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See, now we're veering close to another border that I think is one to
tread carefully around.

Essentially, it's the one that says "We do things that won't actually
protect visitors from the flu, we're willing to support potentially
harmful pseudoscience about health, as long as we don't get blamed for
anything. Better that than have deal with mistaken preconceptions."

Just my opinion,
Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
The Children's Museum


"There's where I come from, where I'm going, and I am lost in between."


-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]

ACM's Hand to Hand spring 2008 issue was focused on the theme of
cleanliness and safety in children's museums. In an article about the
2007 Reach Advisors Survey of children's museums (5,459 responses),
Susie Wilkining, Reach senior consultant, commented on Gen-X parents'
attitudes towards cleanliness, "If...kids get sick after a museum visit,
no matter where else a child might have been, [parents] tend to blame
the museum."

The hand stamp question seems directly related to the hand sanitizer
one. 
About hand sanitizers, Wilkening summed up the survey data by saying,
"If I were running a children's museum, I'd have [hand sanitizers.]
Whether or not they work, or whether or not kids use them, they give
visitors the perception that the museum cares about their well-being."

From a visitor services point of view-not a scientific one-for folks who
are highly sensitized to the flu issue, offering a "non-touching" option
for stamping/banding/stickering museum visitors seems like a good diea.

Mary Maher
Editor
Hand to Hand

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