Muser Museum Engagement App

Date:

May 2023

Client:

Muser (co-founded research project)

Type:

Research Project

Credits:

Developed with WKU's Civic Imagination Team. Funded in part by WKU's FUSE grant program.

Following the pandemic, museums needed better data to bring visitors back, as traditional staff observation was slow and altered visitor behavior. I co-founded Muser, a mobile app that uses location tracking to generate heat maps of how visitors naturally move through exhibits.

see Project

Project Details

The Client

Muser was developed as an undergraduate research project funded by grants, including WKU's FUSE program. We partnered with WKU's Civic Imagination Team and the University of Southern California.

The Challenge

Museums traditionally measured engagement by having staff watch visitors, which covered small samples and changed how people acted. They needed an accurate, unobtrusive way to measure exhibit effectiveness.

The Approach

We designed Muser as a gamified experience so participants would explore the museum naturally. The app tracks where visitors stop, how long they stay, and what they skip.

The Deliverables

We ran an informal proof-of-concept with a study abroad group in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Britain. After formal research approval, we set up public test booths at three museums in St. Louis, delivering heat maps and exhibit evaluations to each institution.