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Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)

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01-02-2008

Sotto Voce: Facilitating Social Learning in a Historic House

Authors: Margaret H. Szymanski, Paul M. Aoki, Rebecca E. Grinter, Amy Hurst, James D. Thornton, Allison Woodruff

Published in: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) | Issue 1/2008

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Abstract

This study examines visitors’ use of two different electronic guidebook prototypes, the second an iteration of the first, that were developed to support social interaction between companions as they tour a historic house. Three studies were conducted in which paired visitors’ social interactions were video- and audio-recorded for analysis. Using conversation analysis, the data from the use of prototype 1 and prototype 2 were compared. It was found that audio delivery methods were consequential to the ways in which visitors structurally organized their social activity. Further, the availability of structural opportunities for social interaction between visitors has implications for the ways in which the learning process occurs in museum settings.

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This is not to say that learning simply equates with language use. However, learning occurs in part through social interaction, and we can observe learning processes by observing aspects of social interaction such as “learner articulation” (Koschmann and LeBaron 2002).

Since our focus in this paper is on social interaction rather than the technological aspects of the guidebook itself, we limit our system descriptions to a level of detail sufficient to understand the study findings. Schwarzer (2001) provides substantial background information about electronic guidebooks.

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This 17th century portrait shows the Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, about whom Pepys said in his diary, ‘Never had a woman more beauty nor less wit.’ The portrait was done by Sir Peter Lely, who was the first of the great English portrait painters. Lely created the distinctive look of British portraiture, including the three-quarter pose and the emphasis on beautiful clothing.

While several children participated in the first and second studies, public visitors from the ages of approximately 5–17 are quite rare at Filoli unless they are visiting with a school group.

We use “shared listening” to describe the organization of the visitors’ activity. It does not imply that the visitors focused their attention exclusively on the audio descriptions during the entire visit, nor that we can assert that one companion in a pair heard every sound heard by the other. However, as suggested by the excerpts in Section 4, a shared audio context was widely achieved, and Section 5.1 gives further detail about how this came about.

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Title: Sotto Voce: Facilitating Social Learning in a Historic House
Authors: Margaret H. Szymanski
Paul M. Aoki
Rebecca E. Grinter
Amy Hurst
James D. Thornton
Allison Woodruff
Publication date: 01-02-2008
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) / Issue 1/2008
Print ISSN: 0925-9724
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7551
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-007-9067-y

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