Effects of a mobile electronic guidebook on visitors attention and visiting behaviors

[[abstract]]Museums are one of the most important institutions providing students with the opportunity to gain knowledge, experience cultures, and develop different interests in an informal learning setting. As information and communication technology (ICT) has become more popular, many researchers have also become concerned with how to use mobile devices to support the museum’s functions of lifelong learning. Although researchers have proposed several innovative types of mobile-device based electronic guidebooks, the effects of the most used audio-visual guidebooks have been rarely evaluated. This study explored the effect of a mobile electronic guidebook on visiting behaviors in a museum of history. Visitors’ behaviors with two visiting modes (visiting with the electronic guidebook and visiting without supplementary tools) were compared. Forty-two college students were invited to visit the National Museum of History in Taiwan and were randomly assigned to one of the two visit modes. The results showed that the students with the electronic guidebook had a longer holding time with exhibits than the students without supplementary materials. The sequential analysis of visiting behaviors also showed that the students with the electronic guidebook displayed more inquisitive and structural behaviors when interacting with the exhibits.