The Most Popular ExhibiTricks Posts (So Far)
By far the most popular post to date was "Screened Out: Preferences for Technology in Museums" a guest posting by Susie Wilkening from Reach Advisors. I'm imagining that many designers and museums are struggling with both the economics and the true usefulness of technologies in effectively delivering content, and Susie's analysisprovides some interesting things to consider.
Also, screen-based technologies in particular seem to be a "hot button" topic for many people as evidenced by the enormous number of comments generated by the posting entitled "Are Screens Killing Museums?" The use, or deliberate non-use, of screens in museums seems to be an almost religious discussion, with strong adherents on each side. Despite all the heat this posting generated I still think we should continue to carefully consider our choices of technology, not only from a design aspect, but from an environmental standpoint as well.
Which is a great segue into the most popular interview I've done so far for ExhibiTricks, "Green Exhibit Design: An Interview with Tim McNeil"
Tim provides some wonderfully thoughtful commentary on what green design in museum means, as well as highlighting some great Web-based resources to learn more from. I'm heartened that people are still continuing to seek this interview out to aid in their thinking about environmentally-conscious design practice.
The last popular posting in this compendium involves some thoughts about untethered and/or consumable materials and their effect on learners and learning environments: "The Theory of Loose Parts: A Different Kind of Exhibit Design?" Does deliberately "bullet-proofing" every part of your interactive design create unintended behavioral and learning consequences?
Let me know if you enjoyed this round-up, and whether you'd like me to put together the occasional re-cap of thematically related postings in the future in the "Comments" section below.
Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Free Updates" link on the right side of the blog. P.S. If you receive ExhibiTricks via email (or Facebook or LinkedIn) you will need to click HERE to go to the main ExhibiTricks page to make comments or view multimedia features (like videos!)
