Work-in-Progress—Visitor Onboarding for On-Site Mixed Reality Experiences in Museums: Learnings from Curators, Designers, Researchers and Artists

Abstract

A growing body of research highlights the positive impact of Mixed Reality (MR) experiences in museum settings on visitor engagement. However, MR has not yet seen widespread adoption in museums, and user experience (UX) design of such experiences remains a crucial concern. Moreover, as a relatively new media form, most visitors need to become more familiar with MR and need onboarding assistance. Additionally, museum visitors have a low threshold for investing time in learning new interfaces to experience the narrative. While individual MR projects have tackled this issue, there is a lack of research incorporating professionals’ perspectives in designing and planning MR exhibits in museums. This work-in-progress paper presents findings through thematic coding of semi-structured interviews of professionals who work with MR and identify as curators, designers, researchers, and artists. The results are divided into three parts. The first part looks at the need for onboarding flows in MR experiences in museums. The second part highlights common approaches to effective visitor onboarding for MR exhibits. The findings emphasise the need to create MR experiences that need minimal onboarding. The third part describes the types of MR experiences in museums that require minimal onboarding. The findings indicate a preference for designing experiences that respond to the spatial context, are well embedded in the museum’s physical space, and employ familiar interaction design due to the ability of such experiences to quickly onboard novice visitors.