Exploring the potential of the internet of things at a heritage site through co-design practice

Our multidisciplinary team faced the challenge of creating an engaging visiting experience for Chesters museum that hosts John Clayton’s collection of Roman antiquities found along Hadrian’s Wall. The museum, created in 1896, is still in its original form and has a large collection of altars and religious sculptures displayed in a continuous sequence on several rows, as was the fashion in Victorian and Edwardian times. This layout was overwhelming for most visitors who only spent very little time in the museum. In an iterative co-design process we generated multiple concepts and prototyped the most promising: the aim was to make the visitors slow down and look around in a meaningful way. We assessed three prototypes in place finding physical impediments and management issues for two. The design and implementation then focused on a single concept that explores the relationship between the Romans and their gods. The final interactive installation uses the Internet of Things technology to offer a personalised experience that engages visitors at a physical level while simultaneously provoking them to explore and take action. This paper contributes to a better understanding of how design practice can create a novel interactive visiting experience centered on meaning-making rather than on the latest technology.