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I've never heard of an optimum number of target audiences, and look forward
to what others have to say about this.

The one published work that comes to mind is Betty Davidson's "New
Dimensions for Traditional Dioramas" (available from the AAM bookstore)
which reports that designing for visitors with disabilities increased use
and comprehension for all visitors. I believe the Denver Museum of Nature
and Science had similar findings for their "Edge of the Wild" exhibit. Both
of those were updates to diorama halls.

Has anyone heard of successful attempts at "layering"? Beverly Serrell warns
against it in Chapter 6 of "Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive Approach."
Denver tested color-coding and other graphic devices in its "Prehistoric
Journey", and found that visitors didn't perceive the distinctions that were
supposed to represent different "layers". I did a study here at the Academy
on an exhibit with labels in three different languages, each consistently in
a different color. The visual impact of so much text discouraged many
visitors from reading.

Here's one on layering from your own museum, Georgia-Gina. Take a look at
the Roger Miles article "Lessons in Human Biology: Testing a Theory of
Exhibition Design" in The International Journal of Museum Management and
Curatorship 5 (1986): 227-40, for an unsuccessful example of trying to use
exhibit layout for layering.

Anecdotally, the exhibits here at the Academy that seem to do the best job
with interpretation are those for which the developers have insisted on
selecting a target audience (such as families with young children) rather
than "everybody". Good luck sorting this one out!

Lisa Hubbell
Program Evaluator
California Academy of Sciences
875 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
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> From: Georgia-Gina Koutsika <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Informal Science Education Network
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 17 May 2005 13:17:24 +0100
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: optimum number of target audiences
> 
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> I am trying to find out whether there are any books/studies that indicate that
> optimum number of target audiences for specific museums/exhibitions.
> From experience, I believe that one can not have too many, despite 'layering'
> the exhibition/content but I do not have any research evidence to back this
> up.
> 
> Any help will be much appreciated. You could also reply off the list at
> [log in to unmask]
> Thank you
> Gina
> 
> G-Gina Koutsika
> Gallery Learning & Audience Advocate / Darwin Centre Phase 2
> The Natural History Museum
> 
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