Sketch for the dialogue

The thought of helping creating a dialogue seems to be a very strong idea. As I saw in the initial field research, people journey through the Zoo in constant dialogue. But I often found that the dialogue was left with a lot of open and unanswered questions. It is therefore obvious to me that some kind of means to substantiate and validate the dialogue is a big need.

attack plan

If I wish to arrive here: How may I “through dialogue and interpersonal interaction help guests observe, relate to and learn about the animals in the Zoo.” What then do I have to do in order to get there?

My starting point is this:
Focus: dialogue, knowledge sharing and narrative environments.
Context: the Zoo.
What it could be:  a handheld tactile device, networked objects, an interactive book, a kiosk, an exhibition, an exhibition in the exhibition, a piece of mobile software, a service design project… This depends on my findings in the development phase. I want to start with the context, state the problem and from that create solution/s. In other words, I will try to do what needs to be done to create a dialogue and really broaden out peoples visit to the Zoo.

Field research:
Going to the zoo a lot, shadowing people, observing and registering visitors use of the zoo, getting inspired with my sketchbook, talking to Zoo keepers, talking to researchers at the Zoo.

Desk research:
Narratives in spaces, kinesthetic/tactile learning, cognitive learning, tangible visuality, how other Zoo’s offer knowledge and contextualize, studies on observing.

Experience prototyping:
Since my focus is enforcing the dialogue already happening between visitors, I wish to test and iterate my ideas with different user groups of different family structures. I have three lined up right now: 1. mum and dad with two boys 7 and 10 years old. 2. a dad with his 3 year old son, 3. a grandmother a mother and two girls 7 and 10 years of age.

Concept ideas – knowledge/context path

Since the Zoo has a very rich context to work from, there are many possible paths to follow. One path is the opportunity to exchange knowledge about the animals and everything related to them. I am thinking of this to be very layered, meaning that the tip of the iceberg of the knowledge could be offered to you up front, and to get to know more, you will have to dig a little deeper.

A brainstorm about all the different topics and contexts that you could be asking yourself about in the Zoo:

Mission statement

Defining my mission statement, my “Northern Star” is as cruzial as important. With this in mind, I know what to steer at. And it shouldn’t change through the process, I guess. It is not so easy to put into one sentence!

How may I: “Through dialogue and interpersonal interaction help guests observe, experience, relate to and learn about the animals in the Zoo”

Summarizing the Zoo visit

The Zoo is a place for everybody. Kids, parents, teenagers, lovers, grandparents, schools – a lot of different constellations and interest points. Apart from a few elderly people just hanging out, the majority were there with someone else in a typical set of parents/kids, grandparents/kids grouping. School outings also seemed to be popular.

There was a constant dialogue between the visitors. Dialogue with a total focus on what they saw and experienced. There seemed to be a great interest to share and get knowledge. Though, I overheard many more unanswered questions and unmet thoughts than the opposite. Do the grown-ups wish they were able to explain better? Do the kids feel heard? And what about the knowledge the kids have?

Having said that, I also think that going to the Zoo is not all about learning about the animals, it’s also very much about the dialogue and contact between the visitors. If your granddad tells you some crazy story about some exotic animal, in my book, that would be awesome too. It doesn’t need to be correct, but if you want it to be, it should be easy to access the knowledge.

With these conclusions, focusing on interaction between the visitors seem obvious.