23 Jun
1998
23 Jun
'98
2:31 a.m.
At 19:13 22-06-98 +0100, ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
[Science museum]
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
other hand, you'll *sometimes* see intense interest in a display or theme
area as those folks may have had a long time interest in discovering more
about that theme or are just curious to learn about anything.
This is something we feel we will need to address in the AWA Electronic
Communications Museum when we eventually undertake a
relocation/reconstruction of our collection. I am on the Board of Trustees
of the museum. I see the same interest/disinterest when I closely watch
visitors to our museum. However, the majority of our visitors are usually
more technically oriented and go out of their way to visit the museum. It
is not a broad-range scientific museum like Deutches Museum, British
Science Museum and the Smithsonian. We are essentially focused on early
land-line telegraph and wireless communications from the first days in the
1840's up to, so far to now, the 1970's. Same thing could possibly be said
for the Boston Computer Museum for example since they are like AWA Museum
and not broad-ranged. I would guess that the more technically interested
folks (like us) would head for that place rather than the non-technical
tourists.
Interactive experiments and hands-on displays serve to draw the interest of
those disinterested visitors to a technical museum. That helps to get more
and more people to visit because the relatively disinterested visitors do
not talk to potential visitors in such negative terms. With that, the
interest of those potential visitors is possibly increased to eventually
bring them in. This helps the museum get more funding from admission fees
which helps the museum continue to be open and maintain their displays. The
interactive or hands-on displays can therefore be considered as part of the
'marketing' of the museum. You gotta sell it to 'em to make 'em come.
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'.
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.
Have any of you folks noticed that when you show your personal 'museum' to
folks who normally are not into computers and that you demonstrate one or
more simple aspects of computing on a working machine or just talk in
simple terms about the history of same, those people show that they come
away with just a bit more knowledge of those strange electronic boxes that
have been a mystery to them. You have passed on a bit of knowledge to those
visitors and you have fulfilled the general mission of nearly all museums
around: to educate.
Alas
they've added some of those 'interactive' experiments. While a good
idea in theory, I'm not sure they should be combined with collections of
historical scientific instruments, etc. The groups of people interested
in the two displays would have virtually no intersection IMHO.
Hmm. The Deutsches Museum is a 'hands-on'/'interactive') museum
since the first years, and the combination of historic displays
and learning works fine - at least for me. While I am sure that such things are educationally very
valuable, if I
want to see which materials conduct electricity, I'll do it at home :-).
I want to see things that, in general, I don't have at home, and am not
likely to have at home.
Alas, many people have neither the means, knowledge, etc. to do that.
Museums therefore serve that purpose.
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)?
--Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/