How to design an experience in the present for a town devoted to the past?

1. Experience Design
Concord, MA
Tammy Rose
Bentley University
UXPA
May 10, 2024 1

2. AGENDA
Who the heck am I?
What is the HISTORICAL CONTEXT of this project?
What is the PROJECT?
What is the RESEARCH?
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3. Who am I?
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4. Stage Manager & Playwright
MBA/MS HFID, Bentley
UX Researcher
History Nerd
PhD Student-Experience Design
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5. History Nerd
Cred
Field trips, attending reenactments and
parades
Member & Participant in Historical & Author
Societies
Six plays and performances in Concord over
10 years
Thoreau and Twain-Brothers on the River
Thoreau Society Annual Gathering,
Concord
Mark Twain Society/Samuel Clemens
Conference, Hannibal, Missouri
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6. Stage Manager
UX Researcher
Tourguide
Ensures that the
technical aspects
function to allow the
audience or user or
visitor to have a
seamless experience
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8. Social Media Projects
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9. Feedback in
the Arts
In terms of
UX Research
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10. Stand Up Comedy-
Jerry Seinfeld
“Those jokes have been picked by
25 audiences before you got there,
those focus groups. And you just
follow their direction. You just
suggest ideas to them and they pick
the ones that work. And they might
not be the ones you like, but you do
not disagree with them.”
 NPR Interview 5/2/2024
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11. Methodologies of
Gathering Feedback in
Arts & UX
Focus Groups
Applause, Laughs=User Delight
Workshops-other writers/closed audience
Previews vs Prototypes
Ticket Sales
Word of Mouth-Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Engagement
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12. Borrowing Concepts-
UX Research
Prototyping
Stakeholders/SMEs
Mental Model
Testing technical aspects
Are users engaged or bored, or do
they get stuck?
Weird plot point, Anachronism or
Wasted clicks
Ultimate Goal is User Delight
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13. Historical Context:
How would YOU address this
challenge?
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14. Goals for this
project
Engagement & Empathy with
history
Historical Accuracy & Interpretive
Validity
Untold stories/Unheard voices
Not Analog vs Technology-more
subtle mix
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15. Experience Design
Challenge of Concord
Multiple communities
Multiple non-profits
Overlapping histories
Limited Tourist Time
Technical limitations-WIFI doesn’t
work!!!!
Various Stakeholders-Locals,
Academics, Cultural Groups
Various Audiences-“Historical
Pilgrims”, Casual Tourists, Apathetic
Visitors
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16. Shot Heard Round the World,
250th Anniversary of April 19, 1775
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17. “Colonial”
Interior
Design,
Sears
Catalogue,
1975
Where is this
kitsch for
2025?
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18. Concord, MA Common Mental Model
3 Revolutions, Symbolic of America
1775-Battle of Lexington and
Concord, American Revolution
1800s Transcendental Writers:
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David
Thoreau, Little Women by Louisa
May Alcott
Environmental -Walden Pond,
Great Meadows: Hiking, swimming,
birdwatching
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19. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Literal Poster Child for Civil Disobedience 19

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21. How do we engage with the past?
 Time travel
 Politics?
 Memorize dates
 Visit locations
 Living History
 Disneyland?
 Authentic
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22. 22
Concord in Video Games
Walden, a Game
Fallout
Assassin's Creed III

23. The Vigil
April 18, 2024
Personal Experience
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24. The Vigil:
Performative,
Participatory,
Re-Enactment
To participate in the lantern-light
procession, please provide your own
REAL candle lantern. The procession
will begin at North Bridge Visitor
Center . . . we will march down the
quarter-mile path to the North Bridge
where the ceremony will take place.
Participants are welcome to wear
18th century clothing if they choose,
but please do not bring muskets.
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26. Untold Stories
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27. Ellen Garrison
1823-1892
Respected African American Teacher
Taught formerly enslaved people in
Baltimore
Concord’s Rosa Parks
Civil Rights Act of 1866
In the News: Concord Middle School
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28. Untold Stories of People
& Communities
LGBTQ+
Native American
African American
Mental Illness & Disability
Environmentalism
Civil Rights
Rich vs Working Class
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29. Louisa May
Alcott’s
Orchard
House
Where
“Little
Women”
was Written
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30. Nashobah
Praying Indians
1675-”King Philip’s War”
58 Members of the Tribe
Barn on John Hoare’s property
October 1675-Feb 1676
Then forcibly taken to Deer Island
by privateers
Better survival rate than other
tribes who had been there all winter
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31. 31

32. How do we use
Experience Design
to convey these stories?
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33. The Project-
Audio
Narrative
Historical Accuracy
Historical interpretation Validity
Sensitivity
Co-Creation with Stakeholders & Communities
Education
Engagement & Curiosity for all kinds of
participants
Visitor Delight
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34. The Story
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36. Research Design & Approaches
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Iterative Design
through various
formats
Gather Feedback
at each stage to
inform next
iteration
Stakeholders
Co Creation
Constant Input
Validation
Success metrics
based on
engagement &
curiosity

37. Recorded Audio Narrative-Proof of Concept
16 Episodes, podcast platform, listen in Place or Remote
Fictional Narratives paired with Historical Commentary that inspired it
Phase 1: Mixed Methods: Feedback from Subject Matter Experts & Stakeholders
Phase 2: Survey for tourists, college students
Phase 3 and beyond: different formats and targeted user groups
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38. Practitioner Takeaways
Multidisciplinary approach
Evoke connection with a place and people of the past
Sensorial Experience-Proust Effect
Memory Palace-Spatial Learning
Visitor Expectations and Delight
Iterative feedback
Plant seeds of curiosity to keep them coming back
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39. Wanna be a participant
in the research study?
trose@bentley.edu
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40. END
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41. What was your favorite
encounter with history?
What was your WORST
historical experience?
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