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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>We were wondering if a public wifi connection would encourage 
>parents (and teens) to sit on the sidelines and surf the web or 
>catch up on email while their children/younger siblings were engaged 
>in the exhibits, rather than participating with them. I believe 
>there were a couple of responses to that question that brought this 
>up.

It's the presence of the devices itself that's encouraging the 
behavior, not the presence of wifi.

 From the user point of view wifi is simply faster than relying on my 
mobile service provider. The lack of wifi doesn't make my access to 
email and the rest of the Internet less ubiquitous.

If you know that people are going to engage in certain kinds of 
behavior, think of strategies that take advantage of the behavior ... 
let me sign up for museum activities while I'm sitting there, let me 
check on the schedule of the next film, let me take part in a survey 
based on what my child is doing, create experiences that build on 
what I've already been doing in your museum during my visit. Easier 
said than done, but take a long-view of what you're visitors are 
doing and be part of it.

-bw.
-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bruce Wyman
Director of Creative Development

SECOND STORY  |  714 n. fremont st., #200, portland, or 97227
www.secondstory.com  |  o: 503.827.7155 x1123

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