Scott Sisters Evaluation Report - FINAL sis… · Comparison with Rituals of Seduction: Birds of...

Australian Museum: Tracking Study – Beauty from Nature: art of the Scott sisters 1

Australian MuseumBeauty from Nature: art of the Scott sisters Evaluation Report Chris Lang November 2011

Table of Contents

> Introduction 3

> Exhibition floorplan 4

> Exit Survey Results 5

> Tracking Methodology 11

> Time spent in the exhibition 12

> Levels of engagement 13

> Average engagement by demographic 14

> Most engaging areas 15

> Least engaging areas 16

> Appendix 1. Sample tracking forms 17

2. Intern observations 23

Introduction Beauty from Nature: art of the Scott sisters was an exhibition that ran from 3 September to 27 November 2011. It was the first exhibition to be held in the newly constructed Gallery 2 on the ground floor.

The exhibition consisted of material from Archives consisting of original entomological and botanical illustrations and handwritten notes produced in the 19th century by Harriet and Helena Scott alongside entomological specimens, and presented the sisters’ achievements during this time.

This document reports on face to face exit surveys conducted from 30 September 30 to 14 October and tracking studies undertaken between 13 October and 27 October 2011.

Comparison with Rituals of Seduction: Birds of Paradise The demographics of people surveyed for Scott sisters were very different to Birds of Paradise. 78% of those surveyed for Scott sisters were women, whereas Birds of Paradise had a fairly equal proportion of men and women surveyed. Scott sisters appealed to a narrower age range compared to Birds of Paradise (3.0 for Scott sisters compared to 4.4 for Birds of Paradise). Scott sisters had a significantly older visitor age profile when compared to Birds of Paradise; 54% of visitors were aged over 50 compared to 27% in Birds of Paradise. People were also more likely to visit Scott sisters by themselves (26%) than Birds of Paradise (12%). Far more people came to specifically see the Scott sisters exhibition (42%) than Birds of Paradise (8%). Interest in art, nature, and scientific illustrations played a large part in why people visited the Scott sisters exhibition. Far more people recalled hearing about Scott sisters through SMH (21%) than with Birds of Paradise (3%). Likewise with hearing about the exhibition from friends/families/other people (17% for Scott sisters, 3% for Birds of Paradise) The aspects people most liked in Scott sisters were the illustrations themselves, followed by the story of the sisters. The least liked aspects of Scott sisters was the lighting (too dark) and the videos’ sound not being loud enough (sound quality was rated slightly lower in Scott sisters (3.9) than Birds of Paradise (4.3), but this may also be related to an older age profile). People were more familiar with the content presented in Scott sisters (rating 3.2 out of 5) than Birds of Paradise (2.6 out of 5).

Exhibition floorplan

Exit Survey Results 150 face to face surveys were conducted throughout October 2011 of visitors who had just exited the Beauty from Nature: Art of the Scott sisters exhibition. RESPONSES What was your main reason for visiting the Museum? 42% to see the Scott Sisters exhibition 23% general visit 15% tourist destination 11% school holidays 3% recommended by others What was your main reason for visiting this exhibition? 25% in the area/part of museum visit 18% artistic interest 14% interest in scientific/botanical drawings/illustrations/paintings 14% interest in nature/wildlife (botany/entomology) 11% professional/hobby interest (artist/biologist/historian) 6% historical interest 5% friend suggested/recommended it/word of mouth 4% checking it out for family (grandchildren/wives/aunt/kids) 4% prior knowledge of the Scott sisters (eg, in media/books) 4% local interest/from the area 4% marketing image/brochure 4% visual appeal 4% curiosity Where do you recall seeing or hearing about the exhibition before your visit today? 31% none 21% Sydney Morning Herald 17% friends/families/other people 9% internet 9% billboard/sign outside 5% AM What’s On / Your Events brochure Would you recommend this exhibition to others? 91% Yes (this rose to 99% for ages 50+) 3% No 4% Unsure

Levels of Satisfaction (scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being very satisfied) 4.7 I learned things about Scott sisters that I didn’t know before 4.5 The marketing image accurately represented the content of the exhibition 4.4 The exhibition was physically comfortable 4.4 The atmosphere/feeling/ambience of the exhibition was just right 4.3 I could see everything I wanted to see 4.1 The exhibition had a logical flow 4.1 The video and sound in the exhibition contributed well to the exhibition 3.9 I could hear everything I wanted to hear 3.9 Lighting in the exhibition was at appropriate levels 3.3 I could easily find the gallery for this exhibition (signage / wayfinding) 3.2 The information in the exhibition was all very familiar to me 3.0 There is something for all ages in the exhibition What ONE aspect of the exhibition did you MOST like? 47% illustrations/artworks/paintings/drawings (detail/skill/beauty/colours/quality) 16% story of the women (info on their lives/status/feminist aspect/passion for nature) 10% video/audiovisuals 8% extensive nature / composition (art+science/able to compare specimens against illustrations) 5% seeing original artworks/documents 5% particular display/artwork(s)/specimen 5% calming atmosphere/presentation/layout 4% talent & skill of the Scott sisters 3% personal or local relevance (history/area/species) 3% documenting environmental restoration 3% descriptions/text 3% all great What ONE aspect of the exhibition did you LEAST like? 41% none/nothing/no comment/not sure 13% lighting (too dark) 8% audio not loud enough 8% noisy children 6% text (illogical flow/want summary of lives/difficult to follow/wants common names/geographical

info 3% lack of seating 3% audiovisuals 3% large video screen 3% too heavy on content/found it repetitive/want more variety 3% not appropriate for kids

A group of people from the Museum developed this exhibition. What do you think was the main message/idea they were trying to convey? 23% story/skill/talent/work/achievements of the Scott sisters 17% none/no response/not sure/don’t know 13% women in history 12% conservation/restoration (ecological) 11% importance of science/research/collections/transferring knowledge 9% beauty of nature/butterflies 6% displaying part of the Museum’s collection 6% conservation/restoration (of artworks/documents) 6% history 5% art 3% to show Australian species

Do you have any other comments about the exhibition in general? 43% None / no response / not sure 29% Positive comment about exhibition/presentation (great / good work / well done / enjoyable /

interesting, etc) 5% Wants more biographical info on the sisters / wants to see if there is a continued course of text

about their lives 3% Didn't know what the big video was about (is it Ash Island?) 3% Improve displays/ lighting (displays too high to see/magnifying glasses would be great/lighting) 3% Not suited to kids 2% Needs more publicity (more people should know about it/needs more advertising to adult

audiences) 1% Wants more merchandise 1% Wants to know how to visit Ash Island 1% Wants better sound for the videos 1% Wants more video 1% Only comes to stuff with paintings & drawings, not natural history stuff 1% Importance to history & feminism 1% Lack of context is difficult for foreign visitors 1% Could be bigger 17% Other Would you be interested in exploring this topic, or any of our content online? 55% No 45% Yes If so, how? 53% Australian Museum website – this rose to 69% among over 50s 3% social media (Facebook, Twitter etc) 49% other (google, Wikipedia etc)

EXIT SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS Age 3% Under 18 8% 18-24 13% 25-34 21% 35-49 22% 50-64 31% 65+ Gender 78% Female 22% Male Who did you visit with today? 39% with family 26% by yourself 17% with friends 15% with spouse/partner What is the highest educational level you have attained to date? 2% Primary School 15% High School 15% Technical College 37% University – Undergraduate 27% University – Postgraduate What is your approximate annual income? 8% Under $25,000 15% $25,000 - $49,999 17% $50,000 - $74,999 11% $75,000 - $99,999 7% $100,000 - $149,999 5% $150,000 - $199,999 5% $200,000 and over 32% Not answered In which country were you born? (all) 65% Australia 11% UK 7% North America 3% Germany 3% Africa / South America / Pacific 1% New Zealand 1% France 2% not stated

In which country do you live? (all) 81% Australia 5% UK 5% North America 5% Other Europe 2% France 1% New Zealand Where do you live? (Australian residents) 85% NSW 7% VIC 2% QLD 2% SA 3% WA 2% not stated Where do you live? (NSW residents) 59% Sydney 39% elsewhere Are you of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin? (if born in Australia) 96% no 4% not stated

MUSEUM VISITATION For how long have you been wanting to visit the Australian Museum? 46% less than one week 39% more than a week but less than 3 months 3% more than 3 months but less than 6 months 9% more than 6 months When did you decide to visit the Museum? 48% today 21% yesterday 24% during the week 7% other Have you ever visited the Australian Museum before? 70% Yes 27% No If yes, how long is it since your last visit to the Museum? 30% Less than 12 months 24% 1 year or more, less than 2 years 13% 2 years or more, less than 5 years 16% 5 years or more, less than 10 years 15% 10 years or more How many times have you visited the Museum in the last 12 months, not counting your visit today? 28% 1 19% 2 19% 3 6% 4 3% 5 6% 6 12% 7 or more 6% not stated Would you be likely to visit the Australian Museum in the next 12 months? 56% Yes - this rose to 86% among females, and to 92% in over 50s. 21% No 22% Unsure Did you use the Museum’s website to plan your visit? 79% No 18% Yes Are you an Australian Museum Member? 92% No 6% Yes If no, are you aware of the existence of AMM? 54% Yes 39% No

Tracking Methodology 50 tracking studies were made over the period from October 13th to October 27th 2011, between 10:30am and 5:00pm. Observations were carried out by Irene Rubino, an intern for the Audience Research unit, using an iPad to trace the routes taken by visitors and notes on how they engage with various display areas.

Visitors were classified as being an adult, teenager or child, and whether they came alone, with friends, as a couple, as a family, or a school group.

The observed behaviour of visitors at each area in the exhibition was divided into the following categories:

Engage (E) Visitor is clearly active and intently reads or uses exhibit

Attend (A) Visitor stops at exhibit with both feet still for at least two seconds

Skim (S) Visitor looks briefly at exhibit details but does not stop to attend

Ignore (I) Visitor passes within two meters of exhibit but fails to attend or skim

General tracking observations:

• 90% of those tracked were adults

• 4% of those tracked were teenagers

• 6% of those tracked were children

• 33% of those tracked were visiting the exhibition by themselves

• 33% of those tracked were part of a couple

• 16% of those tracked were part of a family

• 10% of those tracked were in a group of friends

• 8% of those tracked were visiting as a school group

Time spent in the exhibition Time spent in exhibition (% of visitors observed) 0-5 minutes 48% 6-10 minutes 15% 11-15 minutes 13% 16-30 minutes 10% 31-60 minutes 12% 61+ minutes 2% Minimum amount of time spent in the exhibition was 1 minute Maximum amount of time spent in the exhibition was 82 minutes The average amount of time spent in the exhibition was 12 minutes Average amount of time for males: 6 minutes Average amount of time for females: 19 minutes The matrix below shows the average amount of time in minutes spent by age and group type, where data is present.

Adult Teen Child ALL

Alone 8 * * 8 Friends 14 * * 14 Couple 18 * * 18 Family 4 * * 6 School * * * 21 ALL 13 4 8 12

Adults who came as a couple spent the most time in the exhibition, with average of 18 minutes. Teens and adults with families spent the least amount of time in the exhibition, averaging 4 minutes. * Note that not enough teenagers or children were observed to get an average for each group type.

Levels of engagement The degrees of engagement (Engage, Attend, Skim, Ignore) were quantified on a scale of 1 to 4 so that the average level of engagement for each area and for each demographic could be calculated. An average of 4 would mean that all those observed engaged with that particular section, while a rating of 1 would mean that everybody ignored it.

The tracking sheets at the end of this report show the location of each area within the exhibition. A floorplan of the exhibition is overleaf.

The table below shows the average engagement for all observed visitors in each area, and the number of times each of the behaviours was observed:

Area Description E A S I Average

Engagement 1 Introductory illustrations 9 8 16 19 2.13 2 Title panel 5 6 13 28 1.77 3 A rare and fine record 8 8 12 24 2.00 4 The Scott Lepidoptera collection 7 13 9 12 2.37 5 Edward Ramsay and Alexander Scott 3 8 8 27 1.72 6 A setting to inspire 15 6 11 5 2.84 7 Painted wings 12 9 8 9 2.63 8 Australian Lepidoptera and their Transformations 4 2 5 34 1.47 9 A return to Ash Island (video) 14 5 6 8 2.76 10 The Lepidoptera paintings 9 7 4 4 2.88 11 Ash Island video projection 12 7 11 10 2.53 12 A change in fortunes 12 10 2 3 3.15 13 A work made public: The Lepidoptera book 13 10 6 7 2.81

The average level of engagement across the entire exhibition was 2.39.

Average engagement by demographic The below matrix shows the average amount of time spent by age and group type where data is present.

Adult Teen Child ALL

Alone 2.12 * * 2.12

Friends 2.48 * * 2.48

Couple 2.32 * * 2.32

Family 1.97 * * 1.91

School * * * 2.29

ALL 2.25 1.75 1.58 2.20

This data closely reflects the time spent, with adults in groups of friends rating the highest at 2.48 and

families rating the lowest at 1.91.

* Note that not enough teenagers or children were observed to get an average for these age groups.

Most engaging areas

• Area 12: A change in fortune (44% engaged, 37% attended, average engagement 3.15)

• Area 10: The Lepidoptera paintings (38% engaged, 29% attended, average engagement 2.88)

• Area 6: A setting to inspire (41% engaged, 16% attended, average engagement 2.84)

• Area 13: A work made public (36% engaged, 28% attended, average engagement 2.81)

A change in fortune The Lepidoptera paintings

A setting to inspire A work made public

Least engaging areas

• Area 8: Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations (76% ignored, 11% skimmed, average engagement 1.47)

• Area 5: Edward Ramsay and Alexander Scott (59% ignored, 17% skimmed, average engagement 1.72)

• Area 2: Title panel (54% ignored, 25% skimmed, average engagement 1.77)

• Area 3: A rare and fine record (46% ignored, 23% skimmed, average engagement 2.00)

Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations Edward Ramsay and Alexander Scott

Title panel A rare and fine record

Appendix

Tracking forms

The tracking forms on the following pages represent a range of visitor behaviours observed in the

exhibition.

INTERN OBSERVATIONS

The Audience Research intern Irene Rubino made her own notes on the exhibition and its evaluation process TIMING AND TRACKING - OBSERVATIONAL NOTES (Irene Rubino) Most frequent patterns of visit. Nearly one third of the people observed walked through the whole exhibition area following a linear path of visit, starting from section 1 or 2 and then following the perimeter of the exhibition area; around 50% of these people visited the areas clockwise (proceeding from 13 to 4), whereas the other 50% visited anticlockwise (proceeding from 4 to 13). Areas 5, 8 and 11, located in the longitudinal middle axis of the exhibition area, were sometimes ignored. This linear pattern of visit was followed both by visitors who spent less than 10 minutes in the exhibition area and by visitors who spent up to one hour in the area, meaning that they had a different level of engagemnet with the exhibition itself. The remaining visitors followed different personal paths of visit: some paid attention to nearly half of the exhibition, others paid attention only to few elements that captured their attention, others only entered the premises and then exited straight after; in addition, some people took a first quick look at the overall exhibition, and then they decided to visit for a second time parts of the exhibition they were presumabily more interested in. Learning styles, action tendencies and social interaction. We observed two kinds of behaviour regarding people visiting in groups or in couples: a) all the people forming the couple/group followed approximately the same path of visit; b) people visiting in couples/groups split once entered in the exhibition area and followed personal patterns of visit. However, it was quite frequent the phenomenon of a person calling a companion in order to focus his/her attention on some exhibition elements found particularly exciting. Generally speaking, we can state that learning styles and personal preferences influenced visitors' behaviour: in fact, some visitors payed attention only to audiovisuals; others mainly payed attention to the objects on display; others read almost all the panels and labels. Moreover, some of the visitors observed were dedicated visitors: in other words, they wanted to see almost everything in detail, without skipping sections of the exhibition. Moreover, some of them manifested a behaviour of persistence: despite signals of museum fatigue (i.e. yawning, rest on benches, etc.), they actually visited the whole exibition in detail (Bitgood 2010). Children's and teens' behaviour. Even though only 3 children were systematically tracked, we took some extemporary notes about children's behaviour in the gallery. Generally speaking, children did not engage a lot with the objects on display, and the hight of the showcases was in many cases not appropriate for younger children, who manifested some difficulties in looking at the objects. In addition, children under 5 were mainly supervised by parents and they did not experience the exhibition environment in a personal way, mainly following the path of visit set by their companions, instead. On the contrary, an high level of engagement was stimulated by the big screen located in the centre of the exhibition environment (11): both children and teens engaged with the slideshow projected on the screen both looking at it and doing chinese shadows. The video located in the exhibition area n.9 was quite popular, too. About this point, it must be noted that areas 9 and 11 represented the main (if not the exclusive) focus of the visit of the 3 children and 2 teens included in the study. A meaningful example is represented by a child approximately aged 10 who spent more than 20 minutes in the gallery, looking at 11 and 9 for the whole time; she paid attention to some drawings located in zone 2 only at the end of her visit, when her father tried to focus her attention on the details of the drawings. Since areas 9 and 11 were provided with benches, it is possible that museum fatigue played a role in making these two areas very popular for teens and children; however, considering that they actually engaged with the areas, it is even more likely that they captured their attention. Exhibition area #11: 36.5% of the people who were tracked attended or actively engaged with this exhibition element, mainly looking persistently at the screen. However, it must be noted that the bench in front of the screen was used by visitors not only to better engage with digital images, but also to rest and to have a chat with other members of the group. It must be added that some people spent several minutes on the bench chatting, using mobilephones or resting: this pushes for the importance of taking notes about visitors' behaviour during

timing and tracking studies, since a long time spent in the exhibition environment does not necessarily mean an high level of engagement with the exhibition itself. Exhibition area #9: 36.5% of the visitors included in the study either attended or engaged with the audiovisual located in area #9. This percentage is close to the average attraction rate (32%) reported for audiovisuals by B. Serrell (Serrell 2002). More precisely, it is a little bit higher: it can not be excluded that the presence of a bench in front of the screen contributed to attract and retain people's attention, as suggested by the literature. Moreover, the bigger size of the screen located in area #9 might have reduced the competition coming from other videos located in the exhibition area. Experimenting the iPad as a tool for collecting data during a tracking study Evaluation conducted in the Beauty from Nature: art of the Scott Sisters exhibition was an opportunity to experiment the use of an iPad as a tool to collect data during tracking studies. The iPad was basically used as a drawing tablet: a floormap of the exhibition environment was uploaded into the device and the SketchBook software was used in order to track the paths followed by visitors and to record their behaviour and demographics. A stylus pen was used to input data in the system. Overall, the experience was very positive and the tool was deemed appropriate to conduct studies of this kind. If compared to the traditional paper&pencil way of collecting data, the use of iPads for tracking presents some additional pros: - the device is light and handy, facilitating a certain ease of movement; moreover, it allows the evaluator to use as many layers as she/he needs, overcoming the risk of running out of forms; - the lighting of the screen allows the evaluator to comfortably conduct the tracking in shadowy settings, too: this may be an important aspect, since exhibition environments can often be quite dark (mainly due to conservation reasons concerning the objects on display and/or due to the will of providing an immersive and atmospheric setting); - SketchBook allows you to erase your mistakes without leaving the paper messy or untidy: as a consequence, it is easier to amend mistakes and the amended data do not look confusing; - SketchBook allows the evaluator to quickly shift from one layer to another; - you can keep record of all your tracks on the iPad: this can be useful to check previous tracks and to easily compare different tracks too at any given time; - the technical characteristics of the iPad allow you to magnify the floormap you use for the tracking and to be precise when drawing visitors' path; - visitors do not necessarily identify you as an evaluator, since iPads can be used in everyday life for different purposes: for example, during the conduction of the present study, only two people approached me. One person approached me in order to ask some information about the objects on display; the other one asked me what I was doing. In both cases, I was approached by two visitors who spent a long period of time in the exhibition area, with low affluence in the premises. However, it must be added that the use of iPads for evaluation studies has some limits: in fact, it may not be convenient to use such a device to do trackings in big exhibition areas, since the process of magnifying and swiping can become too intense and time consuming, risking to poorly record visitors' paths. Moreover, we've found that the stylus pen is not that sensitive, and the process of taking observational notes can be more complicated than when using paper&pencil. Finally, before you start the tracking you need to make sure that the battery is charged: however, this was not deemed a big deal, since a 50% charged battery can least even for hours. References cited in the text Bitgood, S. 2010. An Attention-Value Model of Museum Visitors. Caise Report. http://caise.insci.org/uploads/docs/VSA_Bitgood.pdf Serrell, B. 2002. Are They Watching?: Visitors and Videos in Exhibitions. Curator 45.1, 2002: 50-64.

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