic. As a result, visitors quickly pass through exhibit spaces and miss out on self-directed experiences with the objects and history.

Through the process of problem mapping and stakeholder interviews my perspective changes from the visitor and items on display as the source of the problem, but it is the lack of choice and outdated learning theory implemented. My revised problem statement has more of a visitor-choice focus than the original. I've also come up with the idea of enhancing a historic object so that when it is picked up by a visitor it begins to tell an oral history recording via a micro-controller system embed within the object.

Progress Plan

I will need the following to address the problem:

• An object that can be manipulated or altered

• A micro-controller

• A motion-sensor

• A recording of an oral history related to the object

• A speaker

Subproblems:

• Rather than re-training museum docents, a reminder email about how long tours should be could be sent out (this is a different tactic than the route chosen for the this project, but it does not hurt to be multifaceted in the approach to problem solving)

• I can display more objects form the educational collection that can be touched by the visitors to allow them to connect with history.

Specific Steps:

Week 1: Identify an object that can be manipulated and that electronics can be added to.

Week 2: Create or record content related to the object.

Week 3: Prototype the technology needed for the object.

Week 4: Test the object's interactivity with the public and make changes as necessary.