For Lisa Falk,
Although possibly not strictly relevant to your question about readable labels.
On a few occasions I have been involved with exhibits at the Department of
Archaeology and Numismatics in the National Museum of Wales at Cardiff. The
requirements of the Welsh Language Act mean that all signing and labelling in
such public institutions be in both Welsh and English. Given that the area of a
display devoted to text is obviously limited by non-language considerations,
there is roughly half the label space available for each language. The
experience of conveying the essence of the ideas and information one wishes to
put across in half the normal space is actually very stimulating and may well
result in better labelling than in many monoglot museums. Try it some time.
Yours,
Peter Northover,
Materials Science-Based Archaeology Group,
Dept. of Materials, University of Oxford
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