Organizing ‘Walking to the Next’ during Interaction

Science Communicators’ Embodied Practices of Guiding Visitors to Successive Exhibits

Abstract

This paper investigated how Science Communicators (SCs) guide visitors to consecutive exhibits at the Miraikan Science Museum, using multimodal interaction analysis. First, we analyzed how SCs encouraged visitors to walk from one exhibit to the next. By shifting their gaze, posture, or position, the SCs attracted visitors’ attention, but employed various cues to induce them to walk. In case 1, the SC walked backward to avoid blocking the visitors’ view, thus encouraging one of them to walk. In case 2, having attracted the visitors’ attention, the SC prompted them to walk by beginning to walk himself. Next, we analyzed how SCs sustained conversation while walking. In case 1, the SC held the visitors’ gaze, thus visually maintaining their interactional space. In case 2, when the SC’s utterances had captured the visitors’ attention, they all faced forward while walking. These practices are "Miraikan style" methods of approaching exhibit interpretation. Interactions at Miraikan often involve a degree of fluidity, as SCs incorporate physical gestures into their interpretations and adapt to the visitors’ responses.