I Just Want to See Objects?

The FIDO study done at YouTube may be relevant to user expectations for online museums. The YouTube study says:

One of the most important findings has to do with the difference between the large group of users who are on YouTube simply to watch videos and a smaller, but very important, group of more engaged users -- often uploaders. The latter group will, unsurprisingly, care about details like how to make communication with their audience easier and more effective, how to grow their audience, and even how to make money on YouTube. The former, on the other hand, want as simple of an interface as possible: "Just let me watch the video, please!"

Perhaps we are over-designing the virtual museum experience to meet the expectations of the exhibitors when all the visitors want us to do is "Just let us look at the objects, please!"

Or, as one elderly woman from a Quebec historical society put it: "I don't see why we should start trying to be teenyboppers all of a sudden."


On the other hand, the user's conceptualization of what they want often has more to do the desired user experience (simple) then the overall feature set (possibly more complex.)