From bright ideas to compelling prototypes 

As the end of the year approaches, the FSU Jena team and their students are focussing on implementation methods for their prototype designs. Several ideas have been made concrete and the first two are now in technical development. 

One of the concepts entering its next phase is the audio-based prototype designed to enrich museum spaces with individual and dynamic soundscapes. The prototype in development is a simple tool that allows visitors not only to choose their very own audio-layers, but give some feedback on the audio’s impact on their emotional experience. This allows them to enhance their visiting experience acoustically, for example with contemporary soundscapes that showcase how close history and daily life are still connected, but also to gather some valuable insights for our researchers. 

At the same time especially the student team is bringing to life a very simplified interactive role-playing experiences that can content wise be easily adapted for different museums and settings. Right now their first draft is inspired by the ancient Egyptian worker’s strike of Deir el-Medina. Through a short series of scenario based multiple-choice questions, visitors are able to discover their (fictional) personal roles, which allows them to discover the power of collective action and unity – not as uniformity but the collaboration of different voices, motivations and strategies.