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Hi Sean,
When Liberty Science Center opened the first time (1993) I was head of the
department that repaired exhibits. Because of visitor complaints, we
developed a check-list that included anything that wasn't 100% - if a light
bulb was out, if anything was missing, basically anything that didn't work
the way it was meant to. After crunching numbers for a while we realized
there was a fine line between when we could keep up with the repairs and
when we couldn't. We got complaints in the Suggestion Box from visitors
when about 95% of the exhibits were working, and when the number was higher
the complaints stopped. So maybe you need to get a feel for what that
number is at your institution. It may be that a very small difference in
percentage makes a huge difference in visitors' experience.
In terms of repair strategies, we had teams of people responsible for each
area - a more experienced technician and a less experienced one. We had
specified the exhibits so that there was a lot of standardization of parts
(same kinds of computers, same size monitors, same types of light bulbs,
trackballs, and so on) so that we always had in back what we needed in
front. That's a very expensive strategy if your exhibits are different from
one another, but in terms of how you deal with things in the future it's
good to keep in the back of your head. We even standardized the types of
case locks and screw types that we used and that we'd let our vendors use.
This way anybody going out to check the gallery had the right key and type
of screwdriver and didn't have to go back to the shop.
Hope this helps!
Barbara Punt
Punt Consulting
409 North PCH, Suite 326
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Telephone (310) 937-3366
Fax (815) 377-3633
Barbara @puntconsulting.com
<http://www.puntconsulting.com/> www.puntconsulting.com
<http://www.puntconsulting.com/>
When in doubt ... Punt!
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Dear all,
In the eternal quest for a foolproof and meaningful method of measuring
performance of interactives I would like to know two things:
1. How do folks measure the percentage uptime of their interactives i.e. if
you say they are up 95% of the time how do you actually know?
2. What repair strategies do you employ i.e. do you have staff waiting for a
breakdown?
We are examining the whole question of what does a statement of " we will
have 95% of our interactives working at all times" really mean and is there
any way of having a robust method of determining it??? So any ideas from
other places would be gratefully accepted.
Cheers
Sean Gaffaney
Head of Gallery and New Developments
Museum of Science and Industry
Manchester UK
email: [log in to unmask]
When in doubt ... Punt!
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