Research on 'Quality' in Online Experiences for Museum Users

Measuring Quality of Existing Online Museum Products in the Virtual Museum Portal

In-Depth Site Analysis for a Sample of Five VMC Products

Butterflies North and South

Figure 9: Butterflies

Subject:
Allows users to identify butterflies and moths. Teaches how to watch, attract butterflies and protect butterfly habitat and offers links to find out more.

Producer, Creators, Funders:
A consortium of museums (Canadian Museum of Nature: Insectarium de Montréal; Museo La Salle in Peru; Royal Alberta Museum; Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History), Canada-Peru partnership.

Quality of User Experience

• Lots of content, which is directed and useful for identification of utterflies.
• Appeals to both teachers and students; this site can be used as a teaching aid to complement these activities.
• Uses QuickTime.

Potential for User Engagement

• Design of this site is very good by 1999 standards.
• Clear navigation and organizational structure.
• Site appeals to a broader audience but still delivers specific and detailed information.
• Large number of species presented.

Engagement Factor vs. Engagement Experience

• Great depth of information, logically presented will keep people on site longer.
• Subject matter has a broad appeal beyond the museological experience (i.e., to gardeners, hobbyists, conservation / wildlife enthusiasts, Butterfly Conservatories internationally, etc.).

Factors that Contributed to Higher Quality in Online User Experiences

• Butterflies North and South is an exhibit that helps users easily and quickly identify butterflies and moths through images in the Galleries on the site. There is specific and detailed information about the large number of species presented.
• A user-focused development included interviewing visitors at one of the partner's physical museums; this was important for identifying user interests about butterflies. As a result of user testing, the need for a partner was identified to supply colourful images of butterfly photographs (i.e., Museo La Salle in Peru).
• Information-based games have been highly featured, allowing the opportunity for user interaction, and educational content.
• Featuring including a Butterfly Discover Page and a 'canned search' related to butterflies has increased the number of links to the site. The research team found 117 unique references to the site from a wide range of international institutions.
• Feedback messages indicate that users are impressed with the beauty of the site, find it appealing visually, and plan to add it to a favourites list or a starting page on butterflies.

Framework for Creation, Development, and Production

The Butterflies project was heavily partner-driven. Each partner contributed to every section, thus effectively focusing development on the content. Launched in 1998, it was managed by Ananas Productions. Created and produced by a consortium of museums, an effort was made to make use of the strength of each partner.

Strategies for Engaging Online User

This site was designed in a manner that users can quickly and easily identify butterflies and moths outdoors, get the information they need, and then leave the site. Developed in 3 languages, images were made at a size to be easily identifiable, and organized by Habitat, Families, and Colour. The two strongest sections were the Gallery and the Teachers' Centre.

Challenges

Every partner working on Butterflies North and South wanted to provide content (to the extent that each had enough material for an entire Virtual Exhibit on its own). Because extra content was added during the development, there were unanticipated translation costs for the 3 language versions for the site. An additional challenge was having Interns working at different institutions (i.e., the Royal Alberta Museum, Insectarium de Montréal, Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, and the multimedia company in Montreal), and sending them to Peru.

Successes

The development team actively worked from the users' perspective, trying to be specific about what the user might try to do on the site, why they were coming, and what information they might want. The Gallery sections help users to identify butterflies they find in the outdoors very clearly and effectively. Everyone worked very well in the partnerships and great Interns worked on the project. A fair amount of traffic comes from the Spanish version, which was added because of the Peruvian partner in the project.

Use of Learning

The launch for Butterflies North and South was at the Insectarium de Montréal at the same time as the opening of a butterfly aviary. There may have been a computer section set up in one of the exhibit's rooms.

User Testing

The Royal Alberta Museum had conducted audience testing related to butterflies prior to developing the site. The research indicated that visitors wanted to see local species of insects from their backyard. Not realizing that they would not see more exotic looking, brightly coloured butterflies in their backyard, users commented that seeing a bunch of brown insects was boring. As a result, a new partner (Museo La Salle in Peru) was brought on the project to add more stimulating butterflies to the Web site.

Feedback Messages

Patterns in overall messages during 2002: (highest number of messages in the sample)

• Very appealing visually, and excellently displayed information and images.
• Requests for online photos and printable version of butterflies.