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It seems to me that technology is a valid subject in and of itself. Hi-tech 
is only a small subset of humanity's relationship with the tools and methods 
that comprise technology. The technology used to create touchscreen kiosks and 
IMAX films is a smaller subset still. Helping our visitors to learn   
technologies ("for technology's sake") benefits them in their long-term skill and 
comfort in learning new technologies as they arise.

In response to Lisa's question: "Isn't it simply exploration of the natural 
world making use of the senses,
intellect, and experimentation?  Eg, you don't need "technology" to recreate
Galileo's gravity experiments or Darwin's research.  It's a matter of
observation, experimentation and reasoning, it seems to me..."

Any apparatus or procedure one would use to conduct experiments and measure 
the results is technology. You can't do Galileo's gravity experiments or 
Darwin's research without technology.

Charlie Stout
Media Arts Manager
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum
www.aahom.org


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