TrenTour
TrenTour is a mobile application which aims to improve the tourist experience in the Trentino region of Italy. I was responsible for a proof-of-concept case study with elementary school children as well as design and evaluation of pedagogical game elements. This was my Master's Thesis project.
 Device DistributionI accompanied the children on the field trip to the museum and explained how to use the application. |  App Use During Field StudyThe children and teachers used the application to document their trip to the Depero Museum. |
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 Interaction Among the KidsThe kids invented new ways to interact with each other using the application |  Data Analysis SummaryThis was part of a presentation explaining our design and data analysis processes that my group made to the other app-development teams on the project |
 Hi-Fi Prototype ModificationThis is the homepage of the application which I adapted that was originally made in my adviser's lab for University students to use for Life-Logging |  Qualitative Analysis TagsI used Grounded Analysis to analyze the photos the children took. I used NVIVO10 to tag the photos. This analysis formed the basis of my findings. |
 Focus of Photos in MuseumA chart I made from the tag breakdown used in the grounded analysis to describe the focus of the photos taken inside the museum |  Activities in Photos in MuseumA chart showing which activities were most photographed inside the museum by the children. |
 Participatory Design SessionDuring the Participatory Design brainstorming session I ran with the 19 children, I asked them to draw some futuristic tourism applications |  Design Studio FacilitationI ran a workshop with fellow designers to brainstorm ideas and then organized the ideas on a continuum considering feasibility and novelty for game-like aspects to add to the children's application. |
 Storyboard for User EvaluationI came up with four scenarios, and created cartoon-like storyboards using www.pixton.com. These were used for User Evaluation with the same class. The storyboards were based on the ideas from the observation of the children using the app at the museum, their brainstorming session, and the Designer's workshop. |
The Problem:
There is no one application that brings together the region in an accessible way to tourists. There are very few such applications which engage children as primary users. There is not much understanding of children as tourists and users of mobile applications with which to base these interactions on.
The Objective:
Needed to validate the concept that this application is relevant for children by exploring the design space between children’s behaviors, interactions, motivations and the context of tourism, mobile apps, and teaching about Trentino. Then I had to figure out how to introduce pedagogical game elements to the children’s part of the application. I needed to derive a list of design suggestions for creating such an application.
My Contribution:
- Organized class field trip
- Defined modifications to application prototype to suit children
- Prepared devices with children’s safety in mind
- Accompanied children on trip
- Took field notes
- Gathered direct feedback
- Analyzed the data using grounded analysis and NVIVO10
- Used participatory design techniques with children
- Conducted a children’s brainstorming session
- Organized, created, and conducted a designer workshop
- Created storyboards to present scenarios to children
- Ran User Evaluations with the children through small focus groups