User Experience

As a visitor of the National Archives, you would be provided with an interactive tablet computer device (similar to an iPad). With it you would be able to pre-select the particular exhibition you wish to experience, and the way you wish to experience it. Markers placed throughout the gallery space, when viewed through the tablet device, project 3-dimensional artifacts in the virtual realm, overlaid on the physical space. 

For example, two people looking at the same marker simultaneously might see two different artifacts through their tablet device, based on their pre-selected settings. 

With a touch of your tablet you can bring up a host of information about the artifact you are viewing. You can choose to hear this information, or read it. You can choose to input your own memory of this artifact, verbally, or textually. You can save this artifact in the computer’s memory, then learn more about it later while relaxing in one of the courtyards, or in the intimate spaces of the reading pods. 

The pods themselves add a whole new layer to personal user experience. Step into one of the circular rooms to be encased in a 360 degree view of the scene of your choice. Let’s say you chose a beach location: not only can you view the setting all around you, you can also elect to have soft ocean noises aurally played, ducted air conditioning makes ocean breezes achievable, and digital scent technology means you can even smell the salt in the air. 

The information inputted into your tablet device can be accessed anywhere, so you can pre-select the settings of your visit on the bus on the way to the archives, and you can view your saved artifacts from any external computer. The system also saves your preferences for your next visit.