In this paper, Margie Marino of the Denver Museum of Natural History discusses the value of museum maps and how her institution used evaluation to improve the design of a new hand-held map.
This paper describes the process researchers and staff used to improve wayfinding at the Minnesota History Center. The authors discuss findings from this research as well as general recommendations for helping visitors find their way around and make choices.
In this paper, Kersti Krug of the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver explores how hypertext can contribute to postmodern issues of visitor research. Krug argues that hypertext has potential to present new ways of "seeing and influencing change by enhancing access to knowledge about visitors."
In this paper, David M. Simmons discusses visitor studies at Old Sturbridge Village. Simmons presents an overview of visitor evaluation projects throughout the history of the institution as well as how it has responded to the data collected about visitor demographics and preferences.
In this paper, evaluator Randi Korn presents findings from a front-end evaluation for a traveling exhibition about severe weather, developed through a collaboration among the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, National Museum of Natural History, St. Louis Science Center, and National Severe Storms Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This article presents findings from the part of the evaluation that focused on differences between visitors to natural history museums and science centers, regarding demographic and group composition data as well as
In this paper, Sanford S. Shaman, of the Gallery of Art at the University of Haifa, discusses the spiritual void in contemporary art that accounts for the art's inability to communicate with visitors. Shaman describes how this lack of spiritual content renders much of today's art private and non-communicative in the eyes of many critics.
In this paper, Janet Kamien, former director of exhibits at the Field Museum and principal developer on the "Life Over Time" exhibit, Eric Gyllenhaal, primary developer for the exhibit, and Jeff Hayward, director of People, Places & Design Research and visitor researcher and evaluation advisor for the exhibit, present reflections on the process of creating "Life Over Time" and exhibits in general. These reflections include "Voices of Doom" or predictions of disaster that swirl in the heads of designers and developers as they build exhibits.
This report presents front-end evaluation findings at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. The study was conducted to assist with the formidable task of programming the 110,000-square-foot roadhouse and to provide data for researchers and exhibit designers. Front-end evaluation goals included: (1) determine if pre-existing or natural traffic flow patterns were present in the roundhouse; (2) evaluate visitor interest in proposed research topics; and (3) obtain visitor reactions, insights, attitudes and expectations concerning proposed roundhouse programming.
The focus of this summative evaluation report is the Shark Encounter exhibit at Sea World of California, which opened in June 1992. The design concept was to display the largest collection of sharks in the world. Visitors are transported to the "tropics" to view sharks from above, and then venture into the sharks' environment as they travel through an acrylic tube placed on the bottom of the habitat. The goal of the evaluation was to determine the overall effectiveness, or success, of the exhibit
In this paper, Britt Raphling from the Adler Planetarium discusses how evaluation can be used to help focus interactive multimedia options so that exhibits meet both content objectives and visitor experience objectives. This paper outlines an "ideal" evaluation process tailored specifically to the challenges of developing interactive multimedia elements in museums. It requires exhibit developers, programmers, visitors and the evaluator to participate in a series of five steps designed to ensure the most effective possible outcome.
This paper discusses recent efforts of zoos and museums to develop exhibits that place a greater emphasis on the uniqueness of natural areas and on what visitors can do to preserve these ecosystems. Specifically, this paper focuses on a recent project at the Brookfield Zoo to create an outdoor adventure game called Quest to Save the Earth and includes details of the design process and findings from a formative evaluation process.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kate IrvineCarol SaundersJohn Scott Foster
In this paper, Margaret M. Ropp of the Michigan State University Museum discusses a study that explored visitors' experiences with the exhibit, "Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity" and the role that the video interpretation played. The exhibition team was concerned that African art is often seen as primitive, anonymous, and devoid of creativity, so they developed individual videos for the 11 featured artists in an effort to counter those stereotypes. The major finding is that the videos helped the visitors who watched them to connect the creative process, the artist and the final product