23 Jun
1998
23 Jun
'98
3:26 a.m.
On Tue, 23 Jun 1998, Christian Fandt wrote:
I don't think museums should necessarily cater to the lowest common
denominator. I realize they derive much needed revenue from public
visitors and don't want to turn the dummies off, but they shouldn't insult
the rest of us.
I've got no
problem with working exhibits, and hands-on learning. But the
science museum already has far more stuff than it can display, so when
a lot of the space has recently been taken over with these interactive
experiments that have little to do with the historical stuff, it's a
pity.
Some of us, I'm quite sure, feel the same way Tony. This is a minor gripe
of mine too. But take a close look at the people visiting a science museum
any day (or actually, _any_ museum). Majority will not be anywhere near as
technically informed as we are. Some of those folks are turned off. On the Furthermore, a mission of nearly all museums,
especially those that have
public money for support, is to educate. Those hands-on/interactive
experiments serve to satisfy the government agency responsible for ensuring
that public money given to those museums 'Is for The Public Benefit'.
Again, this can and should be done in a way which doesn't insult the
intelligence of those who come to appreciate the artifacts.
When Sam Ismail opens his public museum and gets state
or federal funding
to help, he will likely have to provide some educational features in the
museum that will take away from the space he'd want to use to show
historical stuff. Hands-on/interactive experiments are a somewhat
easy/low-maintenance/simple-to-design-and-make/stand-alone/unstaffed way to
fulfill that requirement.
Unless you consider it a labor of love and pump your own money into it :)
Question: Do many of you actively encourage folks (at
least those you know
or trust!) to visit you and your private collection who are not
collectors/historians like us? If so, do you have fun teaching them a
little about old computing (or old radios, automobiles, clocks or whatever
your interest in addition to computers)?
When unfortunate neighbors who walk by my garage make the mistake of
actually showing interest in all these old machines I have stacked up in
there, they get caught in my nerd spider web and I end up talking their
ear off for as many hours as it takes for them to finally overcome their
politeness and yell "Enough already! You sick bastard!" Actually, the
two neighbors I have met this way were both techno-dorks like me and
enjoyed all the old memories (one is a guy who moved here from Scotland,
his first computer being the Sinclair ZX-80).
I wish more people would show an interest since I love to talk about the
stuff. Maybe I should put up a sign when I'm working in the garage that
says "Don't be afraid to ask what all this junk is." :)
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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