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These are interesting thoughts and observations.  When I started working at the Exploratorium in 1972, we just built stuff and fiddled with it until it worked to our satisfaction.  But "satisfaction" actually meant until we communicated to visitors what we intended.  We talked with visitors, changed signs, watched, observed, counted, and modified.  These are all steps in formative evaluation and assessment.  In the day, most exhibits built for museums were created by outside contractors.  They made their best guess, deliver it and walked away.  

The secret sauce of the Exploratorium was our luxury to fiddle––working prototypes,. as well called them.  It was rigorous work.  Not well documented by enlarge, but part of our culture and "fabric."  It's almost always possible to improve and modify the exhibit experience, it's an integral part of culture and communication.

Over time, the tradition morphed and expanded, formal educational and evaluative programs emerged, many things were codified as individual museum cultures meshed, and the community grew.  Interestingly, as I reflect back on my career and development, Frank O. didn't send us around to other museums, and he typically didn't mention that some else had created something similar.  We generally read the scientific literature, and caught the latest craze.  He watch us re-invent "the wheel." And we got it right sometimes, but the dedication was to getting it right.

I thinks it hard to know exactly what works before hand, but you know it when you get it.
Charlie

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