Assignment #4, Day 4 PM Session

Technology and the Tourist

This assignment will take the entire afternoon at the National Zoo. Be careful to monitor your time and finish all the assigned pieces so you can analyze the experience properly. You have spent the morning looking at one area of the Zoo’s website, creating a realistic (possibly over-informed?) opinion of what you’ll see. Now it is time to “be the visitor” and see what matches up, and doesn’t, between an institution’s image and its reality.

1) First ninety minutes: Go to the area you examined online this morning. As you enter the exhibit, what is presented? Graphics? Photography? Do you see anything familiar from the website? Are the exhibit areas accurate to your constructed memory? Keep track of specifics here; what is and is not portrayed truthfully in your mind. Also examine the exhibit holistically—does it work? What about the space, graphics, animal display, is powerful to you? Are there places that could connect to (or alienate) certain types of visitors? Remember to make note of what kind of visitor you’ve positioned yourself as for the afternoon.

2) Thirty minute break: Finish your notes and return to the Panda Café for a quick debriefing and notes check with other students. Now is the time to eat, drink, and visit restrooms, which of course could play into your impressions of the site and site analysis, depending on the message of the space.

3) Final ninety minutes: Return to the original exhibit area you were assigned to. Now, you are in the role of a zoo researcher, not visitor. Seek out visitors (not classmates) and ask if you may interview them briefly. Find out what visitor expectations are for the exhibit and ask what resources the visitors have used to access the exhibit (brochure, map, internet visit, word-of-mouth). Are there types of information they wish they had? Do a few non-invasive observations as well, studying how graphics and information are used and processed by visitors. Note incidences of hyper-reading, scanning, and other practices we discussed in lectures.