ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
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Well, having seen the Crime Scene Insects exhibit, it is kinda text heavy
and I can see why some might not want to look too closely!
But in any case, we did some measuring of dwell time (far from as thoroughly
as many other institutions, but we did it), and 'human delivered
experiences' had a far higher dwell time that unmanned ones. For example,
mean time people spent looking at a plexiglass case containing
bones/fossils: 21 seconds. Mean time they spent checking out bones fossils
on a table with a staff member: 205 seconds.
And to cite the intuitive rather than quantitative... it's no surprise that
visitors dig the HDE. Many people enjoy social interactions, and signage or
written/computer instructions/info may not have the particular answer/info
that the visitor wants. Plus, HDE can provide things that unstaffed exhibits
just can't (be it live animals, liquid nitrogen or the Mentos n Soda demo).
Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
The Children's Museum (formerly the Science Center of Connecticut)
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits."
-Albert Einstein
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Siegel [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 9:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Human delivered experiences
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
*
Hello, all:
We have been noticing something anecdotally, and I am wondering if
others have similar experience. Visitors to the Hall seem
increasingly to be interested in our scheduled demo's, cart based
programs, and interactive theater programs (programs involving human
facilitation). Similarly, visitors always rate our Explainers as the
high point of the visitor experience here. In a traveling exhibition
we are hosting, Crime Scene Insects, I have been noticing that almost
all the visitors crowd around the live bug cart, facilitated by an
Explainer, that we bring in.
I am wondering whether anecdotal evidence or systematic research is
available to assess the importance of these "human delivered
experiences" (demos, cart programs, science lunch counters,
facilitated labs, theater programs) vis a vis their counterparts of
unfacilitated experiences such as exhibitions, media kiosks, etc. I
am not including formal workshops and classes in my thinking about
these experiences, as they seem to be less "free choice" from the
visitors pov.
I will be glad for any pointers in that direction from the ASTC List
swarm mind.
Eric Siegel
Executive VP
Programs and Planning
NY Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Queens, NY 11368
[log in to unmask]
718 699 0005 x 317
www.nyscience.org
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