by bensu.kaya -

→ Impulse_04 | Technisches Museum Wien

On November 30th, Mert and I visited the Technisches Museum Wien. There were several exhibitions, and luckily, we found some that fit our thesis topics. I was especially interested in how they designed the different exhibitions with different themes using interactive screens and installations. Even though some of them looked old, they were still inspiring!

One artwork that stood out to me was from the Musical Instruments exhibition. It showcased creativity, craftsmanship, experimentation, tradition, and the unique sounds of different instruments. The exhibit had a microphone hanging from the ceiling that captured the sound of the instruments and turned it into visuals. This was a great example of real-time data visualization, which really caught my attention.

Another inspiring part was the Media Worlds exhibition, which explored the history of media and its impact on society. It covered everything from early communication tools like the post and telegraph to modern inventions like computers and the internet. I had the chance to closely examine how interfaces and ways of interaction have evolved over time. There were also some interactive games, which I really enjoyed.

Also, the Energiewende exhibition and some others had very good examples of data visualization, even though they were not interactive. These examples showed how complex data could be made easier to understand through simple, effective visual representations. It was a reminder of how powerful data visualization is in communicating ideas and information clearly and effectively.

What I Learned

The visit to the Technisches Museum Wien gave me some inspos into interactive design and data visualization. I thought again how combining sound and visuals can create an engaging, real-time experience, and how effective data visualization can make complex information more accessible. The exhibitions helped me to have an idea about how I can apply these concepts to my thesis.

Conclusion

Overall, the museum visit was very fun with Mert! We spent almost 4 hour there, it was tiring yet so interesting!! Luckily, we got inspired about our future thesis!

by ellen.dressler -

27 | IMPULSE #6 – Visit of the Center of Scientific Activities (CoSA)

Yesterday, I had the chance to visit the CoSA – Center of Science Activities in Graz, a hub of interactive learning designed to make science and technology engaging for all. Among its many features, one area stood out to me: the CoSA_Energy section. This part of the exhibition focuses on sustainability, energy, and how our daily choices impact the environment. Given my interest in creating a sustainability-focused app, I found this visit incredibly inspiring. Here’s a detailed account of my experience and reflections on how these ideas could be integrated into my project.

The CoSA_Energy area is brilliantly designed to encourage self-exploration. Upon entering, I took a lanyard with a token shaped like a lightbulb—my personalized key to activate the exhibits. At each of the seven interactive stations, covering topics like energy, mobility, clothing, and food, I could absorb information and later test my understanding with a quiz question. My answers were saved to my token, which added a playful, competitive element to the experience.

Each station was not only highly informative but also incredibly engaging. For instance:

  • Food: The Information like videos of street surveys and information was displayed in digital cooking pots, with an emphasis on the carbon footprint of different diets.
  • Shopping: A real shopping cart, extended and enhanced with a digital overlay, allowed me to learn about product sustainability through putting items that were talked about into my shopping cart. In a way it was designed to see different opinions and habits of people in a street survey without them being judged for their decisions, which allowed me to form my own picture of which actions I see critically and in which I possibly recognize myself.
  • Clothing: By scanning price tags of different items, I discovered whether garments were produced sustainably, second-hand or simply overpriced for branding. This activity can be eye-opening to people who don’t put that much thought into their shopping-decisions, as it showed the hidden environmental costs behind fast fashion.
  • Mobility: A bicycle-powered video station showed the different mobility needs of different groups. E.g. cyclists want safer cycle paths and no obstacles like parking cars in their way. Store owners need charging zones and car drivers say public transport is much slower than if they just drive to their workplace etc.

The mix of physical interaction and digital feedback kept me fully engaged, demonstrating how well gamified learning can work.

As I moved through the exhibits, I already thought about how some of these concepts could be adapted to a digital app. The idea of a personalized token, for example, could translate into a digital profile within the app, where users track their progress through challenges. Similarly, the interactive elements, like scanning clothing tags or generating power to reveal insights, could inspire app features that use augmented reality or motion sensors to create immersive experiences.

Additionally, CoSA’s quiz system at the end of each activity provided a great model for reinforcing knowledge while keeping it playful. In my app, I could integrate similar quiz-like rewards that help users retain information while earning points or badges.

Learning Through Play

What made the CoSA_Energy area so effective was its balance between education and fun. Each exhibit was meticulously designed to make complex topics accessible and interesting. For example, the cooking pots and shopping cart stations added a tangible aspect to abstract ideas like food miles and sustainable consumption. These interactions weren’t just entertaining – they made the information stick.

This approach aligns perfectly with my goal of motivating people to adopt more sustainable habits through an app. By incorporating game mechanics, such as unlocking content or comparing scores with friends, I could replicate CoSA’s ability to make sustainability both personal and engaging.

My takeaways

Visiting CoSA was an inspiring reminder of how powerful gamification can be in driving behavioral change. The exhibition succeeded in taking complex topics and breaking them into fun, bite-sized, interactive experiences.

For my app, I aim to achieve the same balance of education and entertainment. Features like augmented reality challenges, scannable items for instant feedback, and personal progress tracking could motivate users to reflect on their habits while learning how to make more sustainable choices.

The CoSA_Energy area also emphasized the importance of visual and tactile engagement, something I’ll prioritize in my app’s design. Whether through a digital garden that grows as users complete tasks or a sustainability leaderboard, the goal is to create a tool that is not only educational but also genuinely enjoyable to use.

Links

CoSA: https://www.museum-joanneum.at/cosa-graz/spaces

More on Gamification and Game-based learning: https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/catalogs/tip-sheets/gamification-and-game-based-learning

Gamification in museums: https://pfeffermind.de/museum-gamification/#:~:text=Moderne%20Museen%20verwenden%20Gamification%2C%20um,Ausstellung%20wird%20zu%20einem%20Entdeckungsort.

by helene.goedl -

01 | Erste Themenvorstellung – Digital Fashion, Barrierearmes Mediendesign und Bewegtbildmedien im Museumskontext

Digital Fashion Design / Materialität im Digitalen Raum

Im digitalen Zeitalter verschieben sich viele traditionelle Medien in den digitalen Raum. Fotografie, Zeichnung, Malerei haben alle in bestimmten abgewandelten Ausformulierungen einen Entwicklungsschritt in die Digitalität vollzogen. Doch was bedeutet der Schritt in die digitale Umwelt für Medien, die eine haptische, materielle Komponente haben? Wie lässt sich Materialität und taktile Qualität in den digitalen Raum übersetzen? Ist dies überhaupt möglich? Die Mode und Textilkunst findet bereits in unterschiedlichen Erscheinungsformen langsam ihren Weg in die digitale Welt. Als AR Anwendung, als Komponente von Online Environments, in Games und weiteren Umfeldern findet Modedesign statt. Das hier vorgestellte Thema wirft die Frage auf, wie sich die Parameter des Modedesigns in der Digitalität verändern, wie neue digitale Materialqualitäten entstehen und was digitales Gestalten für ein Medium bedeutet, welches so stark in der Materialität verhaftet ist.

Quellen: Gonzalez, P. (2022). Digital fashion in the Metaverse. Joy, A., Zhu, Y., Peña, C., & Brouard, M. (2022). Digital future of luxury brands: Metaverse, digital fashion, and non-fungible tokens. Strategic change, 31(3), 337-343. Luchev, D., Paneva-Marinova, D., Pavlova-Draganova, L., & Pavlov, R. (2013, June). New digital fashion world. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies (pp. 270-275). Sayem, A. S. M. (2022). Digital fashion innovations for the real world and metaverse. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 15(2), 139-141. Särmäkari, N. (2023). Digital 3D fashion designers: Cases of atacac and the fabricant. Fashion Theory, 27(1), 85-114. Wiana, W. (2018, February). The effectiveness of using interactive multimedia in improving the concept of fashion design and its application in the making of digital fashion design. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 306, No. 1, p. 012131). IOP Publishing. Wu, S., Kang, Y., Ko, Y. A., Kim, A., Kim, N., Kim, C., & Ko, H. S. (2013). A study on 3D virtual clothing by utilizing digital fashion show. Journal of Korea Multimedia Society, 16(4), 529-537.

Accessibility und Barrierearmes Design im Bewegtbild

Die Themen Accessibility und barrierearmes Gestalten werden in der Designwelt immer präsenter. In vielen Design Disziplinen wird es glücklicherweise immer üblicher, Gestaltungen für Menschen mit unterschiedlichen Wahrnehmungsvoraussetzungen zugänglicher zu machen und Inklusion in den Designprozess einzubeziehen. Was bedeutet aber barrierearmes Design für das Gestalten im Bewegtbild? Welche Herausforderungen stellen sich in der inklusiven Arbeit mit dem Medium Film und Video? Wie kann man auch in diesen Disziplinen Wege finden, Menschen mit unterschiedlichen Wahrnehmungsfähigkeiten mitzudenken und ihnen Zugang zu Bewegtbildmedien zu erleichtern?

Quellen: Brown, M., & Anderson, S. L. (2021). Designing for disability: Evaluating the state of accessibility design in video games. Games and Culture, 16(6), 702-718. Meyer, E. A. (2005, May). Is accessible design a myth?. In Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A) (pp. 60-62). Obrenovic, Z., Abascal, J., & Starcevic, D. (2007). Universal accessibility as a multimodal design issue. Communications of the ACM, 50(5), 83-88. Othman, N. I., Mohamed, H., & Mat Zin, N. A. (2023). Serious Games Accessibility Design Model for Low-Vision Children. Advances in Human-Computer Interaction, 2023. Shinohara, K., Jacobo, N., Pratt, W., & Wobbrock, J. O. (2020). Design for social accessibility method cards: Engaging users and reflecting on social scenarios for accessible design. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS), 12(4), 1-33. Toronto, C. O. (2004). Accessibility Design Guidelines. Diversity Management and Community Engagement Corporate Policy/Healthy City Office.

Bewegtbildmedien im Museumskontext

Museen sind vielfältige Orte mit unterschiedlichen Funktionen. Eine dieser Funktionen ist die Wissensvermittlung. Besonders themenbasierte Museen, wie Museen für Geschichte, Naturkunde, Technik und ähnlichen Spezialisierungen bedienen sich unterschiedlicher Medien, um ihre Inhalte verständlich und ansprechend an ihr Publikum zu vermitteln. Die Anwendung von Bewegtbildmedien in Museen kommt hierbei häufig vor. Für welche Inhalte eignen sich Bewegtbildmedien im Museumskontext besonders? Wie wird mit themenbezogenem Bewegtbildmaterial umgegangen? Wie integriert sich das Bewegtbild räumlich in den Museumsaufbau? Und welche Parameter sind zu bedenken, wenn Bewegtbildmedien in Museen zum Einsatz kommen?

Quellen: Connolly, M. (2013). Shared Viesing: Moving Images in the Cinema and Museum. Millennium Film Journal, 18-27. Fahy, A. (1995). New technologies for museum communication. Museum, media, message, 82-96. Latsis, D. (2016). The beginnings of cinema as a museum exhibit: The cases of the smithsonian institution and the science museum in London. Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, 16(1), 17-34. Mandelli, E. (2019). Museum as a Cinematic Space: The Display of Moving Images in Exhibitions. Edinburgh University Press. Penz, F. (2012). Museums as Laboratories of Change: The Case for the Moving Image. In Film, Art, New Media: Museum Without Walls? (pp. 278-300). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. Santos, L., & Zvonkine, E. (2021). In and out of the museum: new destinations of the moving image. The Garage Journal: Studies in Art, Museums & Culture, (4). Sinetos, A. (2015). Integrating the Moving Image into the Museum (Doctoral dissertation, UCLA).