Creating Exhibitions Follow Up: Communication and Remediation

I just got back from the first Creating Exhibitions Symposium in Philadelphia. I enjoyed the conference, and am looking forward to helping plan the 2009 edition!

While I was inspired by the individual sessions and keynotes I attended, I was struck by two common threads that connected many parts of the conference for me: Communication and Remediation

COMMUNICATION: It became clear during the discussions in many sessions that one way to create better results and relationships (Whether you're discussing Teams, Contracts and RFPs, or Insider vs. Outsiders) is to work to make sure that channels of communication are clear and provided to everyone (no information hoarding!)

Several great items involving communication came up during the session on RFPs: Why don't museums let respondents know which firms have made the short list? As George Mayer said during the session, if I'm invited to be in a race with a million dollar prize, and it costs me ten thousand dollars to enter, will I still want to enter if I know that Carl Lewis, the Olympic gold medalist, is one of the participants? The other thread involving communication was just the notion of being respectful of others. It is just good practice to let people know if they didn't get a job, not leave them hanging. While we seem to spend lots of time arranging teams or sweating out the details of contracts, it became clear during the conference that spending more time on communication would head off many problems.

REMEDIATION: During sessions ranging from education through exhibits to the prototyping process, I often found myself thinking "Why didn't they fix that?" or "How could that exhibit component have been improved?" Honestly, the answer I keep coming back to is "remediation".

No matter how carefully you have prototyped and evaluated and crafted your exhibition process, once the exhibits are out on the floor and visitors are using them unexpected issues arise. What happens next is the difference between creating great museums and exhibitions or merely mediocre visitor experiences.

Have you deliberately left time and money in your exhibition process for thoughtful remediation, or are you launching headlong into your next exhibitions project and leaving a collection of exhibit orphans in your wake? It makes me cringe to look at an exhibit component that could be improved by one little "tweak", that clearly was never touched by the exhibition process, let alone remediation, ever again. So, be an advocate for remediation in your next project!

What are some of your tips, or lessons learned, regarding Communication or Remediation? Let us know in the Comments Section below!

Plastics 101: Free Online DIY Videos

Michael Flynn of Fun Exhibits was kind enough to point out this great set of free online instructional videos from TAP Plastics.

Included in the collection are videos showing how to make silicon molds, glue plastics, and make a plastic bender. Great stuff!

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roBlocks for Museum Exhibit Design

roBlocks are a cool toy system described as "Legos with computers inside" by some of their creators at Carnegie Mellon University.

The roBlocks website outlines features and how the 'Blocks will be programmed.

While not yet available commercially (the roBlocks team is aiming for a December 2008 public launch --- just in time for holiday shopping!) roBlocks look to be a great potential addition to museum programming as well as exhibit prototyping. In that regard, the roBlocks team is soliciting suggestions for additional types of blocks so why not head over to their website!

Are you watching some interesting technology on the horizon? Let us know about it in the Comments Section below.

Green Toys from Toys "R" Us: Good Green Fun?

As if you need further evidence that eco-friendly marketing and green products are on the rise, Toys"R"Us announced in a press release the launch of an exclusive line of environmentally friendly toys that will be marketed under the Toys"R"Us brand. Exerpts from the release are quoted below:

"The first toys in the collection -- Natural Wooden Toys, Natural Cotton plush animals and Organic Cotton Dolls -- will be available exclusively at Toys"R"Us stores nationwide and online at www.Toysrus.com by Earth Day, April 22.

The toy products promote "Good Green Fun." The toys come packaged in earth-tone colored boxes that bear a special "R" seal. This seal consists of a green version of the iconic Toys"R"Us reversed "R" logo with a green leaf, encircled by the words "Recycle, Renew, Reuse, Re-think," and signifies for parents that the toys are eco-friendly.

"We know that kids are becoming more environmentally conscious and are curious about how they can do their part to help protect the planet," said Karen Dodge, Chief Merchandising Officer, Toys"R"Us, U.S. "Going green is more than just a trend. It's becoming a lifestyle. This is just our first step in offering our customers the best selection of eco-friendly and organic products in all of our Toys"R"Us stores nationwide."

Crafted from natural materials, these items come in packaging that is made from no less than 70% recycled material. The Natural Wooden Toys are decorated using a unique wood-burning technique, which offers a classic look. The Natural Cotton plush animals and Organic Cotton Dolls are colored using natural or water-based dyes and are made with unprocessed, unbleached and untreated cotton.

In addition, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified that the materials used to make the Natural Wooden Toys were sourced from well-managed forests, using a system of ten rules that define responsible forest management. Each wooden product in the collection is marked with an identifiable FSC logo.

The Natural Wooden Toys include a fire engine, utility crane, shape sorter, trailer truck, racing car, formula car, alphabet blocks wagon and stacking train."


What does all this mean for museums and exhibit developers? Well, if you have an early childhood gallery, you better stash the primary-colored plastic toys from Playskool!

On a more serious note, as mainstream companies like Toys "R" Us and Wal-Mart develop, market, and sell green products, both Museum Exhibit Clients and Museum Customers will expect to see exhibition galleries and design features that show green sensibilities.

Is some of this "greenwashing"? Perhaps, but if Toys "R" Us can Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rethink, can't Museums and Museum Designers as well?

Exhibit Maker's Toolbox: Glow In The Dark String

Sometimes interesting exhibit supplies and show up in unexpected places. While working on a recent exhibit design project, I went in search of different types of glow-in-the-dark materials and found Sublime Stitching in Austin, Texas.

If you scroll to the bottom of the handy Tools Section of their website you will find the finely braided glow-in-the-dark thread in a palette of five colors to fill all your fiber and phosphorescent needs!

Several of the other tools highlighted in this section of the Sublime Stitching website, while originally intended for sewing and stitching purposes, will work well for your next prototyping or exhibition project as well.

What non-traditional exhibit development resources do you use?

Share your finds in the Comments Section below!

Open Exhibits Project

The fine folks at Ideum (the developers of the ExhibitFiles site) are working on a project called "Open Exhibits"

To quote from Ideum's blog, "Open Exhibits is a project that will allow us to develop, test, and disseminate three open-source software templates that will allow museum professionals to assemble electronic exhibits for the museum floor. The Open Exhibits templates, as well as the source code, training opportunities, and prototype exhibits, will be made freely available to museums. The exhibits will be built using ActionScript 3 and Flex."

Where do you come in? Ideum is preparing a proposal for Open Exhibits to submit to the National Science Foundation, and would like as many people as possible to fill out a brief survey to help tailor the project to the needs of the field.

I'm sure we all will benefit from Open Exhibits, so fill out that survey now!