ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

One of many questions that The Tech Museums' after-opening evaluation tried
to address was "What is the impact on the visitor experience of broken
exhibits?" Randi Korn's study provided some hard data. But, as many
evaluation do, raised about as many questions as it answered. As a
follow-up, I did some informal research on visitor perceptions of broken
exhibits based upon the limited data I could gather within our institution.
A poster session that I hosted at AAM in 2001 fostered some lively
discussion, but no immediate action. 

If you are interested, you will find my paper, Everything is Broken: Visitor
Perceptions and Reality and session notes at:

http://www.thetech.org/rmpo2/commentary_/everythingisbro_/default.htm

Susan B.F Wageman
Senior Director, Evaluation, Planning & Research
The Tech Museum of Innovation
201 S Market St              408-795-6119   
San Jose, CA  95113  USA     fax 408-279-7167
[log in to unmask]      

***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]