A Question for History: Paper, Metal or MobileBrett Oppegaard, Texas Tech UniversityPilot Study for Dr. Angela Eaton's English 5379 class, Quantitative Methods ResearchFall 2010

Fort Vancouver National Historic SiteRepresenting 19th century life on the frontier, the early end of the Oregon Trail, the headquarters of a British fur empire and the first U.S. Army outpost in the Northwest.Top historical attraction in the Portland, Ore., area, drawing more than 1 million visitors per year.

Photo courtesy of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

Photo courtesy of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, showing the fort in 1845.

Photo courtesy of Brett Oppegaard, showing the entrance to the reconstructed fort today.

The VillageTo the west of the stockade, The Village was where the roughly 600 laborers lived, compared to the 12 or so gentlemen who resided inside the stockade.Only beginning reconstruction of this part of the site.Photos courtesy of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

Media in The Village* Two wayside signs, one mentioning that Hawaiians lived in The Village* A brochure available at the Visitors Center, about the Hawaiians in The Village* A prototype of a mobile app under developmentBrochure courtesy of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

The app* Grant funded* Built on Android platform* Free to users* First interactive story about a Hawaiian pastor who came to the site, William Kaulehelehe (the actor is shown here in a video screen shot, arriving on the banks of the Columbia River).Screen shot courtesy of the Fort Vancouver Mobile project

Research questionsRQ1: Does an interactive mobile narrative in a historical setting help users recall more factoids than a brochure/wayside signs?

RQ2: Grasp larger educational themes?

RQ3: Make the experience more enjoyable?

RQ4: Inspire future learning?Annotated map courtesy of the Fort Vancouver Mobile project.

Methods* Four different collection periods, 14 hours, 9 responses* Three given app, three given brochure, three just signs only* Given a pretest to set a baseline of knowledge* Then asked them to explore The Village as long as you wish.* Recorded time engaged in exploration and gave post test* Answers on the test were coded as correct / incorrect by a single researcher* ANOVAs conductedAnnotated map courtesy of the Fort Vancouver Mobile project

Results* Test subjects were 7-2 male, 7-2 35-and-older, 7-2 from western WA / OR* ANOVAs determined that the results were not statistically significant, probably due to sample size, n=9* App users spent an average of 23 minutes in The Village, compared to 9 for brochure, 6 for signs only* App users answered an additional 2.67 (out of 7) questions correctly on post testPhoto courtesy of Brett Oppegaard

Findings* Many parts of the experiment could be polished* Weather is a major factor* App is a conversation starter* Prototype needs to be polished* Diversity needs to be improved* Fill-in-the-blank boost* The app not as much fun? Or as entertaining?* More test subjects, maybe as few as 36, could move the results into significancePhoto courtesy of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.