An Exploration of Various Evaluation Methods to Improve Usability of Museum Mobile Device

Abstract

Objective: This study aims towards exploring a model of the HCI evaluation methods to improve the usability of mobile device, based on a case of a Mobile PDA system in a Museum context. Background: Mobile PDA systems in a Museum context is widely utilized for the educational purposes, but it is criticized for low usability that the device only play a role in textbooks on legs without any interactive educational activities. Therefore, the usability improvements on the mobile PDA system should be considered. Method 1: This model was developed with a combination of the expert review and the user testing, and with a combination of the qualitative and quantitative studies. In more details, first of all, a qualitative study was conducted as a combination of three different methods: 1) expert review with heuristics, 2) interviews with persons working in a museum, and 3) contextual enquiry. Results 1: The experts review provided with critical usability issues, and the semi-constructive interview helped to understand the background of the mobile device. Lastly, the contextual enquiry showed user experience problems and directions of improving the device from user's perspective. Method 2: Based on the results of the qualitative study, a questionnaire was designed. Results 2: The analysis of the quantitative study was conducted to generalize the problems, and prioritize the direction of improving the device within the limitation of the cost and time in a museum. Conclusion: This study has implications in developing an example of a HCI evaluation model to improve the user experience of the mobile device as well as finding problems and directions of how to improve the mobile PDA systems in the museum. Application: In fact, most of the studies related to the evaluation of the mobile device have been conducted in a laboratory context due to the cost and time. This paper, however, attempted to apply to various HCI research techniques from different constituents in real context.