Deb,

You raise some interesting points, but some, I feel, are generalisations that need to be challenged. From the experience you describe it sounds like you have consistently encountered spectacularly displayed and interpreted objects, but substandard and uninspiring interactive exhibits. Not true for all of us, on both counts!

"As a kid, I could stare at the rockets at the Air and Space museum for hours. An interactive
would hold my attention for a few minutes."

Hey, I doubt anyone here will question the power of objects. But how many of us have encountered poorly displayed objects, with lack of context and interpretation for the uninitiated (i.e. most of the public?). I am not of the school that believes objects can speak for themselves. To continue the metaphor, what if the visitor doesn't speak the object's language? Interpretation and context are essential.

"An interactive or a pannel of text really only holds your attention for as long
as it takes to do the activity or read the text. But an object captures your
imagination."

This assumes that all interactives are of the push-button-to-see-single-outcome variety, which anyone who works with interactives will consider to be a lower order of the species, if they class them as an interactive at all. For the sake of debate, I will counter your argument with an exhibit that many people on this list will be familar, the Tornado (and there may be better examples, but this is off the top of my head). I can touch it, disrupt the flow, set up turbulence patterns, feel the cool air on my hands, the list goes on. A cased artifact used to measure wind speeds, say, will not engage me in the same way. Place them together, and bingo! A new level of understanding, perhaps . . . 

"What was it like sitting in that capsule or plane? How did it feel
to wear that piece of clothing?"

- I know of interactive exhibits in the UK that allow visitors to find both these things out first hand. Often they were intended for children, but are proving popular with adults too (e.g. the interactive exhibits at the V&A museum in London)


"What kind of person sat in that chair? What was
the person thinking as they posed for that painting?"

Art galleries in the UK are using interactive exhibits to encourage visitors, especially children, to ask some of these questions. I would argue it's not a natural-born skill to interrogate artworks this way. Some people may need something to chip off the ivory-tower veneer to feel that it's OK to ask these questions. Particularly people who may not be traditional museum goers and find them, frankly, terrifying. They might think they're supposed to know these things, and feel stupid when they don't.(Think about a posh dinner where you don't know what fork you're supposed to use and don't want to make a fool of yourself - research in the UK at least suggests that some people feel this way about going into a museum)


"How many of us can say
that about a text pannel or an interactive?"

There are some interactive exhibits I'll never tire of. I can play with open-ended interactive exhibits (eg gravity wells) for hours.


To summarise, good examples and bad examples of interactives exist. There does seem to be a climate of seeing interactives as a magic device to make any subject instantly interesting, especially to kids, which is of course not true and probably the reason why people such as yourself are suspicious of them. However, as you would implore people to not underestimate the power of objects, I implore you to not underestimate the power of a good interactive exhibit.

With kind regards,

Ms Regan Forrest
Interpretation Consultant
Haley Sharpe Design
Leicester, UK

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