Supporting group interactions in museum visiting

• DOI: 10.1145/2531602.2531619
• Publication Date: 2014-02-07T09:23:08Z
• Authors: Peter Tolmie; Steve Benford; Chris Greenhalgh; Tom Rodden; Stuart Reeves
• Keywords: Computer-supported cooperative work; Digging

Ethnographic study in two contrasting museums highlights a widespread but rarely documented challenge for CSCW design. Visitors' engagement with exhibits often ends prematurely due to the need keep up or attend fellow group members. We unpack mechanics of these kinds phenomena revealing how behaviours summoning, pressurizing, herding, sidelining, and rounding up, lead responses following, skimming digging in. show problem is especially challenging where young children are involved. As an initial prompt we explore ways which could help address this challenge: enabling more fluid association between information exhibits; helping reconfigure social nature visiting.