Smartphone Guide Technology in Cultural Spaces: Measuring Visitor Experience with an iPhone Multimedia Guide in Shakespeare’s Church

ABSTRACT

Smartphone technologies are now used to deploy audio and multimedia guides in cultural spaces, including historic churches. It is important to measure what effect the use of such technologies has on visitor experience of the cultural space and the usability and user experience of the guide. An “in the wild” study was conducted to investigate visitor experience in a historic church, with two versions of a multimedia iPhone Guide and with a traditional paper guide. The Church Experience Scale (CES) and the Multimedia Guide Scale (MMGS) were used to measure the experience of 59 visitors to Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, known as Shakespeare’s church. A total of 40 visitors used an iPhone guide, 21 a free choice version and 19 a guided tour version, and 19 visitors used a paper guide. Results showed that participants with a smartphone guide had a significantly more positive visitor experience and spent significantly longer on their visit to the church. There was a significant correlation between length of visit and the Enjoyment, Intellectual Stimulation, and Curiosity factor of the CES, but further work is needed to understand the direction of causality in this relationship. The usability and user experience of the multimedia guide conditions did not differ from each other, but the results of the MMGS showed that both guides could be improved in terms of general usability and quality of interaction. Challenges of conducting a study “in the wild” of a smartphone app in a cultural space are discussed.

Funding

Mohd Kamal Othman thanks the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia and University Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia for their financial support of this research.

Notes

¹ We will use the term “cultural space” to refer to the wide variety of spaces with cultural and historical significance that are open to visitors, for example, archaeological sites, art galleries, historic houses, museums, places of religious and spiritual importance, sculpture parks; this usage is somewhat broader than the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) term often used.

² We will refer to both audio and multimedia guides generically as “guides”, for simplicity.

Additional information

Funding

Mohd Kamal Othman thanks the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia and University Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia for their financial support of this research.

Notes on contributors

Helen Petrie

Helen Petrie is a Professor of human–computer interaction and Head of the human–computer interaction research group at the University of York. Her research is on user-centered design and evaluation of technologies, particularly for older and disabled people. She has an ACM Award for the social impact of her research.

Mohd Kamal Othman

Mohd Kamal Othman is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Cognitive Science at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. His research is on user-centered design and evaluation of technologies, particularly for cultural heritage sites.

Christopher Power

Christopher Power is a Lecturer in human–computer interaction at the University of York. His research is focused on reducing uncertainty in interactive systems, with a particular interest in digital cultural heritage. He works closely with users and has led several teams in understanding digital experiences in the heritage domain.