What makes a museum interactive?
The most common approach museums take to make interactive experiences is to add activities to programs and exhibitions. Examples of activities might include:
- Making a project
- Answering a question
- Pulling a lever
- Watching a video
- Role playing in a program
- Listening to an audio tour
- Watching theater
- Filling out a scavenger hunt
- Taking a tour
- Touching an object
- Walking through a recreation
- Playing games on a cell phone
While each of these involves visitors doing, they do not automatically create interaction either between the visitor and the museum or between visitors. If the activities, as are often the case, have predetermined outcomes, the activity is not interactive; it is rhetorical. For example, a lift and drop panel that asks "Did you know?" on the top and provides a response underneath is asking a rhetorical question because the exhibit has no mechanism for gathering answers or providing responses. It is a closed loop activity. This is not to imply that the lift and drop panel is a bad thing. A good rhetorical question can frame an argument or be thought provoking, but it is not by itself interactive. Interactive experiences include branching options and the ability to accommodate multiple responses.
Museums often think of interactivity as a technique rather than an outcome
In order to be interactive, experiences must be open ended and involve multiple possible outcomes. Our lift and drop panel becomes a component of an interactive experience when it is part of an exhibition that asks visitors to form opinions and test hypotheses. Museums may find it challenging to facilitate interactivity in non-staffed experiences because they lack the ability to have face to face encounters with visitors. However, this does not preclude building interactivity into exhibitions; it begs for more creativity. Unfortunately, staffing does not guarantee interactivity. (I visited one historic site where the garden tour was described as a one-hour walking lecture. It hardly promised to be interactive.) Interaction springs from a mindset in which the expert (designer, curator, interpreter, docent) is open to being questioned and maybe even challenged. Their job is to persuade rather than to assert to a point of view.
An experience is interactive when the visitor feels empowered to form an opinion. He gathers information, tests it against existing knowledge or beliefs, and draws a conclusion. The experience may be designed to further an institutional point of view or argument, e.g. "Organisms undergo evolution." "Picasso was an influential painter.", or "The transcontinental railroad promoted western settlement." Acknowledging contrary arguments or opinions ("Many people do not believe in evolution." "Picasso was controversial."), offering evidence to bolster the museum's assertion, and asking visitors to form an opinion based on the evidence raises the level of interactivity. The mechanisms to present evidence are the illustrations, computer interactives, models, and even those nefarious lift and drop panels. The context breeds interactivity, not the components.
Interactivity achieved
Engagement occurs when the visitor constructs meaning from the experience and undergoes a change in knowledge, attitude, or experience. Engagement arises from a two-way interaction. All too often, museums identify interactivity as a vehicle rather than a destination because they are reluctant to yield control. Yet it is a mistake to approach it as a technique rather than an outcome. A panoply of “interactives” does not make for an engaging experience. Engagement starts with the museum's commitment to eliminating the didactic approach and taking on a conversational tone.
Miss Maurer,
ReplyDeleteWhile I completely agree with your latest blog, I
do have one reservation; what does filling out
a scavenger hunt have to do with a museum?
I'm sure I will be delighted and enlightened
by the answer!
This is an interesting question and one that museums have struggled with for years. Do scavenger hunts provide appropriate learning experiences?
ReplyDeleteOver the years I have seen many teacher-produced scavenger hunt activities. In looking at them carefully, they reflect a desire to make sense of what can be overwhelming exhibitions. People need ways to process and organize their museum visits, and looking for specific objects or information is one method. Teachers particularly seem to gravitate towards the scavenger hunt format because students can turn in a worksheet that demonstrates that they collected or learned information at the museum.
Museum educators have struggled with the scavenger hunt concept. They understand the appeal but worry about how to make them better and more interactive learning experiences. In searching the Museum-ed archives, I found a nice synopsis of the problem and a great solution.
Lara Gautreau, education curator, LSU Museum of Art said:
"I want to say first that I am a convert. I have seen scavenger hunts that just seem to encourage students to move quickly - if not run - through exhibitions 'collecting' the items on their list. That seems to be what happens when the list is finding 'hidden' objects, as you mentioned.
What I have started doing is very much like planning my lessons. What educational component do I want to focus on?" Date: August 21st 2009
Lara explains that she uses scavenger hunt techniques to encourage visitors to learn about art by having them find lines, colors, and patterns. She describes a process of discovery rather than a checklist. A great solution.
You can evaluate for yourself how well museums official scavenger hunts encourage discovery and exploration. Here are the web addresses for a few, official museum scavenger hunts. (Cut and paste into browser) A Google search of “museum scavenger hunt” will bring up a lot more.
Field Museum: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibits/guides/naturewalk_tour.pdf
Smithsonian:
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/smithy/index.html
Mark Twain House historic site:
http://www.marktwainmuseum.org/media/Mark%20Twain%20Museum%20Scavenger%20Hunt.pdf
The American Art Museum has taken the concept of the scavenger hunt on-line to connect learners to Abraham Lincoln.
http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/artfulabe/
As museum folks, we should be aware that there is a public perception that scavenger hunts make museum visits more fun. This blogger starts with the premise that museums are "boring" (ouch) and encourages parents to make their own scavenger hunts to engage children in exhibits.
http://fun.families.com/blog/museum-scavenger-hunt
And eHow will teach you to write your own museum scavenger hunt.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2190820_plan-museum-scavenger-hunt.html
But I am most intrigued by the private companies making a business of staging scavenger hunts at museums as team building and social outings. I wonder if the museums listed at Watson Adventures had any input into the design and execution of the scavenger hunts staged at their sites?
http://watsonadventures.com/index.html
Sorry for the long response, but this was such an interesting question that I couldn’t resist.