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Lisa

this is an interesting parallel with a debate over here about the
proliferation of touchscreen kiosks in exhibitions (the question being "why
go to a museum to use what is available at home on the web?").  The answer I
try to apply is to offer something you can't get on the web or on a
PlayStation - this might be reality (e.g. objects, phenomena), unusual
interfaces (although Sony's EyeToy has knocked one option off my list) or
some form of large scale and/or theatricality.  That way we can offer the
richness of content that underlies our purpose within a day out for our
visitors (that could just have easily been spent in a theme park or a
shopping mall).

As other people have said, the technology is only useful if there is a
logical reason for it (i.e. the content demands it).  However, it is also
true that detailed content that would work better as a book or TV show
should probably be left to their natural media so we can concentrate on the
details that are exhibitable (or presentable).

Regards

Andy

Andy Lloyd              tel. +44 (0) 20 7942 4377
Interaction & Technology Specialist             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: Lisa Jo Rudy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 3:13 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: why tech


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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*

Unfortunately, technology in it's coolness can be very seductive.  So often
science centers wind up spending huge sums on high tech effects that become
old
and outdated much too quickly.

To me, it's part of the underlying concern that museums should be competing
with Disney (or, at the very least, Six Flags) for visitorship -- and can
only
do so with similarly impressive tech.  To be honest, since Disney and Six
Flags are way richer than any science center in the world, they'll always
have
cooler technology (if the point is solely to amuse and entertain).  What
they
WON'T have, though, is the real deal -- live animals, real artifacts,
workshops,
labs, docents, streams for exploring, star parties, and on and on.

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