Ethnography (Master's Thesis)
As my Master’s Thesis project, I created a plan for a mobile application that 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.
The Problem:
Currently, no single application exists that brings together the entire Trentino region in an accessible way to tourists. Very few tourism applications engage children as primary users. Children as tourists, and users of mobile applications, are not well-understood concepts.
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. I then determined how to introduce pedagogical game elements that may appeal to children and encourage learning. I derived a list of design suggestions for creating such an application.
The children and teachers used the application to document their trip to the Depero Museum.
My Contribution:
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Organized class field trip
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Defined modifications to application prototype to suit children
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Prepared devices with children’s safety in mind
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Took field notes and gathered direct feedback
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Analyzed the data using grounded analysis and NVIVO10
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Used participatory design techniques
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Analyzed the data using grounded analysis
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Conducted a brainstorming session
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Organized, created, and conducted a designer workshop
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Created storyboards to present scenarios to children
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Ran User Evaluations through small focus groups
 Device DistributionI accompanied the children on the field trip to the museum and explained how to use the application. |  Kids interactingThe children found ways to play and interact using the app. This taught me that we needed to introduce play and gamification in the next version. |  Data Analysis SummaryA visual aid to explain the design and data analysis processes that my group added to the other app-development teams on the project |
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 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. |