Lessons from the Museum of Science’s First Multimedia Handheld Tour: The Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination Multimedia Tour – Summative Evaluation

Given its ongoing commitment to universal design and the integration of technologies into the museum experience, the Museum of Science decided to employ a handheld Multimedia Tour to accompany Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, an exhibition about the real world meeting Star Wars technologies. With the help of leading tour guide developer, Antenna Audio, a 22-stop tour was produced featuring narration, Behind the Scenes interviews with individuals who had worked on the films, Star Wars film clips, still photos and the ability to send information home. An American Sign Language version of the Tour was also produced. To explore visitor experiences with the Multimedia Tour (MMT), multiple methods of data collection were employed. Case studies and exit interviews were conducted with users and non-users of the Tour; an online survey was administered to individuals who retrieved their online bookmarks after the visit; and about ten weeks after their visit, follow-up phone calls were conducted. Web statistics and sales data were also collected. The appendix of this report includes the observation protocol, interview protocols and surveys used in the study.