Comparison and valuation of experiences - PG02 Cycle 3 (22 Jan 2013)

Comparison and valuation of experiences:

Venue	Technology	General atmosphere	Visitor interaction level
NMM Voyagers Exhibition, Greenwich, London	A long rectangular room with angular sculpture with projected light showing waves of information. Compass cards allow visitors to collect experiences of collections.	There is a constant rising and falling soundscape of waves, and most visitors walk around the space quietly and carefully. Only certain places encourage the idea of touch, and there are no barriers.	Visitors tend to walk around the space in a contemplative way, watching the visuals and then speaking with each either closely or after returning to the main hall. The space is not playful like WebLabs and so does not generate as much excitement.
Science Museum, Web Labs, South Kensington, London	A large basement room with experiments consisting of Cameras, Sand drawing tools, Automated musical instruments, touchscreens and projections.	The room has a loud sonic atmosphere from the soundtrack of the percussive instruments. Visitors are more chatty and as the space has an industrial feel people walk in any direction as there is a lot of space around the exhibits and almost anything can be touched within the barriers.	Visitors huddle around the touchscreen kiosks and talk over the soundtrack closely with each other. The sound is not too loud so people can still communicate with each other within the space. People appear to be excited by the idea of playful machines in the space and opportunities to interact with the experiments.
Rain Room, The Curve, Barbican, London	A curved tall theatrical space, with a overhead grid of sensors that dispense rain according to people’s positions that falls onto a grid of plastic that channels the rainfall, with positioned bright lights in the corners of the space.	The room at first is quiet with a faint sound of rain, that increases in volume as the visitor arrives at the installation. People watch nervously at first then walk through the piece.	Visitors consist of two main groups of observers and participants. The participants are careful to walk around, yet at the same time have a lot of free movement. Although the space is not playful, the experience builds excitement and a sense of euphoria near to the bright light, and when the visitors exit the space, they can easily share their emotions about the experience.