On Thu, 13 Jun 1996, Jeff Kupperman wrote: > According to _The Museum Experience_ (1992: J. Falk and L. Dierking, > p.70+), there have been studies by Falk (1983: _Roundtable Reports_, 7(4), > p.10-13) and Borun (1980: "What's in a name?", Philadelphia: The Franklin > Institute Science Museum), among others, that touch upon the label reading > time. The studies suggest that although the _average_ time is indeed 8 or > 10 seconds, label reading in fact falls into 2 patterns: (1) glancing at > the label for only a second or two, and (2) reading seriously for a minute > or so. These studies suggest that serious label readers are a small (10 > percent or so) minority, but Paulette McManus in _What Research Says about > Learning in Science Museums_ argues that over 2/3 of visitors in a study at > the British Museum got significant information from labels. She argues > that it is very hard to tell whether people are reading or not, and short, > casual glances at text can be surprizingly educational. Best input on this thread so far. Hank Burchard * <[log in to unmask]> * Washington DC