Workshop Information

This section provides a rough overview of the three co-creation workshops.

Workshop 1: 

This workshop focuses on the history of St Mary’s Abbey. We will be joined by the Head of Collections and Research, Andy Woods. He introduces himself and explains what his section of the workshop will cover on the meet the team page. Andy will talk to the group about the history of the Abbey and take the group on a tour of the outside ruins, and the ruins which are inside the basement of the Yorkshire Museum. In the second part of the workshop, the group will discuss what they find interesting about the history of the Abbey. The group will discuss different ways in which the history of the Abbey could be presented in an interesting and accessible way using an immersive audio experience.

Workshop 2: 

This workshop focuses on immersive audio. The group will explore examples of immersive audio uses in a heritage context. These could include: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Spatial Audio experiences. The group will discuss the accessibility of these technologies and workshop how immersive audio could be used to make an accessible heritage experience of St Mary’s Abbey.

Workshop 3:

This workshop focuses on cementing ideas for what a prototype accessible, immersive audio experience might look like.

10:30 Workshop Starts

10:30 - 10:40 Complete consent form, recieve payment, and complete travel expense form if required (10 mins)

10:40 - 11:25 Workshop Part 1 (45 mins - recorded)

11:25 - 11:35 Break (10 mins - refreshments provided)

11:35 - 12:20 Workshop Part 2 (45 mins - recorded)

12:20 -12:30 Complete Workshop Reflection (10 mins)

19:00 Workshop Starts

19:00 - 19:10 Complete consent form, recieve payment, and complete travel expense form if required (10 mins)

19:10 - 19:55 Workshop Part 1 (45 mins - recorded)

19:55 - 20:05 Break (10 mins - refreshments provided)

20:05 - 20:50 Workshop Part 2 (45 mins - recorded)

20:50 - 21:00 Complete Workshop Reflection (10 mins)

Part 1:

1. Introductions (everyone)

2. Introduction to the research project (Jess Schofield)

3. History of St Mary's Abbey (Andy Woods) this section will be accompanied by images in a PowerPoint presentation printed copies will be provided (in-person). The section will cover:

   1. What is an Abbey?

   2. Who were the Benedictines?

   3. When was the Abbey founded and why?

   4. What was life like in the Abbey?

   5. When did life in the Abbey end and why?

   6. Overview of the ruins of the Abbey

   7. Tour of the ruins (inside and outside the museum)

   8. Objects in the museum collection

   9. Overview of how the history of the Abbey has been shared with audiences recently

   10. Time for questions

Part 2:

Part 2 will discuss the history of the Abbey and how this could be presented in an accessible, immersive audio experience. The lead researcher (Jess) will use the following questions to prompt discussion:

1. How many times have you visited the Abbey ruins/Museum Gardens in the past?

2. How much did you know about the Abbey before today?

3. Have you been to any heritage sites where you really enjoyed the way the information was presented? What made it enjoyable?

4. Have you been to any heritage sites where you particularly disliked the way the information was presented? What didn't you like about it?

5. What parts of the history of St Mary's Abbey do you find the most engaging?

6. What do you think would be a good way of presenting that infomation?

Workshop Reflection

This research is interested in finding out about your experiences taking part in the workshops. At the end of each workshop, you will be asked to complete a workshop reflection form. You can do this digitally using your own device, or using one of our devices. There will also be printed copies of the consent form available at the in-person workshops. 

Workshop 2 will be run by the lead researcher (Jess Schofield), and supported by the research assisstant (Kim Steele). The Workshop 2 Slides include the discussion questions that will be asked during the workshop, and the audio examples we will use. This information is also detailed below.

You are welcome to listen to the audio examples in your own time either before or after the workshop. For the best experience, use headphones! If you do not use headphones then you may not be able to hear the audio effects.

Part 1:

Introductions:

1. Why were you interested in taking part in the project?
   
   Traditional audio guides:
   Example of mono vs stereo (use headphones)

2. What experience do you have using traditional audio guides?

3. In what ways do traditional audio guides succeed or fail at being interesting and accessible?

4. What does ‘immersive experience’ mean to you?

5. What does ‘immersive audio’ mean to you?
   
   Spatial audio:
   Example of spatial audio speech (use headphones)
   Example of spatial audio haircut (use headphones)
   Example of spatial audio choir (use headphones)
   Example of head-tracked spatial audio indoors (use headphones - works best using YouTube App on mobile device)
   Example of head-tracked spatial audio outdoors (use headphones - works best using YouTube App on mobile device)

Part 2:

1. How interested would you be in a heritage experience that uses spatial audio?

2. What are the accessibility benefits of a spatial audio experience for you?

3. What are the accessibility challenges of a spatial audio experience for you?
   
   The sound of St Mary's Abbey:
   Simulated acoustic of St Mary's Abbey Church
   Singing  example
   Singing example in  St Mary's Abbey  acoustic
   Burp example
   Burp example in  St Mary's Abbey  acoustic

4. How interested would you be in an experience that simulates the acoustics of St Mary’s Abbey?

5. What sounds or places within the Abbey would you be interested in experiencing?

6. Would you prefer an experience that can be done in-person, remotely, or both?

Workshop Reflection

This research is interested in finding out about your experiences taking part in the workshops. At the end of each workshop, you will be asked to complete a workshop reflection form. You can do this digitally using your own device, or using one of our devices. There will also be printed copies of the consent form available at the in-person workshops. 

Workshop 3 will be run by the lead researcher (Jess Schofield), and supported by the research assistant (Kim Steele). We will be looking at ideas and suggestions that have come up in previous workshops (both in-person and online) for the accessibility, history content, and content delivery of the experience. We will review a list of accessibility features, and use dot-voting and prioritisation techniques to review the history content and content delivery. I will print copies of the list of accessibility features and the workshop slides for all in-person participants.

If you are participating in this workshop in your own time, please work through the remote participation document.

Part 1:

• Introductions

• Review the access features that will be implemented

• Dot voting on:

  • • History Content

    • Story Content

    • Sound Content

• Discuss different headphone options

• Dot voting on:

  • • Technical Delivery

    • Content Delivery

Part 2:

• Question: What is the minimum and maximum amount of time you'd like the experience to take?

• Question: What makes a voice pleasant or annoying to listen to for you?

• Discussion of headtracking

• Through group discussion, we will prioritise features into four categories:

  • • Must have (this idea is critical)

    • Should have (this idea is important, but not necessary) 

    • Could have (this idea would be nice but isn't important or necessary) 

    • Won't have (this idea is completely unnecessary, outside the scope of the project, or it would make the experience worse)

• Review pending access features

Workshop Reflection

This research is interested in finding out about your experiences taking part in the workshops. At the end of each workshop, you will be asked to complete a workshop reflection form. You can do this digitally using your own device, or using one of our devices. There will also be printed copies of the consent form available at the in-person workshops.