Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Making Visitor Experiences Memorable

I liked what Simon pointed out in our readings about how some museums seek to make the audience feel as if they are part of something. She uses The Power of Children exhibit at the Indianapolis Children's Museum as an example. I think that talks/videos that make visitors feel as if they too are experiencing that event, can have a profound impact on them. The docents who portray important characters from the time can make the visitors think about these historic events and ask questions to make them think. I think this does affect them more than seeing an exhibit with objects could though. It causes them to evoke more emotions and question things that they might not normally question.

Project Update

Well I can't believe that the semester is almost over (I think there are 5 weeks left?!) and that the due date for this project is slowly creeping up on me. While I've been trying to piece it together, I feel like I haven't been doing much of anything, and I definitely need to start working on it a little bit harder... So my goal for the next week is to sit down and make an outline of what I still need to do, what I have done and maybe start working on my presentation and storyboard!

Monday, October 25, 2010

The Visitor Experience

In this week's readings, John Falk sums up the importance of visitor experiences with his Museum Visitor Experience Model. I think that so far all of the readings have summed up bits and pieces of this model, but when I saw it all put together, it seemed like a lot to take in. Falk points out the various reasons why people visit, what they want to see, that sometimes they already have their minds made up about an exhibit (or an object), and that no matter what everyone is going to have different experiences. Some of these experiences will be very memorable, while others will not enjoy it at all and eventually forget about their visit. I just hope that when it is my time to work in a museum that more visitors will leave pleased by what they have seen and come back more often to see additional exhibits or participate in events!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Evaluations...

This week our homework was to send a survey to some people about our projects to evaluate our audiences. The purpose was to see how much they already understood about our topics and if they would be interested in an exhibit like the one we are designing. A survey would also help us understand if we are meeting our goals for our potential audience and if they are taking something away from our exhibits.
When I emailed some friends and family with the questions, I was shocked at a few answers and laughed at some of the more sarcastic ones. My survey sought to answer these questions. I have bolded the correct answers.


What female represented women in the workforce during World War II?
A. Eleanor Roosevelt
B. Rosie the Riveter
C. Marilyn Monroe
D. Amelia Earhart

2. The majority of women worked outside the home before World War II?
True
False

3. Are you interested in women's history?
A. I have better things to worry about
B. A little
C. Very interested
D. Proud feminist/ women's history buff

4. During World War II, men and women, young and old, were involved in the war effort in what ways? (Circle all that apply)
A. working in factories producing weapons for soldiers
B. Planting victory gardens
C. Buying war bonds

D. None of the above

5. Would you be interested in an exhibit on the role of women during World War II?
Yes
No

6. What is your gender?
Male
Female

7. Age?
Under 18
19-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
Over 65

8. Are you (Circle all that apply)
A. a World War II vet?
B. Veteran of any war?
C. employee that produced war goods during World War II?
D. employee that has produced war goods for ANY war?
E. student?
F. student studying/interested in history?
G. teacher?
H. history teacher?
I. interested in World War II history?
J. interested in history?
K. not interested in history?



Obviously, most of these answers differ based on who I asked and what their personal opinions are. Of the 60 people I sent surveys too, only about 17 have responded so far. The results of my survey are as follows:


1. What female represented women in the workforce during World War II?
-The answer was B Rosie the Riveter. She was a fictitious mascot released by the War Production Co-Ordinating Committee to garner support among women, both working and staying at home. 12 out of 17 answered this question correctly. The other 5 answered A. Eleanor Roosevelt. I could actually understand (to an extent) why they would answer this one though.



2.The majority of women worked outside the home before World War II?
-The answer was False, most women stayed at home prior to WW2. 16 out of 17 answered this question correctly.


3.  Are you interested in women's history?
-This answer was more open ended based on personal opinions. 9 out of 17 answered with B that they had a little interest. The other 8 responded with C that they were definitely interested. 
-One of the people who responded with B had a good point though. He stated that unless this exhibit was part of a larger exhibit on World War II, he would probably not be interested at all. Definitely an interesting point to think about!


4. During World War II, men and women, young and old, were involved in the war effort in what ways? (Circle all that apply)
-The correct answers to this question were A, B, and C. 15 people said A, B, and C were the answers. 1 person said A and B were correct and 1 person said just A was correct. 


5. Would you be interested in an exhibit on the role of women during World War II?
-For this answer, I was expecting females to answer with yes, and males to answer no. However I was shocked to find out that everyone answered yes, with the exception of 1 person. 


6. What is your gender?
- 4 out of 17 that responded are males, the rest were females. I wasn't really surprised by this because I wasn't expecting any guys to answer it at all, let alone 4!


7. Age
-4 people were 18 or younger
-10 people were between the ages of 19 and 25 (I was definitely expecting this because most of the people who responded are close friends of mine)
-1 person was between the ages of 26 and 35
-2 people were between the ages of 46 and 55


8. Are you (Circle all that apply)
A. a World War II vet? 0
B. Veteran of any war? 0
C. employee that produced war goods during World War II? 0
D. employee that has produced war goods for ANY war? 0
E. student? 13
F. student studying/interested in history? 5
G. teacher? 1
H. history teacher? 0
I. interested in World War II history? 10
J. interested in history? 12
K. not interested in history? 1

Monday, October 18, 2010

Social Objects

In our readings for this past week, Nina Simon focused a lot on social objects in an exhibit. She pointed out that sometimes, objects can actually do more than just look pretty in a case, they can actually facilitate conversation amongst visitors about it. One of these kinds of objects that came to my mind is the Hope Diamond. I know that I have not seen it in years, but distinctly remember going to the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History to see the Diamond. Other visitors that were looking at it seemed to all be having the same kinds of conversations about it. They commented on how beautiful it is, how large, how much money it has to be worth, how anyone could afford something like that... etc. I thought this was an interesting twist on exhibitions in museums. Sure, some interactives will give visitors something to talk about, but you almost never think about the way an object will cause visitors to interact amongst each other!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Project Update...

My Rosie exhibit is coming along, slowly but surely. Midterms were this past week so to be honest, I wasn't thinking as hard about this project because of them. But I have started to plan on my storyboard and think about how I want to lay it all out. I'm hoping that in the next day or two I can actually start playing around with the layout and how I want to present my ideas!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Recommendations?

While reading Nina Simon's book this week, I was a little confused by the whole recommendation systems she mentioned. I thought it was cool how she compared these recommendations to ideas like Netflix to make them easily understood, but I was a little confused as to how they actually fit in with museums. I understand that museums are always looking for ways they can improve their visitor satisfaction but I'm unsure as to how using recommendations from visitors are going to achieve that. I mean they can certainly use these suggestions, but there is no way they would be able to do all of the suggestions given by visitors!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Storyboard

Well as far as being able to present my project idea I have a few ideas. I'm still thinking about a light blue color for the walls because I think it would fit in with the main photo of Rosie. I also think a factory kind of floor would be cool. Something metal to make the visitor feel as if they were walking into a factory to work. The materials could even be presented in the same way to get visitors to feel as if they are women entering a factory to work for the first time...