Research on the Service Design of the Museum Visiting

Abstract

With the development of the Internet, the challenge of transition also comes to museums. In this paper, the authors investigate the online and offline situation of museums. Focused on the user pain points found in our investigation, we build the participatory museum service system with the service design tools, such as stakeholder maps, system map, blueprint and so on. Visitors can have more opportunity to interact and communicate with museums. This paper tries to offer some suggestions for improvement of museum service design.

1 Introduction

As a showcase of history and culture, museums have accompanied us for a long time. However, with the development of society, the role of the museum have also changed from presentation to education and communication. More and more visitors come to museums for self-improvement. Consequently, providing visitors with valuable experience has become a crucial mission for cultural heritage institutions. We have investigated the current situation of museums in China including websites and spaces to give some suggestions for the development of museums.

2 Literature Review

This literature review examined areas of interest relating to user experience of museum visiting.

2.1 User Experience

The international standard on ergonomics of human system interaction, ISO 9241-210 [1] defines user experience as “a person’s perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service”. According to the ISO definition, user experience includes all the users’ emotions, beliefs, preferences, perceptions, physical and psychological responses, behaviors and accomplishments that occur before, during and after use. The ISO also list three factors that influence user experience: system, user and the context of use [2].

Donald Norman brought the concept of user experience to wider knowledge in the mid-1990s [3]. He never intended the term “user experience” to be applied only to the affective aspects of usage. A review of his earlier work [4] suggests that the term “user experience” was used to signal a shift to include affective factors, along with the pre-requisite behavioral concerns, which had been traditionally considered in the field.

With the development of mobile, ubiquitous, social, and tangible computing technologies, human-computer interaction has permeated into practically all areas of human activity. This has led to a shift away from usability engineering to a much richer scope of user experience, where users’ feelings, motivations, and values are given as much, if not more, attention than efficiency, effectiveness and basic subjective satisfaction (i.e. the three traditional usability metrics [5]) [6].

2.2 User Experience of Museum Visiting

Jessie Pallud and Emmanuel Monod did a research that had investigated a set of phenomenological concepts that serve as a basis for IS evaluation, and more specifically, cultural heritage systems evaluation. They have conducted three focus groups that reveal the importance of a phenomenological experience for museum visitors, and found that technologies can lead to enhance visitor experience [7]. Carly Wickell studied on usability of online museum collections. His study focused on stakeholders of The Henry Art Gallery, located in Seattle, Washington, and provided a model comprised of Usability Testing and Follow-Up Interviews to create a comprehensive view of the user experience as it relates to online collections access. The findings of this evaluation revealed trends in usability and user experience [8]. Lisa Joy Gumerman conducted a project focused on user experience to create a plan for a web application that would increase engagement with the audience of a local museum. Finally they gave the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery a project plan including specific design, content and technology recommendations resulting from research and development [9]. Olav Røtne and Victor Kaptelinin did a design-based study of a mobile museum app and found that higher visual richness and content-related challenge were positive to museum experience, while the effect of information access selectivity was negative [10]. Morten Hertzum did a review of museum websites. This review investigates the process of design that underlies current museum websites and argues that it will be crucial to their future evolution and success to center this process around the users [11].

Zheng Yi, doctor of Fudan University, holds the point that the education information and announcement provided by the web of museums make preparation for visitors’ visiting. It also can guide them to have a more reasonable visit [12]. Zhang Ruiying, secretary general of the China museum association of professional committee of the digital museum, said in the interview that information technology would be the drive of the development of museums. It will change the overall condition of museums and improve the visiting quality [13].

2.3 Service Design

In 1991, Prof. Dr. Michael Erlhoff at Köln International School of Design (KISD) first introduced service design as a design discipline [14].

Service design is a new expansion of traditional design field in the post-industrial age, is the comprehensive implementation of the concept of design. Service design is a system design including people, things, behavior, and environment. The purpose of service design is for customers to create a useful, convenient and hope to have, for an organization to create effective, efficient and unique services, and create a better experience, pass a more positive value [15].

3 Present Situation Investigation

With the rapid development of the Internet, the visiting experience of the museum not only includes the field visit but also contains the website. In order to obtain a more complete understanding about visitors and museums, we divided our investigation into three parts: the visiting at museums, the visiting online and the result.

3.1 The Visiting at Museums

Research Methods.

In this part, we used three methods of investigation: questionnaire, interview and shadowing. Questionnaire is one of the commonly used methods in user research. It can collect a large number of responses in a short period of time, and can reduce cost, by means of research on Internet [16]. With the help of interview, we can have a thorough understanding of users’ behavior and emotions.

Research Place.

We chose Qingdao Museum as the research place. Founded in 1965, Qingdao Museum is an integrated local museum of history and arts. It is one of China’s first batch of Class-I museums and a key unit for ancient books protection. In 2000, the new Qingdao Museum was officially open to the public in Laoshan. The new museum covers a land area of 105 m² and has a floor space totaling 30,000 m². The main building of the new museum has three stories above ground and one story underground, and includes 16 exhibition halls and a winding corridor. The total exhibition area exceeds 7,000 m². Qingdao Museum has become a cultural landmark and a marvelous cultural spot in Qingdao [17].

Research Result.

In order to learn visitors’ behavior and idea, we designed Questionnaire (1.0) and (2.0). We distributed 49 Questionnaires (1.0) at Qingdao Museum. Then according to the result of Questionnaires (1.0) recovered, we adjusted questions and distributed Questionnaires (2.0). There are 136 people attended this research. The results are followed (Fig. 1):

Fig. 1.

Gender distribution

When it comes to how often people go to museums a year, about 85% respondents chose 1–3 while only 4% chose above 8 times. As is shown in the pie chart, museums don’t have the ability to attract people. Once people are not satisfied with their experience at the first time, they would not like to go anymore (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.

How often do you go to museums one year

From the chart we can see that when asked about why you come to museums, the majority of the respondents chose traveling and learning (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.

Why you come to museums

With the development of Internet, except recommend by others, people begin to try other ways to learn information about museums, such as websites of museums, official accounts… (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4.

The ways to learn information about museums

When it comes to which ways you would like to choose during visiting, most respondents like just reading introduction, few respondents chose to hire a docent (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5.

The ways of explanation

We had interviews one by one with the respondents who filled in the questionnaire. Three aspects of problem are found as follows.

Can’t Find Useful Information Quickly.

When visitors decide to go to the museum, they would search the information about it first. However, it takes much time because the information is always incomplete and fragmented.

The Introduction of Cultural Relics is Homogenized.

We noticed that few people chose to hire docents, so we asked some respondents why. Then we draw a conclusion that there are two main reasons, one is that the content is obscure, and the other is that the explanation is boring. However if visitors just read introduction beside the cultural relics, they would find little information of them.

The Way of Display is Single.

No matter how visitors are interested in the relics, they can only see the relics behind a piece of glass at museums. Visitors can’t touch them, even can’t see the bottom and back of them.

3.2 The Visiting Online

Since 2002, museums has begun to build websites in China. Today almost every museum has its own website. With the increasing dependence on the Internet means that the museum website is quickly becoming the face of the institution. And for some visitors, the websites make the first impression of museums. We investigated 96 national top/first-class museums with the method of content analysis.

Research Methods.

Content analysis is one of the most widely used research methods of social science. A large number of empirical studies used this way to collect and process data. Content analysis is a kind of research method that which describes its obvious delivering content objectively, systematically and quantitatively [18].

Here are some researches using the method of content analysis. Wu Yin got the model featured the object of the preliminary study based on the analysis of the content of 52 Local Government Websites in the United States, Japan and China [19]. Wang Zhe, Xiang Rui, and Tao Siyu, from the point of view of the target customers of the railway passenger station portal, constructed an evaluation index system with two levels and 30 items. They selected the representative of the 8 railways passenger station as a sample site, and analyzed the content of the evaluation index of each sample site using the content analysis method [20]. Xiao Liang, Zhao Liming, extracted the image theme of Taiwan tourism destination: natural ecology, vacation, country, culture, city, further analysis, through the content analysis on the two sides of the tourism website, travel agency website and the official website. Wang Yanli, Yang Gaixue expected to sum up the main results and development trends of research on informal learning through the analysis of the informal learning related literature published from1997 to 2010 [21]. Zheng Haoran, analysis the domestic 22 Chinese luxury shopping website, and explore the relationship between the construction of the website and marketing effect through the establishment of the evaluation system in 2014 [22]. Chen Haiping intends to carry on the content analysis to the university website content, in order to discover the university website to be possible to realize each function, look for the university website the main function, and compare the difference between China and the US [23]. Considering we need to judge the experience of the website, we chose content analysis method to avoid man-made subjective factors.

Evaluation System.

Websites of museums contain several function modules, but the highest attention people paid to is the module related to visiting in reality. So we build the evaluation system with three parts: the visiting assist, the display exhibits and the interactive operation (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6.

Evaluation system

Research Result.

Because there are 8 museums don’t have websites, so we investigate 88 museums.

The visiting assist: From the chart we can see that majority of websites do a good job on Service information. Some index can reach above 90%, such as Announcement, Open time, Ticketing policy and so on. But in the response test, only four museums have responsive web (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7.

The visiting assist

The display exhibits: For the index of browsing collections, the result varies from different index. On one hand, almost every museum has index with Exhibition classification and Showing the pictures of the collections. But only about 10% museums have the introduction about the location of the collection. Only 2 museums offer links of literature (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8.

The display exhibits 1

With the continuous development of Internet technology, more and more museums chose to open virtual museum exhibition. By June 10, 2016, there are 43 museums have their own virtual museum exhibition. However, different museum has different construction level, and most of them decide to build it with the help of other companies. There are only 16 websites that which offer checking detailed information of the collections. Most virtual museum exhibitions are simple, merely taking panoramic pictures. They still have a long way to go (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9.

The display exhibits 2

The interactive operation: Only 52 websites allow users to choose languages. We found that there are differences in the content of some websites between the versions of English and Chinese. There are only 10% websites offer the operation of collecting, sharing and printing (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10.

The interactive operation

3.3 Research Summery

Through the research on the current situation of museum, we found that the museum’s service system mainly has two problems as follows.

The Service Experience of Museums Lacks Completeness.

Experience happens before, during, and after a visit. But most of us only focus on the experience during a visit ignoring the experience before and after. From the investigation about websites of museums, we can see that though most of museums have built their websites, the availability and usability still need improving. When it comes to the knowledge we can learn from, there is still a certain gap between websites and museums.

There are more problems from the service at the exhibition hall. For example: visitors can’t quickly find the collection they interested in and may get lost in the big hall…

The Way and the Content of Explanation Need Change.

As the most important part of a visit, explanation should help visitors understand the collections better. But through our research, we found that lots of visitors are not satisfied with the experience. The current ways, for example, hiring the docent, listening to volunteer and so on need to be improved because the content of explanation is boring and the way of display is single. People want more than just seeing the relics behind a piece of glass.

4 Participatory Museum Service System

Based on the investigation and literature, we decided to build a participatory museum service system. The key point is to solve the problem on explanation during the visiting; thereby the service of museums can be completely improved.

4.1 Service Design

Service Design aims to create services that are useful, useable, desirable, efficient and Effective. It is a human-centered approach that focuses on customer experience and the quality of services is the key value for success. It is a holistic approach, considering the integrated way of strategic, systematic, process-oriented and touch point design decisions. It is a systematic and iterative process that integrates user-oriented, team-based, and interdisciplinary approaches and methods in ever-learning cycles [14].

The tools induced by Politecnico di Milano and Domus Academy are used to show our service system.

4.2 Users

Based on the investigation we did, we divided our users into four parts: Common visitor, Common lovers, Fanatics and Professors. They have different levels of knowledge and awareness on collections.

4.3 Stakeholder Maps

There are 8 stakeholders in this service system, divided into three levels according to the importance and influence. The most important stakeholder is visitor as well as web designer and exhibition planners who also play important roles in the system. They make up the first level. Guest service agents, volunteer and docent also affect the visiting experience and they are in the second level. Salesmen and securities are in the last level (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11.

Stakeholder maps

4.4 Motivation Matrix

The aim of the motivation matrix is to understand the connection of different actors of the system. Thanks to the motivation of them in the system: each actor expresses what he or she needs or expects from the service. The motivation matrix is an interesting means of investigation of the solution assuming the viewpoint of each stakeholder with his or her own interests [24].

From the chart, we can see that almost every stakeholder is related with others (Fig. 12).

Fig. 12.

Motivation matrix

4.5 Customer Journey Map

The customer journey map is an oriented graph that describes the journey of a user, representing the interaction with the service with the touch points. In this kind of visualization, the interaction is described step by step as in the classical blueprint. There is a stronger emphasis on some aspects as the flux of information and the physical devices involved. At the same time there is a higher level of synthesis than in the blueprint: the representation is simplified trough the loss of the redundant information and of the deepest details.

A visit can divide into 7 stages: online visiting, arrive, entrance, visiting, buy, out and home. Visitors’ sad points were focused on entrance and visiting. For example: when the visitor came to the museum for the first time, he didn’t know how to plan his visit. So the museum can formulate some certain line for them. When they came to the inquiry desk, the guest service agent would recommend to them (Fig. 13).

Fig. 13.

Customer journey map

4.6 System Map

The system map is a visual description of the service technical organization: the different actors involved, their mutual links and the flows of materials, energy, information and money through the system [24].

We try to break the traditional service system, and build the participatory museum service system. In this system, we consider online and offline service. Visitors can have more opportunities to interact and communicate with museums (Fig. 14).

Fig. 14.

System map

4.7 Blueprint

The blueprint is an operational tool that describes the nature and the characteristics of the service interaction with enough details to verify, implement and maintain it. It is based on a graphical technique that displays the process functions above and below the line of visibility to the customer: all the touch points and the back-stage processes are documented and aligned to the user experience [24].

Online Visiting.

We should consolidate the contact between the website function module and the real visit. Simplify the online booking steps so as to encourage visitors to book online. Then arrange the timetable more reasonably. What’s more, try to enhance the virtual display. Give visitors more opportunities to choose and interact, so they can learn more knowledge.

Entrance.

At the inquiry desk, visitors can ask related information and rent AR glasses. They can choose the right recommended route to visit with the glasses.

Visiting.

When you choose one collection, the glasses will play the introduction video of it. The videos can be uploaded by users. People can tell the stories of the collections by themselves. After watching the video, you can scale and rotate the virtual collection.

Buy.

The store of the museum offers the souvenir designed by the museum.

Out.

Return the glasses (Fig. 15).

Fig. 15.

Blueprint

4.8 Touch Point Design-BOWU APP

A customized browsing experience app designed for Museum enthusiasts who based on AR and UGC. It can give visitors perfect visiting experience and excellent knowledge. When you are at home, you can use this app to learn information about museums and exhibitions. If you want to know more about the collections, you can watch the videos uploaded by other users (Fig. 16).

Fig. 16.

BOWU icon

Register/Log in.

Information of museums has been added into the page to improve the enjoyment and enhance the function of our app (Fig. 17).

Fig. 17.

Register/Log in

Museum/Exhibition.

Museums and exhibitions are recommended by app according to the location and interest (Fig. 18).

Fig. 18.

Museum/Exhibition

Collection/Explanation.

Visitors can choose the videos listed in the page. After watched the videos, you can give a evaluation to this video (Fig. 19).

Fig. 19.

Collection/Explanation

Transcribe Explanation.

Visitors just need to add pictures and transcribe the video and then they can have their own explanation video (Fig. 20).

Fig. 20.

Transcribe explanation

Touch Point Design-AR Glasses.

Visitors can rent AR glasses from the inquiry desk. It can recommend visiting lines for you and introduce collections for you. With it, you can have more interaction with the collections (Fig. 21).

Fig. 21.

Scene

5 Conclusion

In this paper, we put service concept into the research of museum visiting. It contains certain forward-looking and practical applicability. As a window of showing a city, even a country, the impression of the museum are influenced a lot by the experience. Museums are in a slow transition at present. It is a big challenge for them to follow the development of Internet and give users proper experience.

We investigated the current station of museums and found some pain points which focused on the explanation. So we used service design concept to build a participatory museum service system, and did research with service tools such as persona, stakeholder maps, customer journey map and so on.

6 Future Work

There have been few service design cases focused on museums so although we did some exploration and attempt, it still need to be constantly improved in the future practice and accumulation. In the future, we can do some pilot projects on some certain museums.

This study on the topic intends to arouse more intention to the development of museums, so as to improve the experience of museums.