This report offers an assessment of environmental literacy in America that is both sobering and hopeful. This summary of almost a decade of NEETF (National Environmental Education & Training Foundation) collaboration with Roper Reports provides a loud wake-up call to the environmental education community, to community leaders, and to influential specialists ranging from physicians to weathercasters. At a time when Americans are confronted with increasingly challenging environmental choices, we learn that our citizenry is by and large both uninformed and misinformed.
This study, requested by Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small, was conducted between April 2004 and May 2005, over all four seasons, and used the following methods: 1) open-ended interviews with 55 visit groups; 2) formal observations of a sample of 100 visitors, for which the observer estimated the age and gender of visitors and noted their paths, all stops over 3 seconds in length, what displays they looked at, and which hands-on devices they used; 3) a peer review panel comprised of seven ex- hibition specialists (curators, designers,writers, educators, and exhibition developers) who work
Multi-Touch technology provides a successful gesture based Human Computer Interface. The contact and gesture recognition algorithms of this interface are based on full hand function and, therefore, are not accessible to many people with physical disability. In this paper, we design a set of command-like gestures for users with limited range and function in their digits and wrist. Trajectory and angle features are extracted from these gestures and passed to a recurrent neural network for recognition. Experiments are performed to test the feasibility of gesture recognition system and determine
Multi-touch gestures have become popular on a wide range of touchscreen devices, but the programming of these gestures remains an art. It is time-consuming and error prone for a developer to handle the complicated touch state transitions that result from multiple fingers and their simultaneous movements. In this paper, we present Gesture Coder, which by learning from a few examples given by the developer automatically generates code that recognizes multi-touch gestures, tracks their state changes and invokes corresponding application actions. Developers can easily test the generated code in
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Hao LüYang Li
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
In this article, Eugene Dillenburg, an Exhibit Developer at The Science Museum of Minnesota, shares a collection of stories from colleagues about their experiences in the museum field. The stories relate to defining moments in their career paths including how they began in the museum field, early experiences, witnessing the impact of their work, dealing with controversy, powerful interactions with objects, and career mobility and shifts.
In this article, Joyce Cheney, independent exhibit developer and curator of HELP's Apron Strings exhibit, and Edana McSweeney, co-director of the Hands-on Experiential Learning Project (HELP), describes how the project, created by the Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA), provides customized, on-site training to institutions without disrupting daily museum operations or community access. The authors also describe the impact of HELP on a small institution--The Depot Museum--in Henderson, Texas.
This article highlights four controversial exhibits from various institutions who, in the end, used controversy to their advantage. The authors include Kimberly Louagie, Curator of Exhibits at the Outagamie County Historical Society in Appleton, Wisconsin, Saudia Muwwakkil, Public Information Officer at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, Diane Perlov, Senior Vice President for Exhibits at the California Science Center, and John Russick, Curator at the Chicago Historical Society.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kimberly LouagieSaudia MuwwakkilDiane PerlovJohn Russick
In this article, Caitlin McQuade, an interpretive project developer, describes how four small history museums in St. Louis operate on tighter budgets while still fulfilling their missions. Through creative partnerships and comprehensive historical research, the leaders of these institutions have found ways to overcome the challenges of limited resources.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Caitlin McQuadeNational Association of Museum Exhibition
In this article, four panelists examine changes in exhibit design, identify the trends and currents that are feeding these changes, encourage more nuanced understanding of these implications, and evaluate the impact on the field. Panelists include Phyllis Rabineau, Deputy Director for Interpretation and Education at the Chicago Historical Society, Maeryta Medrano, Principal Director and President at Gyroscope, Inc., Paul Martin, Director of Exhibits at The Science Museum of Minnesota, and Lou Casagrande, President and CEO at the Boston Children's Museum.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lou CasagrandePaul MartinMaeryta MedranoPhyllis Rabineau
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This article presents examples of practical strategies for developing a positive and productive working relationship between museum clients and outside design firms contracted to develop exhibits. Authors include Donna R. Braden, Lead Experience Developer at The Henry Ford, Joseph Hines, Owner and Principal/Designer of Project Arts & Ideas, and Sharon Klotz, Director of Exhibitions at the Brooklyn Children's Museum.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Donna BradenJoseph HinesSharon Klotz
In this article, Paul Orselli, President and Chief Instigator of POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop), examines the value and process of prototyping for exhibit development. Orselli provides advice on how to make the most of the prototyping process.
In this article, Amanda Griffith, Executive Director of Arthurdale Heritage, Inc., describes the work of the AHI New Deal Homestead Museum. Griffith describes how this small institution overcomes challenges related to operational expenses and lack of staff.