MicroCulture. Interactive storytelling and learning in the museum Emanuela Marchetti Department of Learning and Philosophy Centre for Design, Learning and Innovation Aalborg University Esbjerg Esbjerg, Denmark ema@create.aau.dk Abstract— This paper proposes a playful learning scenario, to enhance children’s museum experience, and the design of MicroCulture, a new learning platform. MicroCulture has been developed through a participatory design process, involving around 25 children. The perspective proposed in this paper is focused on enhancing existing storytelling practices, so to provide a more tangible grounding to the communication of historical processes and to elicit a lively dialogue between children and guides. In this perspective, it is proposed to turn storytelling, as a museum learning practice, into a more dialogic and playful mode of communication. Keywords- participatory design, non-formal learning; storytelling; museum; historical processes; digital technology. I. INTRODUCTION Museum learning practice is facing a challenging innovation process [9], however, it still seems to retain traditional forms. Data from field study suggest that such issues as social interaction with the young visitors and communication of historical processes are still in demand for a solution. A participatory study was conducted in cooperation with the Viking Museum in Ribe, Southwestern Jutland, Denmark, aimed at reconstructing museum experience from the perspective of primary school children and guides, who directly communicate with each other during guided tours. Therefore, the study focused on exploring possibilities to facilitate learning of the complex dynamics of urban development in history, by making social interaction, between children and guides, more playful. Hence it is argued that introduction of playful interactions will contribute in two ways: providing a more tangible grounding to the learning and creating a friendly atmosphere. Children should then be able to express themselves, so that the guides could better support them when reaching their zone of proximal development [15, 20], their boundary between known and unknown. The design process that followed the field study, produced MicroCulture, a mixed reality, learning platform, in which players are supposed to play and learn about urban development. The next section presents methods used in the study, section III and IV analyze respectively related work and storytelling in museums. Section V discusses the design outcome and a new scenario for museum learning practice. Conclusion and future work can be found in section VI. II. METHODS The present study is based on qualitative methods, such as ethnomethodologies and participatory design [17, 21]. It is being conducted in cooperation with the Viking Museum in Ribe, which is the oldest town in Denmark, located on the Southwestern coast of the Jutland peninsula; and with Samuelsgaard, an afterschool center in the area. The field study and the participatory design process took around eight months, from October 2010 to May 2011. At the moment the working prototype is under development and almost ready to be tested, in the museum, at the end of January 2012. The aim of the study is to explore opportunities to introduce play in museums, as a communication mode, focusing on: • Transposition of historical processes into playful interactions • Play as a communication mode to enhance storytelling • Participatory storytelling as sociomaterial practice to enhance learning The field study was conducted with the aim to reconstruct children’s museum experience, dedicating particular attention to guided tours, a very common learning practice in museums, although not particularly discussed in literature. The first step was to conduct situated, semi-structured interviews [17] with several museum practitioners: the director of Southwestern Jutland Museums, the head museologist, the curator of the museum in Ribe, the person responsible to coordinate guided tours, and the two museum guides. This museum was chosen as it has a praised collection of local findings, placing a special focus on the Viking and the Middle Ages. Moreover, the museum is very motivated in innovating its learning practice, to communicate with the public and create an awareness about the history of the local community.