Intrigue at the museum: a Tonic Minds case study proposed at IADIS Conference 2014 held in Madrid. A mobile game developed to enhance the museum experience of Palazzo Madama in Turin.

1. TonicMinds2014
INTRIGUE AT THE
MUSEUM
FACILITATING ENGAGEMENT AND LEARNING
THROUGH A LOCATION-BASED MOBILE GAME

2. TonicMinds2014
Summary
Mobile learning
Pervasive learning
Gamification
Intrigue at the Museum
Game mechanics
Task-based learning
Unobtrusive observations
Questionnaires
Usage statistics
Conclusions
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3. TonicMinds2014
A new museum experience
 Improving informal learning
◦ Context-awareness
◦ Pervasive learning
◦ Game elements in non-gaming systems
 Avoiding threats
◦ Isolation
◦ Distraction by technology
LearningMobile
Fun
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Mobile learning
“Mobile learning is a form of informal learning where the learner traverses
a physical context carrying a personal mobile device which provides learning
materials and activities” (Laine et al. 2010)
 Mobility is referred to :
◦ The technology
◦ The learner
 Museum as an exploration space
 Experience can be improved by:
◦ Knowledge of user’s position
◦ Personal and social context
◦ Social interaction
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Pervasive learning
 Pervasive computing :
◦ a network of interconnected, embedded computing
devices such as portable computers, wireless sensors,
auxiliary input/output devices and servers
 Pervasive learning :
◦ m-learning enhanced with intelligent environment
and context awareness (Laine)
 Museums are ideal informal m-learning
environments that can benefit of context-aware
technologies
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6. TonicMinds2014
Gamification
 Motivation
 Engagement
 Used widely in learning scenarios
“Children hate the taste of medicine, even though it
is, of course, good for them; so doctors often put it in
a cup the rim of which is covered in honey.”
Lucretius
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The location
 Palazzo Madama, Museo Civico di Arte Antica –
Turin, Italy.
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Palazzo Madama
• Established in 1863
• # of artworks: 70,000
• Surface: 4,000 sqm/4 floors
• Collections: 4th-18th century
• UNESCO-listed historic building
# of visitors per year:
200,000
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Intrigue at the Museum
 A single player game targeting kids aged 7-13
 Goal : find a thief in the museum among a set of
virtual characters
 To find the thief a vast part of the museum must
be explored freely ( no predefined path )
 The game aims at fostering positive engagement
in young museum visitors as a consequence of
an enjoyable experience
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10. TonicMinds2014
Game mechanics
1. Find a marker
2. Point at it ( localization )
3. Pay attention to the museum guards
4. Solve the mini games and achieve a
“clue card”
5. Try to find who the thief is
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Task-based learning
 Borrowed from foreign language
learning
 Three categories of tasks were
identified:
◦ Observation tasks
◦ Reasoning tasks
◦ Arcade tasks
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Evaluation
 30 young visitors were unobtruvsly observed
 Results:
◦ 83 % revealed one or more signals of general
engagement ( hunting tags, walking fast …)
56%24%
20%
Interaction with the
artworks
Engaged
Indifferent
Distracted
73%
27%
Peer interaction
Yes
No
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Questionnaires - Age of Participants
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Numberofparticipants
Age of participants (years)
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Questionnaires - II
55
51
32
30
23
21
6
4
3
2
2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Interested
Enjoying
Satisfied
Motivated
Enthusiast
Excited
Relaxed
Tired
Frustrated
Bored
Demotivated
Number of occurrences
Adjectives describing players' feelings
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Questionnaires - III
50
48
36
11
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Games
Tag-hunting
Finding the suspect
Cultural content
Number of occurrences
The most appreciated elements
of the game
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Questionnaires - IV
23%
46%
31%
Young visitors mainly played...
By themselves
With adult companions
With peers
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Usage statistics - Time spent playing
 ~ 130 visits analyzed
 Data was collected anonymously
 Almost 66% of the visits last more
then 50 minutes
47
82
< 50 min
> 50 min
0
5
10
15
20
25
Occurences
Game duration in minutes
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Tasks Success rates
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Observation Arcade Reasoning
Task type
Total
Easy
Difficult
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Conclusions & Future work
 Location based mobile games may represent a
valuable m-learning resource
 The game produced enjoyable explorations of the
museum
 Cultural content should be more integrated in
the game mechanics, in order to maximize the
informal learning young visitors are exposed to
 Measures on acquisition of factual knowledge
 Craft a reacting application that adapts to it’s user
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Contacts
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info@tonicminds.com
www.tonicminds.com