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There was a bit of a discussion at the AAM conference about these  
during the "Silverbacks and Young Turks"  session.    Erika Keisser  
from Ontario Science center, one of the young turks,  talked about her  
dislike of personal audio anythings in exhibits.   Her point is that  
these things preclude any social interaction between visitors.    It's  
a really good point.  When there is something interesting to us our  
first reaction is to pull someone else in to share the experience.   
("Come here! You've got to see this!")   If you need audio I think you  
are much better off with some sort of focussed sound device.  With that  
type of audio two or three people together know that each of them is  
hearing the same thing.  With something interesting being said, people  
will often nod to each other or mouth a wow and have a much better  
chance of actually discussing the topic with each other.  That social  
reinforcement will never happen with a personal audio device.

Clifford Wagner

On May 6, 2006, at 1:41 AM, Mike Shanahan wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> *********************************************************************** 
> ******
>
>
>
> Aloha,
>
>
>
> Has anyone had experience in using wireless headphones or wireless  
> audio
> handsets in an exhibit?  We're trying to find the best solution for
> providing audio information for a new exhibit (NOAA's Science on a
> Sphere) and would like to avoid the messiness of headphone cords etc.  
> if
> possible.  Has anyone tried wireless sets?  If so, do you lose a  
> certain
> amount of them due to customers walking off with them?  Or just picking
> up the headsets on one place and leaving them in another place?  Any
> insights you have would be great.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Mike
>
>
>
> Mike Shanahan
>
> Education Director
>
> Bishop Museum
>
> 1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu HI 96817
>
> Office: (808) 847-8235
>
> FAX: (808) 847-8250
>
> Cell/pager: (808) 386-1419
>
> www.bishopmuseum.org
>
>
>
>
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