Centralis Co-founder Kathi Kaiser teams up with Senior User Experience Specialist Tanya Treptow to present multiple sessions at this year’s Museums & the Web Conference, to be held April 8-11 in Chicago, IL.  Equipped with rich backgrounds in user research, design and museum studies, the pair will serve up two dynamic talks on user experience in museums.

During their first session, “A Crash Course in Evaluating Museum Mobile Apps (With Field Trip!)”, Tanya and Kathi will provide participants with an interactive approach on conducting in-gallery usability testing of a mobile app. They will begin the session by sharing the basics of this informative and easy-to-learn research method, including the five components of usability, how to spot common usability issues, and methods for interviewing and observing research participants to maximize learning. After that, they will lead the group on a field trip to a local museum near the conference venue to evaluate a mobile app in the galleries, in real time. By role-playing the parts of the visitor and the evaluator, participants will gain direct experience with how to assess usability, explore the fit between the digital interface and the physical environment, and identify opportunities to improve the overall experience.

In their how-to session, “When to Ask and When to Shut Up: How to Get Visitor Feedback on Digital Interactives”, Kathi and Tanya begin by describing common sources of frustration in digital experiences, such as lack of clarity about purpose, difficulty navigating available options, ambiguous language, and challenges with physical manipulation. They will use real-life examples from museums and other institutions to illustrate these difficulties and how the causes of the problems may not be evident by only watching visitors or asking them questions.

Kathi will also be serving as a panelist for the Web Crit portion of the conference, where she will join an expert team of peer reviewers in order to provide feedback on attendees’ project submissions

About Museums & the Web

Museums and the Web is an annual conference featuring advanced research and exemplary applications of digital practice for cultural, natural and scientific heritage. Formed by leading professionals from around the world, they have been meeting since 1997. The products of their meetings and conversations – the MW proceedings, Best of the Web archives and community news forum – are an unparalleled resource for museum workers, technologists, students and researchers that grow every year. For more information, go to Museums and the Web 2015.

About Centralis

Centralis helps clients succeed by making their products, services, software and websites easier to use. Founded in 2001, Centralis provides user research, user interface design, and usability testing services to a wide range of clients.