Engaging the public with mixed reality artefacts
An EC-funded project, SHAPE (Situating hybrid assemblies in public environments) is devoted to developing and evaluating groups of hybrid, mixed reality artefacts in public places. Hybrid artefacts can combine to form room-sized assemblies that provide groups of people with a rich sensory experience of a large-scale mixed reality. These assemblies can be deployed in public spaces such as museums to create new kinds of engaging and educational social experience. The methods employed by visitors as they interact with exhibited artefacts and each other were analysed. Additionally, a design framework for informing the development of hybrid digital-physical artefacts was produced based on empirical analysis. The craftworks facilitated naturalistic analyses of the ways in which people encounter, explore and appreciate them. They also allowed for opportunities to use the studies of visitor behaviour to alter the design of low tech installations that aimed to bring forth interaction amongst visitors. These were then exhibited and used by members of the public. In addition to their public display, analyses of the use of these exhibits have been presented at numerous conferences and workshops.
