TEAM MEMBERS: EILEEN RIVERA, DENNIS AKSEL
ROLE: FRONT END WEB DEVELOPER, DESIGNER, CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT, DOCUMENTATION
COURSE: DIGITAL HUMANITIES
ArtPath is a mobile web application I created as part of a group for a Digital Humanities Course at MIT.
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
It is difficult to share a museum experience with other individuals, which can make museum visits seem unapproachable or isolating to some.
SOLUTION:
Create a social platform on a mobile web app that lets all people create and share the physical path on they took through a museum, annotating points of importance. Others can then choose to follow a pre-existing path or create a new museum experience based off the experiences of others.
CONCEPT OVERVIEW:
The museum experience is often something quite personal and unique. The way in which a visitor perceives the presented information, or the things that catch his/her attention depend strongly on the person’s own interests and perspective. This in turn defines the paths a visitor might take in a large museum consisting of multiple wings and galleries.
However revisiting a familiar museum with a fellow visitor might often unlock information that is previously unnoticed. One gets to appreciate the presented material under another person’s spotlight. Often times this new perspective can manifest itself in literal new paths through the museums galleries, focusing on exhibitions that one might have overlooked or skimmed otherwise. This implies that a social museum experience can often act as an reinforcement to one's perception of a museum.
It was the idea of making this social experience available to a widespread audience that inspired us to develop our web application, ArtPath. With ArtPath, we hope to create a platform that allows museum-goers to plan their museum trips by viewing and rating current exhibits, and then draw out their literal paths through a museum, leaving annotations describing their perception of the museum as they roam around. Whether this is the experience of an educated expert, exploring a specific theme in the museum, or of a creative newcomer, generating original connections between exhibitions, ArtPath hopes to offer a variety of perspectives to visitors. This variety allows visitors to either augment their first experience with guidance or virtual company, or to rediscover a museum with a fresh perspective. Furthermore, the benefits of ArtPath are twofold and cyclical: users generate and share narratives through paths and exhibit recommendations, and in turn those at museums can use this information to curate and host more successful exhibitions.
ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES:
ArtPath is a web-based mobile site, that utilizes an imported JQuery library to enhance the user experience. Additionally, we are using:
Map Maker: A sub-tool built for the Accessible Wayfinding Tool, to draw paths on an image. This is an open access tool and by implementing some alterations users can now draw their own paths and drop nodes on a superimposed image of the MFA.
Raphael.js: A javascript library that allows us to draw shapes. This was used to add the rotatable arrows to the nodes.
USER JOURNEY:
1. Since ArtPath is a web app, users can simply access it through their web browsers.
2. Once on the app, users will come across the homepage that has 4 tabs at the bottom: Home , Exhibits, View Paths and Upload Path
3. Tapping exhibits takes the user to a list of the current exhibits at the MFA. Users can toggle descriptions of these exhibits by taping the name. Tapping also opens the rating panel. Users can pick a rating from 1-3 stars, 3 being the most positive response, and hit submit to record their rating. This value gets incorporated into the average rating of the exhibit.
4. The View Paths tab leads the user to a list of recorded paths for the museum (in our case, just the MFA). The list is almost identical to the exhibit listing, where users can see names for paths. Tapping the name toggles a description and a rating option. The description panel also has information on the duration of the path, and the rating.
5. By picking a path and tapping Explore Path, the user can access the floor map with the dynamic path on it, zoomed in on the first node in the path.
6. The user can tap nodes to display the annotations affiliated with the nodes, and tap again to close them.
7. The users can return to the home page by hitting the back button on their browser.
8. By tapping the Upload Path tab, users activate the customized MapMaker tool.
9. Here, users can double tap to add a node, and hold. This automatically creates a line that extends from that node which the user can drag around.
10. By double tapping again, the user drops a second node.
11. By single-tapping a node, users can accesses the annotation tab, where they can type in an annotation via their keyboard. Users also access a knob that allows them to rotate the arrow in the node.
12. By double tapping a node again, users can extend the path.
13. Once they are done, users tap Submit Path. This leads them to a screen where they must enter the path name, a short description, and an estimate duration.