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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Hanna,
One evaluator who presented at ASTC commented that the goal for most visitors with interactive museum exhibits is to figure out "how it works," i.e. how to achieve the presumed worthwhile result that the exhibit designers have programmed in. He proposed that if we want visitors to engage in a more creative way with exhibits, we have to change the part of our design process that prompts visitors to use exhibits in a linear "get the carrot" way.
I bring this up because I wonder whether the "win" of understanding that "knowledge construction is shown as an open-ended and social process" is something that visitors will be able to connect to. If we want people to engage with exhibits in more open-ended ways, we have to extend exhibit literacy. I'm not sure how that change happens.
Nina Simon
International Spy Museum
-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hanna Sathiapal
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 5:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: visitor participation in content creation
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************
What a pity to have missed the discussion about museum-users as
participants. Thank you Ian for sharing your blog from 1998. In the
meantime, what are your experiences with projects on visitor
participation in content creation?
In the context of an exhibition on how an encylopaedia is produced I
am thinking of a part with a selection of curiosity-cabinet-like
objects that visitors can use to build exhibition. By arranging,
contextualizing and categorizing objects, knowledge construction is
shown as an open-ended and social process. Does anyone know of any
similar approaches and corresponding experiences?
The curator's objection is that people likely to visit an exhibition
on encyclopaedias in the national library would'nt want to play with
objects.
Any thoughts about this?
Thank you and best,
Hanna Sathiapal
fingertip hands-on stationen
birchlenstrasse 10, ch-8600 dübendorf
+41 43 355 92 70, www.fingertip.ch
Am 10.11.2006 um 00:47 schrieb Ian Russell:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> **********************************************************************
> *******
>
> At 19:12 09/11/2006, Nina Simon wrote:
>
>> Dear museum smarties,
>>
>> Like many of you, I was energized, inspired, simultaneously over- and
>> under-whelmed by ASTC this year. I was particularly motivated by
>> some
>> discussions about ways to more meaningfully bring visitors into the
>> museum as users--active participants in content creation.
>>
>> So, I've started a blog, Museum 2.0 (http://
>> www.museumtwo.blogspot.com),
>> to explore some of these ideas. The web is amazing for its
>> ability to
>> evolve and adapt, and web 2.0 applications give users high-value,
>> personalized content based on their social participation in them.
>> Why
>> can't museums do the same? Can this model of visitor/user engagement
>> work in our halls and programs? How far can/will/should we go?
>
> I've just had a strange experience!
>
> Reading Nina Simon's message, I recalled chairing an online
> discussion about the same great question, back in 1998 as an
> official, 'virtual' part of that year's Museums and the Web
> conference in Toronto http://www.archimuse.com/mw98/abstracts/
> russell.html under the title, 'Symmetrical Transactions'.
>
> I searched Google to see if any vestiges of that discussion still
> remained in cyberspace. I discovered that it's all still there,
> fossilised in a long-forgotten, unlinked corner of my OWN website.
> http://www.interactives.co.uk/graffiti/
>
> It felt peculiar to read again through this stimulating discussion
> lasting less than a month over eight years ago.
>
>
> [log in to unmask] * http://www.interactives.co.uk
> *
> Give people facts and you feed their minds for an hour.
> Awaken curiosity and they feed their own minds for a lifetime.
> *
> Ian Russell
> **********************************************************************
> *
> More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
> Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://
> www.astc.org.
> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
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fingertip hands-on stationen
birchlenstrasse 10, ch-8600 dübendorf
+41 43 355 92 70, www.fingertip.ch
***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]
***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
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