Transported by an exhibit

This weekend, I took a whirlwind trip to the Arizona Science Center, to see The Chronicles of Narnia exhibit. While there, I started thinking about exhibits that transport you - that really take you out of yourself for a while. AzSC did it in Narnia, but also in their Forces of Nature exhibit.

During the development of Dinosphere, here at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, immersive was the buzzword of the day. Now, usually a "buzzword" is a bad thing, but really, the word is completely appropriate for what was created. The exhibit IS immersive and is very effective. Usually when we talk about immersive exhibits, we talk about the elements that engage the senses. Dinosphere uses dramatic lighting and projection (sight), amazing audio (sound), the scents of magnolia blossom and dung (smell), and hands-on casts (touch) to create this environment. But a truly immersive environment - and indeed this one - is more than the sum of its parts.

When you step into Dinosphere (and I do believe I am not being completely biased here - just slightly) you are met with a feeling of being taken away from the rest of the museum. You know you aren't in the Late Cretaceous, because, well, those Dinos wouldnt be just bones, would they. Nor would there be as many strollers. But you feel elsewhere. Even with the crowds and the children and the fact that you know you are in a museum, for just a moment, you are able to lose yourself in the exhibit.

So, why did my trip to AZ trigger this? The two aforementioned exhibits each had a moment of transporting the visitor elsewhere, but in very different ways.

The Narnia exhibit has one of the best "reveals" of an exhibit I have seen so far. I think the only show I have seen recently that comes close is Real Pirates. The queue space is dressed out as CS Lewis' study, with additional photos/posters/etc that explain (kind of) the practice of sending British children to the country during WWII. The design starts with a lion motif there, with some great propoganda posters showing a regal lion to represent Britain. There were also amazing artifacts, which I fear would be overlooked with a packed queue. Among the artifacts were the actual wardrobe from Lewis' office that inspired the book, as well as letters, a journal and a desk.

The group is gathered into the orientation theater - a wonderfully recreated Spare Oom. The exhibit geek in me was particularly taken by the rubber floor that looked like an old hardwood floor. The orientation theater didnt show a film, but rather had an audio track, narrated I believe by Lewis' stepson, and some environmental bits - rain at the windows (because it was a rainy day) and dim lighting. At the moment of the reveal, the spots came up on the wardrobe doors and they opened, revealing a passage lined with fur coats and a beautiful wintry scene. And it was snowing on me. Amazing! There I was, by the lamp post, with a backdrop of snowy trees, with flakes coming down on me.

For a few moments, I was Susan (always did identify with the one not allowed back into Narnia more) stepping into Narnia for the first time. I was completely transported in that one area. Now, I'll probably have more at some point about the rest of the exhibit, but for now, know that the reveal is tremendous, and that you really do feel there, if only for a moment.

A contrast to this is AZScience's Forces of Nature exhibit. Narnia, like Dinosphere, takes a page from classic theatrical sets and immersive theme park settings, complete with foliage and faux rocks. In Forces of Nature, all you get is a metal platform, 4 large screens and an assortment of fixtures hanging above.

The theater was amazing! The show was a few minutes long (I honestly don't know because when I tried to time it I kept getting distracted by the awesomeness) and runs through various earth events - from lightning strikes to hurricanes to forest fires. The above fixtures provide light, sound, wind, rain and heat to let you experience these forces.

The show begins with a beautiful video of lightning strikes complemented by flashes of lights and rumbles from the floor. The segment ends with a dramatic shot of a tree being struck, coupled with a bright flash and a "CRACK!" along with a big shake of the floor. And all the children around screamed. Then we move into forest fires - as the heat lamps all around raged, and everyone clustered to the middle of the platform to escape the heat. Then a tornado, an earthquake, a hurricane with "rain", a dust storm, monsoon....

It was amazing. The visitors were so into it, and were transported. It didnt matter that they were just standing on a platform in a busy gallery. There was nothing that blocked the rest of the exhibit from view. But when that hurricane started, the adults pulled their kids closer. When the fires raged, people moved away. It was wonderful.

Both exhibits did this well. Both transported you. Others have done too. But the Forces one impressed me most because it did it without building a huge display or theater, and trusted in the power of the experience, rather than the set dressing.

Long time no post....

With internship complete and summer barreling along toward fall, I have been neglecting my blog (mostly due to the insane amount of time spent on Facebook lately). My thought was always to continue it as a place to talk about museums, education and life in general. Not that I assume that I have any sort of audience, but a girl can pretend, yes?

Reading through today's Google Alerts, I stumbled upon Stephanie Weaver's blog. Weaver is the author of "Creating Great Visitor Experiences." It's an easy read, and should be required for anyone in museums. Some of the advice is pretty standard, but then again, after 6 years as a front line manager plus time in retail and food service, I've had just about every customer service training in the book.

Weaver's blog is really nice! I plan to spend some dedicated time reading the archives, particularly the "Sunday Signpost"...er...posts. I am not a graphic designer, but in my capacity as project manager, I have become quite enamored of signs and graphic/text panels. When well done, they are amazing. When not, they are....not.

One particular post caught my eye. Weaver shares a simple dry-erase style sign from an airport, and makes the comment that it "tells [her] that they care about the customer experience." What a fascinating concept! And I mean that without sarcasm. In some museums, a handwritten sign would never be used. I can be seen as unprofessional, sloppy and careless. However, as pointed out by Seth Godin, sometimes a handmade sign can be more effective. It draws the eye by virtue of its imperfection. Humans respond to humanity - and while a gorgeous graphic layout can be wonderful, sometimes a simple sign is best.

So, what's a creative designer to do? If you aren't allowed to make a handmade sign, how do you get the point across? Here at TCM we recently used a professional sign, made to look like a Post-It note, with a scriptlike font. It gives the feel of handmade, but without actually being handmade. Does this satisfy the need for the "human element" in signs?

And what about the customer service angle? The reason a handmade sign gives good customer service is that it says, with little fanfare, that you care enough to change courses and respond immediately to them. Handmade signs are not generally a long term solution in museums, but are ideal for quick communication about exhibit programs, special events, closings, etc.

In what other ways can we use "human" created elements? Or things that appear to be handmade? How will those elements change our design? How will they change the way visitors use the exhibit?

The major downside to a virtual internship

Doing a "virtual internship" has its benefits:

• I save gas money, as I dont go further than my home office.
• I save food money, as I have no need to buy lunch out.
• If I feel like being in my sweats, I can be - my avatar is always dressed appropriately.
• No matter what time of day, there is usually someone in SL that I can interact with - thus I can accomplish lots at midnight local time.

However, days like today point out that we arent there yet - technology wise.

The grid has been down all day. Two events missed, valuable filming time lost, all waiting for the grid to come up. And, I cannot reschedule to tomorrow, because I do need at least one day off per week.

Ah well, perhaps time to catch up on the blog that I have been so behind in posting to.

Conference, Post 2

More from the Virtual Worlds conference in SL.

The second session I attended was about the Teen Grid and the Eye4You Alliance.

"Education on the Teen Grid: The View from Eye4You Alliance Island" Presented by Kelly Czarnecki (Bluewings Hayek in SL), Anthony Curtis (Stone Semyorka in SL), and Beth Kraemer (Alice Burgess in SL)

Location: Turing Hall

So what's it like to be an educator on the teen grid? Eye4You Alliance Island has been a source of education, creativity and fun on the teen grid since 2006. Librarians, professors, authors, technology specialists, subject matter specialists, and teens from around the world are involved in projects ranging from classes about SL and RL skills; recurring events like book discussions, space talks and island management meetings; special events like the recent literary festival, last year's college fair and craft fair; and a host of other activities. The presenters will provide an overview of what it's like to be an adult educator on the teen grid, describing the challenges and opportunities, and will discuss recent activities and plans that are underway. We'll compare the experience with education on the main grid and discuss our view of the future of education for teens in Second Life. The presentation may also incorporate comments from the teen residents themselves.

The team started with a wonderful video showing the amazing things that teens were doing on the Alliance Island. Please click the link to watch it. As someone who has worked with teens for many years, it was so wonderful to see them in their element!

Alice Burgess, BlueWings Hayek and Stone Semyorka all spoke about how they got involved with Eye4You and why. I of course asked my Chris Hansen question - "How can you be sure that the kids are all kids, if there isnt a credit/age check?" The answer - you cannot. But, that's part of life, isnt it? As an employee at a Children's Museum, we tend to be overly cautious. But, as Alice said "The MG is full of inappropriate stuff, like the web, television, and world in general are all full of inappropriate stuff. Even speaking as a parent of teens, I’d like to see educators help teens navigate that richer world rather than maintain the relative isolation of the current arrangement." Amen! I left this session with a note to BlueWings that I would love to volunteer come summer, when school is less intense.

Next session had to be my favorite.

· "Immersion Environments and Recreational Learning: Opportunities for Informal Education on the Virtual Landscape" Presented by Aldo Stern and JJ Drinkwater

Location: Muriel Cooper Coliseum

When the residents of an online three-dimensional platform such as Second life are able to create their own immersion environments, learning opportunities abound. Experience with a number of recent experiments has indicated that the educational potential of these builds comes not just within the context of a formal, institutionally-managed didactic approach, but also--and in some cases, more successfully--in the context of informal, self-directed learning opportunities.

Panelists Aldo Stern and JJ Drinkwater draw upon their real world backgrounds in the museum and library fields, along with their extensive experience in a variety of experimental collaborative educational, cultural and recreational environments created on the SL platform, to discuss the relative success of traditional "classroom" approaches in various builds, and the surprisingly vibrant informal learning dynamic that has developed alongside--or as an alternative to--the attempts at structured, hierarchical didacticism.

The panelists also will seek to explore how what has transpired in-world is analogous to the real world living history/reenacting "hobby" movement of the 1970s-1990s and other recreational self-directed learning opportunities, and consider issues of how institutions and organizations might utilize the potential of online creative platforms in the future to more effectively foster and encourage self-directed learning, and to integrate it into their programming in ways that it could compliment and enhance more traditional approaches to engaging and educating diverse audiences.

Whew! With a synopsis like that, who needs a report? However, what an amazing session! JJ and Aldo, dressed in full Caledon regalia, explained that to them, as former museum people, the virtual immersion worlds of SL were the virtual answer to living history centers. However, because of the rez function of SL, it was possible to literally pull an entire recreation out of your pocket. Imagine being a lit professor, teaching a course on Austen, and bringing your students to a ball at Pemberly. Or maybe you are a bio professor and you recreate Darwin's walking path as a meeting space for students. The possibilities are endless!

JJ and Aldo did indicate that many of the spaces designed for educational immersion didn't end up working as planned. In fact, many were planned more like current LH models - with anachronistic visitors, and interpreters in the space, as well as more didactic exhibits. But what happened was more akin to the reenactor model, or a Renn Faire. What happened was informal self-directed learning. (Why, because its FUN!)

Messages:

• Learning is inspired by and is happening in places originally intended to be recreational (see Star Wars Galaxies, Deadwood). (Because play=learning)
• Participatory play inspires more learning than a pure visitor role (see RL example at Tropenjunior)

There was then a lot of fantastic discussion about SL as a kind of salon learning environment - self directed, on the spot. Perhaps SL will inspire the next wave of bohemia? :)

Finally, as its late, I leave with this note - JJ said that he once heard that the abbreviation for Second Life, SL, actually stood for Sleep Less. I concur.

Virtual Worlds conference, post #1

Saturday, I spent the entire day at the first Libraries, Education and Museums conference in Second Life. Like conferences in real life, it was equally fascinating and exhausting. Again, my lack of gaming abilities show, if only in my computer stamina. Even for a web junkie like me, 14 hours was a bit long. That said, I felt like it was very worthwhile.

Most of my educational focus to this point has been around children and adolescents, but I found myself very inspired by the potential for SL and virtual worlds in adult free choice learning. So inspired that I am thinking of proposing another independent study for next semester - maybe even a thesis.

Breakdown of the day with notes:

Keynote Address: · OPEN KEYNOTE DISCUSSION: "Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, Museums, and More" Presented by Barbara Galik (Puglet Dancer in SL) and Kitty Pope (Kitty Phillip in SL)

Location: Babbage Amphitheatre

Galik and Pope, who have been active in the development of the Alliance Information Archipelago and other virtual world library projects, will discuss where we are with library service in virtual worlds and where we are going. They will discuss the the fast progress (explosion) of the project to get to the high level of collaborative development that exists today. They also will discuss what we need to do moving forward to sustain and grow library services in virtual worlds. sustain and grow

Kitty and Puglet spoke a great deal about the success of InfoIsland (slurl) in Second Life. In 2 years they have gone from one to over 40 active sims. Kitty drew attention to the newly opened Land of Lincoln sim, which recently hosted an inaugural ball for President’s Day. The sim was developed in concert with Teen SL students and a local High School. I took a moment today to visit the Land of Lincoln and was pleasantly surprised. Rather than feeling like an anachronism at a living history site, visitors are offered free outfits to help them blend in. This spirit of immersive environments in SL was addressed again at later sessions.

Kitty and Puglet explained that the huge growth in the sims has shown them that there is indeed a need for library services in SL. There is a growing acceptance of virtual library services, and some programs are already offering non-credit courses in virtual librarianship. Reference remains their core service, but programs are steadily growing. Kitty mentioned the potential shown in virtual language programs on Info Island International, allowing immersive language experience with native speakers.

Programs on Info Island seem innovative and fun – and are very popular. Recently II hosted a “Mark Twain Cussing Contest” (See post here) with informational training sessions prior. The island is also home to a mystery manor, where classic mystery stories are discussed.

Kitty made a point that I feel does get missed when speaking to stakeholders about the power of virtual environments. “Behind every avatar there is a person” and “Avatars are inquisitive and social.” Too often avatar interaction is seen as a false sort of social interaction, but being at this conference with 70 other people, all passionate about education and the possibilities of the platform, was proof enough that avatars are an extension of a real person, with real interests and passion.

Puglet brought up many of the needs that still exist. The presence of 70 avatars, plus a gorgeous sim, and slides/streaming media, created a perfect opportunity for lag. In only one session that I attended did the slides rez properly. SL needs to create the ability to facilitate large group meetings without lag and rez problems. Additionally, people need to be educated that while personal expression is nice, avatars need to dress for success in group sessions, by being simple and easy to rez. We also, as a community of educators, need to find ways to get newcomers to overcome the learning curve. We need to find new ways to help newbies learn the ropes in a less painful and plodding way.

The final piece of advice offered…Keep it fun. If your programs are fun, they will be successful. After an evening exploring the 1860’s, in full dress….I would have to agree!

Whew! What a day!

Just spent the past 14 hours at the Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education and Museums conference in SL.

1) Thats a LONG time to stare at a computer

2) It was really quite cool, and the first conference where my feet dont hurt at the end of the day (although my backside does)

3) I will be posting a ton next week about it.

What's the Big Idea?

Museum exhibit people can be obnoxious. We have to make just about everything difficult. Nearly every day, someone comes up to me and says “I have a great idea for an exhibit!” and proceeds to tell me about an interactive they’ve dreamed up, or a topic they love. (My sister insists that an exhibit about wax would pack ‘em in.) Then I ask the dreaded question: “So, what’s the point?” I’m not trying to be mean, but trying to get across that to be an effective exhibit, it needs a why. It needs a Big Idea.

The Big Idea is a frustrating master. Without one, you cannot hope to know if your exhibit was effective. But with one, you are constantly bound by the question “does it speak to the Big Idea?” The concept has provoked many a developer ranting “but it’s fun dammit!”

So why does this matter? Well, we hope that exhibit designers and builders aren’t creating exhibits for themselves. There are these people called visitors, and the exhibit, ultimately is for them.

A good exhibit changes a visitor. The change can be in their knowledge or skills, their attitude or behavior, or their life conditions. An exhibit on the plight of the purple-horned snorkack could change my attitude toward them and my behavior (if I feel compelled to help them.) An exhibit about the history of 18^th century flatware will certainly add to my knowledge base. What will your exhibit do for the visitor?

The following is NOT a big idea: Biodiversity

That is a topic. It’s a good one, but it isn’t a big idea.

This is a big idea: Diversity of life is necessary for the survival of all living things; diversity is under threat primarily by human beings living in the environment, but things can be done and are being done to help. (Courtesy AMNH)

A big idea is a complete sentence. Ideally it should answer the Enduring Question. For this example, the Enduring Question is: “Why should we care about the diversity of life?”

An effective way of creating a successful exhibit is to work backwards. Start with the end result – not the interactive, but the experience the visitor will have – and work back to the concepts.

Stages of Backward Design:

1) Think about what you want your visitor to come away with.
2) Think about how you will know if they “get it”
3) Plan the experience to make sure they do!

So, what is your Big Idea? How can designing backwards help your exhibit to be more effective?

(Info gathered from The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Dr. Elee Wood and the Shaping Outcomes training)