“Cyberpals!/Les Cybercopains!”: A Look at Online Museum Visitor Experiences

This article examines approaches to creating museum Web sites that offer quality experiences to online users. In six case studies, museum Web developers in the U.S. and Canada describe how they have made the most of available human and financial resources. The development history of each site offers insights into the origins of a design and its subsequent versions, and describes the influence of institutional missions, philosophies, success indicators—and financial and human resources, the most crucial factors. The study found considerable variety in the backgrounds, expertise, titles and training of people developing Web sites within institutions. Web teams developed “exchange” experiences through online discussion, and by creating links among users, or between museum staff and users. In three case studies, Web sites encouraged visitors to cycle between online and on‐site museum visits. Web developers describe using quantitative and qualitative online audience research strategies. WebTrends^TM software has enabled Web teams to report complex log analyses. Creating online experiences in partnership with users is the intention of Web developers.     

“Think With Me:” David Carr's Enduring Invitation

David Wildon Carr (1945–2016) was recognized in the international cultural community as a scholar and instigator whose critical thinking challenged museum practitioners to reflect on the purpose and responsibility of their work. In his recent papers and lectures, he argued that those discussing museum experiences are late to enter into a dialogue already in progress—a dialogue which carefully considers the whole person in a community, and wherein thinking with a museum is an enterprise embedded in the learner's experience. This forum, written by three museum professionals in response to his recent untimely death, is intended to capture personal impressions of Carr's contribution to the continuing work of museums. Each author quotes from Carr's writings, since his words have such enduring strength—a strength that will continue to resonate long into the future. Each also offers readers some personal background on his work as a teacher.     

“My Child is Your Child”: Family Behavior in a Mexican Science Museum

Abstract In this paper we describe the particularities of Latin American museum visitors as learners through an exploratory study that took place at Universum, Museo de las Ciencias, a science museum located in Mexico City. The exploration of the learning experiences of Latin American family groups was carried out by means of a case study approach and from a socio‐cultural theory perspective. This inquiry of 20 family groups reveals that nuances of the concept of “family,” in the Mexican context, are important in studying family learning in museum settings. The prominent roles of the extended family and interactions within family groups are discussed as intrinsic traits of a family’s museum learning. In addition, the outcomes of this study highlight the impact that the Latin American notion of educación has on museum education and research, as it encompasses issues that relate to the perpetuation of socio‐cultural values, child‐rearing, and ultimately, cultural identity.     

“Ferry Me O’er”: Musing on the Future of Museum Culture

Abstract Museum professionals face unprecedented challenges in the digital world of the twenty‐first century. How will we meet those challenges and who will lead us to the new shore of our future? We need museum professionals who act as ferrymen, guiding the museum community and its constituents through the troubled waters of our age to cultural reform that leads us to the essential purpose of art: love.     

Designing an “Architecture of Information”— The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

For the permanent exhibition at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum the design approach was minimal and transparent, and the designers were in dialogue only with the story — not with the history of design or the conventions governing most museum presentations. We reached for a sense of immersion by trying to erase the seams between exhibits and architecture. Display strategies included the removal of conventional barriers of certain glass-encased vitrines: some objects can be touched, and reactions sought are as visceral as they are intellectual. We tried above all to see that people leave the museum not profoundly dejected but with some other feeling evoking the resilience of life and hope. The design intended to make the environment so united with its subject that memory of the museum experience and the sharing of memory through discussion will carry on in the lives of the visitors.     

“Loving,Knowing Ignorance”: A Problem for the Educational Mission of Museums

In this essay, I suggest that Mariana Ortega's concept of “loving, knowing ignorance” (2006) provides a useful conceptual tool for museum practitioners who seek to advance a progressive mission. This form of ignorance assumes authority in describing and acting on behalf of a subject, even as it fails to take seriously the subject's self‐knowledge and agency. While Ortega initially coined this term to describe the stance of white feminists toward women of color, here I extend the concept to describe a wider range of knowers—in this case, the institutional museum. Using a case study at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to illustrate this problem, I will suggest that becoming aware of instances of loving, knowing ignorance and learning to avoid it is a key skill for museum professionals who hope for their institutions to fulfill their educational mission in a diverse and democratic society.     

Taku Manawa/My Human Rights,a Case Study in Partnership: Waikato Museum Working with the Human Rights Commission

Abstract Under the Human Rights Act, the Human Rights Commission is responsible for education and advocacy about human rights in New Zealand. In order to reach more people and ensure human rights education is ongoing, the commission initiated a human rights community development approach, creating the Taku Manawa (My Human Rights) program. Representatives from key community organizations were selected for a regional pilot program. These representatives were then trained in the knowledge and ability needed to undertake human rights advocacy and implement this advocacy in their communities. This paper explains how the Waikato Museum was first identified as a key community organization or a “human rights museum.” Exploring the relationship with the Human Rights Commission and leaders from local and national community organizations, this paper also examines how Taku Manawa has encouraged positive social change and greater awareness of human rights issues through the Waikato Museum’s community events, public programming, and exhibition planning.     

Small Wonder: Using SEM Images to Exhibit the “Small Stuff”

Abstract Digital image enlargements can be a powerful method for displaying small specimens in museums. In 2007, the Royal Alberta Museum held an exhibition of 28 SEM (scanning electron microscope) images of seeds and other subfossil macroremains, which were shown in a fine‐art format. The exhibition was prepared by a museum team using images derived from in‐house curatorial research work. This paper describes the exhibition components and reports on an attempt to engage the visitors more closely with the images by asking them to suggest identifications for some “mystery” specimens.     

“Let's Go to MY Museum”: Inspiring Confident Learners and Museum Explorers at Children's Museums

Abstract Not a month goes by at the Brooklyn Children's Museum without a call or visit from a group of enthusiastic educators and community leaders on a mission to start their own children's museum or gallery. Recent guests have arrived from as far away as Israel, Ecuador, Japan, and Australia, and as nearby as the Bronx. In the United States, children's museums represent one of the youngest and fastest growing cultural sectors. Our field was founded in 1899 with the opening of the Brooklyn Children's Museum. Anna Billings Gallup, an influential curator and director at the museum from 1902 to 1937, spoke widely about the value of bringing the child into the forefront of museum activities. In the United States, the field grew slowly but steadily to four children's museums in 1925 and to approximately 38 by 1975. In the last three decades, sparked by the groundbreaking work of Michael Spock at the Boston Children's Museum, the field has been energized by an extraordinary boom in new and expanding children's museums. Today there are approximately 350 worldwide.     

“When I Grow Up I'd Like to Work in a Place Like This”: Museum Professionals' Narratives of Early Interest in Museums

As part of an exploratory research study, museum professionals were asked to share their stories about pivotal learning experiences in museums. Several offered personal narratives of how they first became interested in museums and started down the path toward careers in museum work, or had their imaginations opened to the possibility of broader life horizons. This group of stories seemed to be grounded in particularly vivid memories and frequently elicited strong emotions in the telling. The narratives are evidence of the impact of early museum experiences on people who later found their way into museum careers, and suggest avenues for further study of the roots of museum careers as well as other ways museums profoundly affect people's lives. The stories can also reveal to the teller, as well as to researchers and others, what stands out in their memories and the importance they assign to those memories. By attending to the thematic and emotional content of these narratives, both narrator and colleagues can find clues about where their beliefs and values really lie and, therefore, where their and the profession's time and resources might be most productively invested.     

A Case Study of “Planetary Landscapes: Sculpting the Solar System”

This article presents a case study of the design, development and evaluation of a science museum exhibition called Planetary Landscapes: Sculpting the Solar System. The exhibition was created by Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California, in collaboration with the artist Ned Kahn. (A slightly smaller version has been traveling to science museums around the country, and has been sent to the Middle East and Asia.) This exhibition affords a chance to explore the work of a gifted artist as he seeks to merge art and science and create beautiful inquiry‐based exhibits. The story also relates how a museum design team and an evaluation team sought to support the exhibition design in ways that would augment and not interfere with the expertise of the artist.     

From Knowing to Not Knowing: Moving Beyond “Outcomes”

The ways that museums measure the success of their exhibitions reveal their attitudes and values. Are they striving to control visitors so that people will experience what the museum wants? Or are they working to support visitors, who seek to find their own path? The type of approach known as “outcome‐based evaluation” weighs in on the side of control. These outcomes are sometimes codified and limited to some half‐dozen or so “learning objectives” or “impact categories.” In essence, those who follow this approach are committed to creating exhibitions that will tell visitors what they must experience. Yet people come to museums to construct something new and personally meaningful (and perhaps unexpected or unpredictable) for themselves. They come for their own reasons, see the world through their own frameworks, and may resist (and even resent) attempts to shape their experience. How can museums design and evaluate exhibitions that seek to support visitors rather than control them? How can museum professionals cultivate “not knowing” as a motivation for improving what they do?     

Making a Difference in the Lives of Youth: Mapping Success with the “Six Cs”

Many museums offer specialized programs for young people during out‐of‐school time, yet the consequences of such programs are not well documented. This article explores the potential utility of borrowing a conceptual framework from the youth development literature as a tool for assessment. The authors map findings from three studies of museum youth programs onto the youth development framework as an exercise in understanding the extent to which this model may be useful in developing museum youth programs. Results from this preliminary analysis demonstrate that the framework could serve as a viable tool for program design, and could offer a clear, grounded framework with common language for articulating program impacts often known intuitively and/or anecdotally but not formalized.     

Forgeries of Fossils in “Amber”: History,Identification and Case Studies

The appeal of ancient fossilized tree resin, or amber, has made pieces with animal and plant inclusions particularly prized. Unfortunately, amber forgeries are more convincingly and routinely made than most other kinds of fossils, by embedding organisms in natural resins (e.g., copal) or synthetic resins (especially polyester) or by filling a carved niche in a natural piece of amber with resin and a modern inclusion. The confusion of organisms in copal (forged and natural) for ones in amber has a long history. Reviewed here are simple tests for discerning forgeries and natural inclusions in both substances. We discuss an old but sophisticated technique for crafting amber forgeries from authentic amber and present several new examples from old collections in two large museum collections. Also discussed is the widespread use of polyester resin forgeries in the Dominican Republic and Mexico.     

The Right Kind of Wrong: A “Knowledge in Pieces” Approach to Science Learning in Museums

Research has highlighted the vast gulf that exists between experts' and novices' understandings of science, and how difficult it is to bridge this gulf. When this research is applied to the design of museum exhibits and outreach material, it becomes clear that there is a tension between being scientifically correct and communicating effectively to a broad, diverse audience. In this paper we present a new approach to thinking about science learning in museums. Drawing on decades of research from the learning sciences, we argue that being “wrong” is an inescapable part of learning, and that not all simplifications are problematic. Instead, being “wrong” involves the gradual restructuring of many fine‐grained intuitive or commonsense notions that persist throughout the learning process and play an essential role in scientific expertise. We discuss the implications of adopting this approach for museum design.     

刍议博物馆宣教工作的探索与研究

博物馆是展示、宣传人类历史文化和自然遗产、传播爱国主义教育的重要阵地,而宣教工作是博物馆的重要工作之一,随着社会的不断发展,人类对精神的需求日益增加,博物馆宣教工作将变得更加重要。为充分发挥宣教工作的优势,有必要博物馆宣教工作进行研究。本文主要从两大方面探索与研究了如何有效推进博物馆宣教工作。     

Developing Local Narratives for Objects in National Collections: Lessons Learned from the “Number Please? Working with the Enfield Exchange” Project

Museums of science, technology, and engineering are developing new ways of interpreting and displaying their collections. Increasingly objects are being placed within narratives of everyday use; the human side of technology. The focus of this article is a section of one of the last UK manual telephone switchboards, which was acquired by the Science Museum, London, following its decommissioning in 1960. This artifact offers a unique insight into a communication technology that relied extensively on female telephonists, a distinct way of understanding gender roles in the twentieth century. The authors explore strategies for developing local narratives for objects from national collections and reflect on lessons learned from a cross‐institutional collaboration. This article highlights: the value of local historians, community events and oral histories to developing local narratives; how these activities informed understandings of the telephone switchboard; work life in the communications industry; the relationship between women and technology; and practical strategies that can enhance collections and museum practice through collaboration.     

John Dewey's “Wholly Original Philosophy” and Its Significance for Museums

Abstract John Dewey's lifework was to create a philosophy that encompassed both life‐experience and thought. He attempted to construct a philosophical system that incorporated life as it is lived, not in some ideal form. He rejected all dualisms, such as those between thought and action, fine and applied arts, or stimulus and response. An analysis of “experience” (defined as almost synonymous with “culture”) is central to Dewey's writing and leads him to emphasize process, continuity, and development, rather than static, absolute concepts. This paper examines the significance of Dewey's educational views for museum exhibitions and education programs, and his complex definitions of relevant concepts, with special emphasis on his interpretation of “experience.” Dewey's faith in democracy and his moral philosophy require that the value of any educational activity depends on its social consequences as well as its intellectual content, a proposition that is discussed and applied to museums. This argument suggests that exhibitions and programs can strengthen democracy by promoting skills that improve visitors' ability to become critical thinkers and by directly addressing controversial issues, taking the side of social justice and democracy.