In the context of a project involving development of an electronic guide and an educational application for a historical cultural museum, we defined an architecture that permits efficient and effective co-existence of objects in the physical space and digital multimedia content. Handheld devices were used for mediating the process. The prime consideration of the developed architecture was the optimal delivery of multimedia content, mainly in the form of audio but also video and text, to users of handheld devices, which raises an interesting number of issues both in terms of technology used and human-computer interaction.
Mobile technology has created new possibilities for location-based playful learning experiences. This article describes the MuseumScrabble mobile game, aimed at children visiting a historical museum. The game requires that the players explore the museum and link abstract concepts with physical artefacts using a mobile device. The focus of this article is on the interaction design process and the subsequent observations made during field evaluation of the game. Design principles that guide the development of such a game are presented and concern playfulness, learning, social interaction, physical aspects of the game and flow between physical and digital space. This article explores how these design principles are reflected in the study and how problem-solving strategies and collaboration and competition patterns are developed by children in this multi-player educational game.
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