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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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What with re-routing the listserv to my work account, I don't think this has
managed to get through, (if it did... D'oh! Sorry for reposting.) Let me try
again....

The furor has died down, we're back home, so I wanted to know: if you were
at the ASTC conference in San Jose: what did you think. Sharing our
experiences there might be helpful to those who couldn't attend. I humbly
offer:

        STUFF I LEARNED AT THE 2004 ASTC CONFERENCE

My favorite sessions were those that focused on concrete ideas that could be
used at my own museum (or yours). For example, I was honored to be involved
in The Best Damn Things We've Ever Done - great work by Cathy & Linda in
organizing this. My fellow presenters offered up great idea for exhibits
(loved the Big Machines part from Great Lakes), marketing (NC Museum of Life
and Science has turned their school brochure into a calendar), PR (Science
North opened a human body exhibit with a press event that had reporters
facing off against surgeons in a game of Operation), floor programming
(Denver Natural history uses wireless laptops to summon additional info,
encourage further investigation by visitors and add a personal touch ---
"want me to e-mail you this URL?") and demos (Franklin is great at these,
especially judging by the show-stopper that Kerry Sautner did at the
session).

I learned that arguing is good. In science, a healthy debate is necessary to
get results, and at the conference sessions I think there were several times
when I learned more because people were willing to say "I think you're
wrong, and here's why". This polite but spirited discourse worked especially
well at the Faking It session, when we debated the role of
simulations/models/replicas in our exhibits and programs. (Are they a good
tool, or just telling lies to our audience?) The same thing happened at NEON
when some of us discussed the role of technology in outreach - thanks for
giving me some new food for thought, Ramon.

Fittingly enough, I gained some new insight on how technology can be used in
a good way. I was a little worried that the Tech Museum might be one big
place for web-surfing, and what's the point of that? Shows what I know. The
Tech-sters do an admirable job of keeping it real - if often augmented by
lotsa fancy and expensive gadgetry.  Loved the Tech Challenge I saw at
Outreach Live. Their kids area was one of the most ambitious and original
exhibits I've seen. Thanks to the Tech for hosting. Typical of how great
they were was Gabe, a floor programmer who did a great demo with The
Revolver (a large spinning platform that several of us stood on while Gabe
demonstrated things about centripetal force, inertia, perception and
pendulums - it was way cool); he stood around discussing the physics with me
for half an hour.

I learned that the Exploratorium rocks. I lost count of the incredibly cool
experiments they had. And they do it without the stylistic interior design
that almost all science centers use. It was a workshop in a big aqirplane
hanger, and it somehow managed to exceed my high expectations.

One downside (well, aside from the not-so-hot food service) was that the
trip to Moneterey Bay Aquarium did not include the promised "Behind the
scenes" tour. That being said, it was a beautiful place with great exhibits.
Fine job in how they displayed the habitat, and the animals as part of that.
Plus we saw the baby great white shark! (Also super-cool: through the 28'
telescope at Chabot observatory, you could see the Ring Nebula.)

Hope to see y'all in Virginia,
Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
Science Center of Connecticut

"If Bush is gonna keep arguing against science, why not go all the way and
argue against gravity? I bet he could convince some of his supporters that
they're floating."
           -Get Your War On

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