Stephen Nowlin's remarks about the "public" are very apropos, and I agree wholeheartedly. What bothers me about the new rhetoric in museums is that sometimes target audiences in reality represent a new exclusionary philosophy. Now it's often considered OK to exclude certain minority audiences--such as scholars and enthusiasts of subject specialties. Sometimes the policy is intended to augment the "body count" and appeal to a broader spectrum of the "public," but sometimes it seems to stem from a conscious decision to trade one minority interest for another one. For example, apparently in some circles it's considered politically incorrect for museums to cater to the interests of people who really care about the stylistic and technological history of a specific type of object--after all, such people are hopeless antiquarians and relic collectors. --David Haberstich