ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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I think this is a wonderful issue and an interesting perspective from Monica. I don't have a lot of time for a full throated response on all aspects of this issue I find fascinating, so I hope you will forgive the brief bullet points. (Edit: Erich Rose posted a great response while I was writing this. I agree with him, "Yet another BIG discussion with no clear cut right or wrong." I would even go so far as to say that even putting the discussion in terms of "right or wrong" is, er, um wrong. The discussion should be what works for your institution to reach your goals within the context of its specific content, mission, audience,and resources. The optimal answer may not even be the same across exhibitions or projects within one institution. As my geometry teacher used to say, there are many roads to Utopia.)

*First I would be interested in some data. Monica posits an interesting hypothesis, one that is worthy of exploration, but do we have any studies that address this issue? I know of some in the formal education setting regarding mutli-languiage schools and communities but none in informal.

* I have worked in museums with multiple ethnic/language groups (including one where the dominant second language was French Canadian) and I have found that multi-language labels/signs, while an important ingredient of an inclusive museum or science center, it is not the only one and sometimes not even the most important. If an institution works to develop deep and significant partnerships with a community, whether that institution has labels in every specific language pales in comparison. And I find this true across all kinds of groups, not just those defined by ethnicity and language. Build a  sincere, systemic program of partnership and collaboration with groups and they are much more likely to forgive small issues like signs in every single language in your community.  People are more reasonable on these issues than we sometimes give them credit for. Often when people complain about language issues, accessibility issues, etc they have much larger and multi-faceted complaints about that institution but their frustration coalesces around a single issue like atmospheric moisture around a dust particle to form a water droplet. Enough water droplets can form a cloud.

So to address Monica's point, if an institution otherwise has good relationships and partnerships with the non-English and/or non-whatever-the-second-language-is speakers, whether they have every sign or label in every conceivable language may be beside the point. If you have bad relations, and those groups perceive barriers to visiting and excluded from the museum, then signs and labels in their language won't help much. No decision exists in a vacuum. One resource for this to help your institution would be to reach across the content barriers that often divide museums and talk to institutions like the Tenement Museum in New York that not only try to reach their multi-language communities with content programming, but also with support with ESOL and citizenship classes. I suspect their experiences could help science centers with these issues.

*At some point technology may very well make this problem moot, if it hasn't already. We can already put even our largest text panels on to flat, touch screens that can change languages literally with the flick of a wrist. The Muhammad Ali Center had wonderful examples of this in action if anyone visited when ASTC was in Louisville. They had just Spanish and English, but it could easily be done for a dozen languages. 

But this is expensive, so another solution might be to use smart phone or tablet apps like World Lens (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2OfQdYrHRs) which translates posted text visually and in situ to maintain design and layout. And since recent immigrants tend to be among our poorest visitors, you might want to arm a dozen docents with an iPad with World Lens installed to help any visitor with any of dozens of languages. (My dream exhibition in this area: Since Science and Technology Centers often showcase the latest in these areas I can imagine an exhibit on dying indigenous languages around the world actually written ONLY in those languages and the only way to read the labels is with the support of the latest in hi-tech translation tools.)

Anyway, just some instant reactions. Great topic.

Matthew White


On Dec 6, 2011, at 11:03 AM, Jeff Courtman wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Monica:
> 
> Interesting perspective, but :)......in fact, if an institutions restricts the graphic language, they perpetuate a norm that is exclusive.  You say that it is dependent on location, but how, then, would you suggest the determination be made?  Does it require X number of Y language speakers before the effort is made?  That you can't be all inclusive can be handled in other ways, as you suggest.  The important point is that institutions engage in such dialogue and make a good faith effort.  While it may require a paradigm shift in how many approach the graphic design process, it seems an effort well worth making.
> 
> I don't mean to sound too critical - I am a middle-aged, balding white guy who is fairly aware of the privileges that this status has afforded me - I just think it is a discussion that is well worth having again...
> 
> Sounds like a good topic for an ASTC session, or even a RAP...
> 
> On Dec 6, 2011, at 9:39 AM, (Monica Post) wrote:
> 
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
>> *****************************************************************************
>> 
>> I understand that this is not a popular opinion, but I think it needs to be said.  Depending on where you are located (because there are some exceptions), bilingual signs actually send a message of exclusion rather than inclusion.  In my community we have large Hispanic, Laotian and Croatian populations.  A bilingual sign (Spanish/American English), says to those who don't speak Spanish or English "sorry, but this museum isn't for you".  On the other hand, by using the one predominate language you are not excluding anyone, just working within social norms.  Fortunately, technology has made language translation so easy now all signs can be translated into audio versions.  I also heard the other day that there is a Droid app that takes a text based sign and translates it to any (I'm somewhat skeptical of that) language.  So, I reccommend caution regarding bilingual signage.
>> Monica
>> ******************************************
>> Monica Post
>> MPR Museum Consulting
>> 105 NE 64th Street
>> Des Moines, IA 50327
>> ****Phone: 515 249-2222  ****  This is new!
>> www.MPRconsultants.com
>> 
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