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I'm going to second Paul's point (for the second time today, and no  
he is not paying me, nor am I his sock puppet) as a general  
principle, but recognize there are exceptions. The question as  
originally stated was what was our favorite museums with hands on  
places, or was it places with the our favorite hands on experiences  
and to all of Paul's reasons for thinking of small museums first when  
asked this question, I would add that quite often, even when I love a  
science center or children's museum, I recognize that a lot of their  
content is not their own. They may buy some exhibitions or  
interactives off the shelf or they may rent exhibitions. I have  
noticed at some sites up to half of the stuff they have on the floor  
is unoriginal content.

Now this is not a bad thing. Quite the opposite for a host of reasons.

But if you are asking for my FAVORITE place, (a completely subjective  
and individual assessment) originality is a large criteria for me.  
And one tends to find true originality in small to medium size  
institutions for a whole load of reasons we could discuss.

Now that I think of it, even when I consider my favorite hand-on  
spaces in larger institutions they tend to be discrete rooms or areas  
set aside from the larger traffic patterns, as were Jonah's  
contributions to this thread. I don't think this is a coincidence.

I am not sure if size is the only criteria that matters in this case,  
but it is not irrelevant.

Matt White





On Oct 10, 2007, at 3:16 PM, Paul Orselli wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> ********************************************************************** 
> *******
>
> Not to split hairs, but if we're talking entire museums (as opposed  
> to just exhibitions inside particular museums),  I'll happily stand  
> by my size comments.
>
> I can usually find something cool inside any museum I visit.  But  
> to find a museum that is great from start to finish, uniformly  
> great, not just pockets of greatness, becomes a much more difficult  
> task as square footage increases.
>
> So yes, Jonah. Size DOES matter.
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From:  Paul Orselli
>>
>> They are, for the most part, NOT some of the horribly oversized  
>> museums
>> found on ASTC's letterhead.  (Sorry! Just my opinion... your  
>> mileage may
>> vary.)
>> -------------------
>>
>> My mileage doth indeed vary!
>>
>> I note that that museums cited as having great hands-on stuff  
>> included
>> the Exploratorium (naturally), the Science Museum of Minnesota, OMSI,
>> the Ontario Science Center, and the Louisville Science. These are  
>> some
>> pretty big places! (Correct me if I'm wrong, but Explora isn't  
>> exactly
>> tiny, either... At least not compared to where I work.)
>>
>
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