Innovative uses of mobile communication technology: developing self-guided tours in museum

移动的电话在科学博物馆的信息传递中有效吗？在该项目的第一阶段，研究人员在国家科学博物馆的恐龙画廊测试了一个移动的手机语音导游。60名自选参观者在听完语音导游后完成了问卷调查和面对面访谈。参与者的走廊行走模式被记录在楼层地图上，以确定他们是如何听语音导游的。总体而言，包括一名视力受损者在内的受访者对移动的电话语音指南表示高度满意。大多数与会者都很高兴在博物馆获得这种服务。用户关心的一个问题是下载音频文件的费用不确定，在项目的第二阶段，设计了一个下载到iPod的音频游览。这次iPod音频之旅在日本是第一次。2005年在北九州自然历史和人类历史博物馆举办的恐龙博览会上展出。音频指南有22个音频站，用英语录制。对于不讲日语的参观者来说，语音导游是获得有关展览信息的唯一机会，因为所有标牌和商业语音导游都只有日语。来自当地一所高中的37名学生聆听了音频之旅。调查结果显示，大多数学生喜欢了解展览，即使他们是用非母语听。近三分之二的学生报告说，他们同意参加这项研究，以练习他们的英语。然而，在实验结束时，这组人报告说，他们真的看了展览，他们学到了一些关于鸟类如何从恐龙进化而来的新东西。

Are mobile phones effective for information delivery in science museums? In the first phase of the project, researchers tested a mobile phone audio guide in the dinosaur gallery at the National Science Museum. Sixty self-selected visitors completed a questionnaire and a face-to-face interview after listening to the audio guide. Participants' gallery-walking patterns were traced on a floor map to ascertain how they listened to the audio guide. Overall, respondents, including one sight-impaired person, reported a high degree of satisfaction with the mobile phone audio guide. Most participants were pleased to be offered this type of service in the museum. One concern for users was the uncertainty over the cost of downloading the audio file.In the second phase of the project, an audio tour was designed for downloading to an iPod. This iPod audio tour was the first of its kind in Japan. It was introduced at the Dinosaur Expo 2005, Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History. The audio guide had 22 audio stops and was recorded in English. For non-Japanese-speaking visitors, the audio guide was the only opportunity to access information about the exhibition, since all signage and the commercially available audio tour was in Japanese only. A group of 37 students from a local high school listened to the audio tour. The survey results showed that a majority of students enjoyed learning about the exhibition, even though they were listening in a nonnative language. Almost two-thirds of the students reported that they agreed to participate in the study to practice their English. However, at the conclusion of the experiment, this group reported that they had really looked at the displays and they had learned something new about how birds evolved from dinosaurs.