Styli let visitors engage without touching
In October and November 2020, visitors to the Darwin & Dinosaurs exhibit at the Museum of Idaho were offered disposable styli to use on the touchscreen interactives.
The results were overwhelmingly positive. Visitors who used the styli were given a special comment card with five statements they could rate from one to five, five being best. As of October 15, fifty-two cards had been completed and turned in.
Over 90% who tried them said the styli were easy to use and 88% said they worked great. Even the visitors who did not think they were necessary appreciated the effort to make their visit safer.
| No. | Question | Score | % |
| 1 | It was easy to use. | 4.62 | 92% |
| 2 | It worked great! | 4.42 | 88% |
| 3 | It was as good as touching with a finger. | 4.25 | 85% |
| 4 | Glad I didn’t have to touch the exhibit screens. | 3.81 | 76% |
| 5 | I appreciate the added level of personal protection. | 4.21 | 84% |
Before the test was undertaken the interactives were reengineered so that visitors could enlarge and shrink images using a magnifying glass icon (to replace the pinch gesture). All D&D interactives are now engineered this way.
Free disposable styli to give to visitors are provided with the D&D exhibit.
Of course, the interactives are edge-to-edge glass and easy to wipe down with Chlorox or Lysol wipes (also provided!) and a hands-free hand sanitizer unit comes with each interactive.
We strive to provide an engaging, educational – and safe – visitor experience.
