Information and Consent Declaration

Principal Investigator: Professor Steven Bednarski

St Jerome’s University, University of Waterloo, Canada

Phone: 519-884-8110 x28276 Email: steven.bednarski@uwaterloo.ca

Co-Investigator: Dr. Caley McCarthy

St Jerome’s University, University of Waterloo, Canada

Email: caley.mccarthy@uwaterloo.ca

Co-Investigator: Owais Hamid

Research Fellow, University of Waterloo, Canada

Email: omabdulh@uwaterloo.ca

Overview:

This project focuses on acquiring a better understanding of visitor behaviour patterns in exhibitions through museum settings. The amount of time spent at each display by a visitor and the way visitors interact with each display and its corresponding display/s plays a vital role in curation-related decision making. Further, as Museums move towards digitizing various aspects of the museum experience, we are interested in understanding if digitization, specifically of the museum labels, has a more positive impact on a visitor’s museum experience. Using technological solutions, we aim at designing methodologies that enable us with privacy-aware monitoring of visitor movement patterns through museum rooms. This then allows us to determine how much time each participant spends at each display/room. It is important to note that the solutions used in thisproject don’t use face recognition and don’t store identifiers relating to visitors in any databases.

I. Your responsibilities as a participant

Participation in this study is assumed when the participants enter the space with signage. The participants do not need to do anything specific, we wish to simply observe as they move across the space.

II. Your rights as a participant

Your participation in this study is voluntary. You may decline to participate by coming back at any point other than the time periods specified. For the sake of clarity, these times are 11 AM to 2 PM, Tuesdays and Thursdays only. No recording is conducted at any other time. You may decide to stop any time and leave the hall if you feel uncomfortable.

Benefits of the study: Participation in this study may not provide any personal benefit to you. However, the study will benefit the academic community and the research team. We plan to publish the results of this study, and researchers in the field of museum studies can potentially benefit from that. We hope the outcomes of this experiment pave the way for better Museum experiences later on.

Confidentiality of identities and data: You will not be identified individually in any written reports of this research. Note that when information is transmitted over the internet, privacy cannot be entirely guaranteed. There is always a risk that your responses may be intercepted by a third party. Any personal information will be removed from our records after 1 month from your participation. Unfortunately, once you have entered the space, the data is deidentified of any information, therefore withdrawal may not be possible since we cannot retrieve your personal data. The data captured will be securely stored on a password-protected lab server with access only for the researchers. Anonymized data may be published publicly in the future, and will be stored for a minimum of 7 years.

III. Questions, comments, or concerns

Ethics clearance: This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee (ORE#43272). Ifyou have questions for the Committee contact the Office of Research Ethics, at 1519-888-4567 ext. 36005 or ore-ceo@uwaterloo.ca.

Contact Information: If you have any questions regarding this study, or would like additional information about your participation, please contact us by email at omabdulh@uwaterloo.ca.

Thank you for your interest in our research and your assistance with this project. By entering the exhibition, you are consenting to the use of your likeness for the purposes of this study. No personal identifying information is stored on any device related to this study. Only general statistics such as the number of people attending the exhibit is collected, and no images are stored at any time. This study runs from 11 AM to 2 PM, Tuesdays and Thursdays only. If you are not comfortable with participation in this study, please visit the Exhibition at any other time. For more information, please visit our website (https://aowais2.github.io/museum-studies/). If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at omabdulh@uwaterloo.ca