Neighbor Wars: A smartphone app for museums

Risborg, Dennis

4. term

Medialogy, Master

2011

2011-05-31

55

This thesis explores how design principles from social network games and smartphone games can be applied to make museum visits more social and enjoyable, with the aim of attracting and retaining more visitors. Building on the widespread popularity of Facebook and mobile games and the challenge of declining museum attendance, it analyzes what makes these games engaging (including social interaction, reciprocity, shared experiences, short play sessions, customization, and sharing/publishing) and how such mechanics can be translated into the museum context. The work includes a problem analysis of Facebook and smartphone games, a review of existing museum solutions and target audiences, formulation of a problem statement, and development of the concept Neighbor Wars, a smartphone app designed for use in museums. The concept is advanced through multiple design iterations from low- to high-fidelity prototypes; the hi-fi prototype is implemented in App Inventor with necessary technical workarounds. The project plans and conducts user and expert evaluations to assess usability and engagement; results are summarized later in the thesis and are not provided in this excerpt. The contribution is a synthesis of insights from social and mobile games with the inherently social nature of museum visits to propose a more playful, group-oriented experience.

Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan designprincipper fra sociale netværksspil og smartphonespil kan anvendes til at gøre museumsbesøg mere sociale og underholdende med målet at tiltrække og fastholde flere besøgende. Med udgangspunkt i den store udbredelse af Facebook-spil og mobilspil samt museers udfordringer med faldende besøgstal analyseres, hvad der gør disse spil populære (bl.a. socialt samspil, gensidighed, fælles oplevelser, kortspilsessioner, tilpasning og deling/publishing), og hvordan disse mekanikker kan oversættes til museumsoplevelser. Arbejdet omfatter en problemanalyse af Facebook- og smartphonespil, en gennemgang af eksisterende museale løsninger og målgrupper, formulering af en problemstilling samt udvikling af konceptet Neighbor Wars, en smartphone-app målrettet museumsbrug. Konceptet udvikles gennem flere designiterationer fra lav- til høj-fidelitetsprototyper; den hi-fi prototype realiseres i App Inventor med nødvendige tekniske workarounds. Projektet planlægger og gennemfører bruger- og eksperttests for at vurdere brugbarhed og engagement; resultaterne sammenfattes senere i specialet og er ikke indeholdt i dette uddrag. Specialets bidrag er at kombinere indsigter fra sociale og mobile spil med museers sociale besøgssituation for at tilbyde en mere legende, gruppeorienteret oplevelse.

[This apstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]

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