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An interesting issue with whisper dishes and speaking tubes seems to be how
easy the design makes it for participants to 'set up' their collaborative
interaction. There are exceptions, but I often find that speaking tubes work
well when participants can see each other while speaking. Whisper dishes
generally require them to turn their backs towards each other. I once
designed an arrangement to avoid this.

I think an obvious 'mouthpiece' ring is important. I've seen some designs
that just have footprints on the ground to show you where to stand. I've
even seen whisper dishes from outdoor play companies with no indication at
all where to position your mouth before speaking. (Shiny commercial
'rip-offs' of science centre exhibits often lack some vital design feature,
don't they!) Play companies also used to supply rigid steel speaking tubes
that quickly filled up with rain-water and litter stuffed in by children.
Speaking tubes should run upwards from the mouthpieces, not downwards.

Children are better than adults at interacting with others that they don't
know, but it's always your friends who you want to play with first. I
haven't seen the New York Hall of Science whisper dishes, but Internet
photos make me wonder if it may not be so easy to separate from your friends
and run quickly from one dish to the other. Could this possibly be a factor?

Promoting public engagement with science
through a contagious delight in phenomena
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Give people facts and you feed their minds for an hour.
Awaken curiosity and they feed their own minds for a lifetime.
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Ian Russell   (Twitter: ianrusselluk)


-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eric Siegel

As NASA found out with their "faster better cheaper" mantra, you can pick
two of those three.  Same with best, most robust, and most economical.
Streams don't come cheap!  I like dancing, laminar flow fountains.  Great,
robust, but not cheap.  I have never seen a kid get excited by a whisper
dish on our playground.  Speaking tubes, a bit more.  

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