An experimental electronic visitor center : a study of visitors at Acadia National Park

Laser, Melissa

'This study investigated the public's acceptance of a hypermidia kiosk and the possibility of affecting a person's attitude using the information contained in the kiosk. The natural resource management isue in this study is the Carriage Road Rehabilitation Project in Acadia National Park.' ... 'This rehabilitation project was the issue this study focused on to determine attitudes about natural resource management practices.' 'An informative computer kiosk was created using HTML, the language of the World Wide Web. The kiosk, calledthe Experimental Electronic Visitor Center (EEVC), contained general information about Acadia National Park including a section on vista maintenance. This kiosk was set up at Acadia National Park's nature center for two weeks in July of 1996.' 'Randomly selected visitors were asked if they would like to partake in the study. Those visitors who did participate, viewed the information for varying lengths of time (user defined). Those who viewed the information were given a survey with a self-addressedstamped return envelope to complete whenthey had returned home from their visit.' 'The result of the study was a general approvalof the hypermedia kiosk with the majority of visitors indicating that interactivityis important when learning about natural resources. As for affecting the attitudes of visitors, half those responding indicated their opinions were not changed bythe kiosk. The other half of the respondents were divided fairly evenly as to whether it definitely changed their mind or whether they were not sure of their opinion. All results must be viewed with caution as the return rate was very low (12.5%) and may not accurately represent the sample population.' /STUDY LOCATIONS:/ /MOUNT DESERT ISLAND/