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David

this is a big issue at the Science Museum, London, where most new
development is in thematic, mixed media galleries.  We have pure, Hands-On
spaces which do a great job of allowing free play with phenomena, but we
have 40,000 sqm of space to fill...

A colleague came up with an interesting classification to help plan
development projects:  most interactives can be categorised as either
"Demonstrations" or "Tasks".  "Demonstrations" are exhibits where the
interaction is directly associated with a process or phenomenon, and the
main development issues surround the degree to which it is real or
simulated.  For a project manager, that might tell you the sort of staff to
allocate.  Conversely, a "Task"-based exhibit is one where the interaction
is not necessarily intrinsic to the content, but is purely a means of
communicating something else.  The development issues to resolve here are
usually the feasibility of the activity with the chosen audience and then
how the content maps to that activity.  I guess the point here is not to
assume that Tasks are inferior to Demonstrations, but to recognise that they
are different and require a different approach to develop them properly.

A good example of a successful task activity was a sorting game we produced
about nuclear waste.  The content is about how waste is classified (low,
intermediate, high-level etc), and what it actually is.  We produced a set
of transparent flasks containing replica nuclear waste (!), and the activity
is to insert these into one of four "readers" that correspond to different
levels of waste.  There are some deliberate surprises in the selection of
materials, and we have found that visitors can understand and complete the
activity AND talk about the subject afterwards, and seem to enjoy the game
(which is a bit "X-files").  I am sure you will agree that this wasn't
really a suitable subject for showing the real phenomenon (at least, not
with these materials).

Regards

Andy

Andy Lloyd                              tel. +44 (0) 20 7942 4377
Development Manager             fax +44 (0) 20 7942 4383
Science Museum Solutions        www.sciencemuseum.org.uk

NMSI Trading Limited, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2DD, United Kingdom



-----Original Message-----
From: David Taylor [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 6:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Hands-on, Minds-on

...
Unfortunately we are often called upon to develop exhibits
that are about subjects that aren't able to be experienced
in real time and on a human scale.

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