Interactive Digital Signs adding to Cotswold Water Park Experience

Summary

Benefits

• Four innovative means of delivering data from the interactive way marker sign to visitor's mobile phones
• Location specific multimedia content, for example Archaeology; Ecology and Arts
• In field qualitative evaluation of prototype focussing on the nature and perceptions on interactions with system
• Decluttering the natural park environment by providing a less intrusive alternative to traditional signage

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Conclusion

Participants in the evaluation study were enthusiastic about the potential offered by the new technologies they were using but were not prepared to make the significant investment of time, effort and perhaps expense necessary to make use of these new technologies if there was not a significant increase or improvement in the information that they had access to.

In terms of reducing barriers to entry, the system should demand as little as possible from the visitor's mobile phone equipment. Participants in this study certainly did not have the latest mobile technology in their possession. Neither did they enjoy navigating menus or scrolling through large sections of text. The use of audio as the main channel of transmission would have been very welcome within this group, removing the problems of screen glare and text size.

A less obvious barrier to entry concerns the way in which the infrastructure of a system integrates with its environment. All participants were concerned that whatever system might be installed, it must not detract from the environment in which it was situated. If it did, this would be sufficient cause for older users to resist engagement, vindicating the initial key design requirement to provide accessible information and interpretation while causing minimal disruption of the natural environment of the park.

In summary, the participants in this study were excited about the potential of mobile interactions to add to their visit, but were prevented from fully engaging with the technology by physical characteristics of, lack of familiarity with and attitudes towards mobile technology.

We achieved one of the primary aims of the prototype system which was to declutter the natural environment of the park by providing a less intrusive alternative to traditional signage. The evaluation participants felt that the posts "blended in and [were] not obtrusive", and that they were "very discrete and well placed". They confirmed the appropriateness of this aim, proposing that the park itself should always be the focus of any visit, and that any addition to it, no matter what the potential benefits, should not detract from the aesthetic or ecology of the park itself.

Of course, an interactive multimedia information system will be of value only if it at least functions as an effective replacement for the traditional signage. While our findings suggest some barriers to the adoption of mobile systems for information retrieval, at least amongst older users, it must be noted that a number of participants expressed the belief that increased familiarity with the system, especially familiarity with the particular mobile phone used, would probably mean a much improved experience for them.

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