Signage Observations

Methods

I set up a sign at the Makey Makey and then sat at the center table where I wrote observations on my laptop.  I positioned myself so that I could follow the guests gaze. I wanted to see if they were looking at the signage while being able to hear any conversation.  All ages are approximate. I left the “Circuitry Station” sign on the wall above and to the right of the Makey Makey. My signs were all placed right in the center of the activity.

Observations

Sign One - Pictograph

• Boy 9, looks back and forth between sign and materials. Starts touching the materials, then moves to the computer.  Clicks around on computer as mom and little brother approach. Mom walks away after a few seconds, but little brother continues to watch for another minute until they both leave.

• Man 20s, stops a few feet away.  Looks at sign with hands in pockets.  Scans set up and walks away.

• Girl 4, sits on chair and touches materials, then leaves
• Mom approaches and reads “Circuitry Station” sign out loud.  Dad interrupts, “Oh this is the program I was talking about.”  Boy 10, sits. Dad looks at materials and starts explaining. “So this is like your power, and these will be your controls.  You gotta put your finger here.” The boy starts touching the materials and makes the program move. Boy says, “I’m gonna try doing that again.”  Mom watches silently. Dad manipulates Scratch. Dad asks for help from Spark, “How would we get a blank canvas?” Spark shows them how by clicking computer and says, “So you can test out what each of these does. What happens when you touch the cd?  Are cds conductive?” Spark walks away. Dad says, “So you can see if these things are conductive.” Dad sets up a plastic spoon. Mom points at stop motion and whispers in the boy’s ear. Boy says, “I wanna try it.” They walk away, dad still looking at Makey Makey.
• Girl, 7 walks up and says, “What is this?”  Clicks on the computer. Mom comes and sits next to the daughter.  She tries clicking the keyboard a few times and then looks away.

Sign Two - “Getting Started with Makey Makey and Scratch”

• Mom aproaches and points at MM.  While pointing she says, “Circuits”.  As daughter approaches she starts reading aloud from sign, Trying to sound out, “Mackey... macky makey - look a circuit board.”  Mom starts reading directions aloud, “Plug in to computer, which it is...“ She closes the web browser, girl walks away as she tries to go to Scratch again.
• Girl 12, approaches with her eyes on screen.  She unlugs and plugs the makey makey then taps on the materials.  Walks away. 10 seconds.

• Mom stops, looks at the screen, sign, materials.  Scans over them three times, then walks away. 5 seconds.

• Boy 12, sits at computer.  Navigates to Super Mario Brothers on Scratch like he’s done it before.  Starts playing the game with keyboard. Ignores MM. Mom comes up behind and says, “Oh awesome.” She walks away. Boy loses and walks away.  Another boy 11 approaches, looking at game, and then starts touching materials. He starts experimenting with touching the MM, makes the sprite move and die.  He says, “Oh!” Realizing the MM controls the computer. He plays with board for several minutes, unplugging and clipping different materials. A third boy sits and starts playing the game with the keyboard.  The second boy keeps playing with the materials without looking at the screen. Nobody looks at the sign during whole interaction
• Mom approaches and frowns.  Walks away.

Sign Three - “How it Works”

• Dad approaches with son, 5.  Dad reads the sign aloud as the son plays with materials.
• Boy approaches 9 with grandma.  The laptop is closed. He points and says, “I know this.”  Then he turns and walks away, while saying, “There’s different options.”
• Two sisters walk in 10 and 12, walk up to MM.  One says, “How do we do this?” Spark interrupts and says, “Welcome…”
• Mom stops and leans on the table, reads the whole sign.  Then leaves.
• Dad approaches with daughter 7, observes MM for a few seconds and then says, “I don’t think this is…”  Then he guides the daughter away.
• Couple in their 20s approaches.  Girl sits and says, “Oh this is programming.”  She picks up a piece of tinfoil and starts reading sign.  The guy walks away. Girl starts clicking on sprites in Scratch.  Guy comes back and sits. He looks at sign but doesn’t seem to read.  He starts pressing materials. They realize that the MM can move the sprites.  “It’s making it move.” They keep touching, but have trouble making the sprite move intentionally.  “This one is space, so….” The sign is right in front of them but they don’t look to it for information. The girl takes the lead in developing a system to figure out which one is which.  She says, “Ah that’s cool.” Then goes back to using the keyboard. “How do you change the color?”

Simple Analysis

Most people spent less than a minute at the Makey Makey, regardless of which sign was up.  Interactions would generally end after some brief touching of materials. Maybe because they didn’t get an immediate response.  Maybe because the set up is intimidating. Adults spent a little longer on the signs that required more reading, but only enough time to read - not more time interacting.  The group that spent the most time was guided by the mom reading the sign and the dad who seemed to have prior experience. The parents directed the activity in this interaction.  Ultimately, the signs seemed to have no corollary effect on time spent or depth of complexity achieved.

It also seemed like there were a lot of visual distractions that made the signage an afterthought.  Most people either approached the materials or the computer screen. I noticed that kids would beeline to the screen.  Maybe they had a experience with Scratch or are just attracted to screens. They would also just start touching the materials.  Few seemed to use the signage for help or direction. The signs were most obviously attended to by adults who would go to them with intentionality, often reading them aloud.

Challenges

It was hard to tell whether the signage was having any impact at all.  It would be interesting to put the MM away in between each use, which would probably direct the user to follow directions on a sign if they were out.  I could then compare this to how people approached the MM with no signage.

It was also such a small sample.  Obviously, it would be nice to do a more in-depth study with video and interviews.  I wonder what this kind of informal study has on me as an observer. I felt like I was falling into my own confirmation bias.  For example, I predicted that adults would stay to read the wordier signs and that’s what I saw. Maybe if I left the signs up longer and looked more closely, I would find something surprising.