A model for museum outreach based on shared interactive spaces

Museums typically strive to support learning about topics that pertain to the collections. However, necessities in museum-exhibit design may work against this goal. Designing for experiences of just a few minutes keeps traffic moving through gallery spaces, but prevents the immersion that a productive learning experience demands. This paper describes a genre of computer environments that could address both the constraints of a museum visit and the sort of extended, highly personal experience that can support learning. The environments are called “microworlds, ” which can take the form of stand-alone "construction kits " for single users or teams of users, or located as pockets of activity within a larger, networked, multiuser environment. Supplemented by other exhibits and learning materials, microworlds can be installed in gallery kiosks to give visitors a taste of the subjects and modes of interaction they offer. The software could also be available for more in-depth use outside the museum, through museum store purchases or dial-ins to a server. The microworlds described here are for learning about an aspect of motion study, balance. They are also for learning about an aspect of topology, the spatial relationships between vertexes, edges, and faces of three-dimensional shapes. Users construct dinosaur skeletons and mobiles for experiments with balance, and polyhedra for explorations in topology. The mobiles in changed scale can become items of jewelry, and the polyhedra in changed scale can become landscapes along which the dinosaurs can teeter

A model for museum outreach based on shared interactive spaces

Museums typically strive to support learning about topics that pertain to the collections. However, necessities in museum-exhibit design may work against this goal. Designing for experiences of just a few minutes keeps traffic moving through gallery spaces, but prevents the immersion that a productive learning experience demands. This paper describes a genre of computer environments that could address both the constraints of a museum visit and the sort of extended, highly personal experience that can support learning. The environments are called “microworlds, ” which can take the form of stand-alone "construction kits " for single users or teams of users, or located as pockets of activity within a larger, networked, multiuser environment. Supplemented by other exhibits and learning materials, microworlds can be installed in gallery kiosks to give visitors a taste of the subjects and modes of interaction they offer. The software could also be available for more in-depth use outside the museum, through museum store purchases or dial-ins to a server. The microworlds described here are for learning about an aspect of motion study, balance. The

A model for museum outreach based on shared interactive spaces. Multimedia Computing and Museums

Just as museum professionals and visitors are becoming more accustomed to preparing, seeing, and using computers in exhibits, the possibilities for interactivity are mushrooming with the expansion of computer networks. Researchers are beginning to develop environments in which many people can be "present " simultaneously. The current contexts typically include meeting places and some type of game-playing, but the milieus present possibilities for serious learning as well. In this paper I describe some of the history of networked multiuser spaces, sketch aspects of a learning environment and online community, and explain how this example suggests a model for museum outreach. The model addresses a dilemma in museum education: designing for smooth traffic flow through exhibit areas works against possibilities for time-intensive involvement with materials and ideas, which leads to learning in any deep sense. The Development of Networked Multiuser Spaces Systems for simultaneous use by many users have evolved through the convergence of several pathways. Since the earliest days of the Internet, facilities such as electronic mail and the "talk " fimction have enabled communication between users sharing a system. Electronic mail allows sending and replying to messages according to one's own schedule and convenience; on Unix systems, users can use the "finger " program to find out who else is on the system at the same time and the "talk " program to initiate and sustain a volley of text messages with them. These facilities are normally used in the context of the workplace. More and more systems feature multimedia capabilities for electronic mail, and hnctions reminiscent of "talk " are showing up in environments that include images as well as text