Today, museums all over the world are faced with the opportunity to re-invent themselves and thei... more Today, museums all over the world are faced with the opportunity to re-invent themselves and their relationships with their publics. But what will it take to do so? In 2011, the authors began the research project “ONLY CONNECT: Visitor-Centered Museum Interpretation”—at once a search for defining criteria of excellence across museum types and an opportunity to visit salient sites, observe and talk with visitors and fellow museum professionals, and report back to the field. Initially hoping to benchmark “best practices” in museum interpretation, we solicited nominations and criteria from more than 50 colleagues in North America and Europe. From that list, we distilled a small subset of museums that, with the help of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, we were able to visit, document, and describe. All told, we conducted 35 interviews, including 11 with museum directors and seven each with curators, educator-interpretive specialists, and cross-departmental collaborative teams. We began the study by looking for innovative interpretive practices. What we found was something more: a visitor-centered focus leads to organizational transformation. Once a museum decides to shift its approach and place visitors at the center of its mission, how does it follow through on that goal? The following anecdotes offer a first glimpse of what we saw, a set of scenes that touch on the changes taking place in museum practice.
The Evolving State of the Art CD-ROM: The National Museum of American Art and Les Impressionistes
Archives and Museum Informatics, 1998
... for a multimedia approach suited to the complexity of modern and contemporary art: a view fro... more ... for a multimedia approach suited to the complexity of modern and contemporary art: a view from America. In Hadwig Kräutler (ed.), New ... After the Overview topics, the Galleries includes an appropriate beginning: ''Director's Choice. Here, Dr. Elizabeth Broun, the NMAA Director ...
The authors observe that: (1) arts education is in trouble; (2) for a variety of reasons, museums... more The authors observe that: (1) arts education is in trouble; (2) for a variety of reasons, museums are a rational choice of institution to work towards reversing that trend; and (3) museums are generally willing to undertake such a role, but are in need of assistance to do so. The authors advocate that targeted philanthropy can provide such assistance, and describe the partnership of the Edward and Betty Marcus Foundation with the New Media Consortium (NMC) to help museums across Texas learn to scale education efforts to produce measurable outcomes that can make a difference. Project rationale, objectives and lessons learned are shared. (Contains 12 footnotes.) [This paper was published as part of NMC's Digital Education Project for Texas Art Museums,]
Artworks are highly coded power objects. At best, they serve aswindows onto profound and unspeaka... more Artworks are highly coded power objects. At best, they serve aswindows onto profound and unspeakable experience; at worst,they're simply ``wall obstructions.'' In this paper, two issueswill be addressed: (1) What do artists, in their role asextremely subtle information designers, have to teach us abouthow deep knowledge is conveyed? What do their visual strategiesteach us about interface? And (2) how can a digital program bedesigned that respects the properties inherent in each artwork,and yet harnesses the power of multimedia to make connectionsacross space and time?
This paper describes possibilities of hypermedia in archaeological exhibitions concerning aspects... more This paper describes possibilities of hypermedia in archaeological exhibitions concerning aspects of vlsualizatlon and interactivity. It explains two very different kiosk systems, which supported exhibitions at the Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Bonn) in 1997 and 1998. The first program deals with a very specific problem in (pre-) history regarding demographic data of the Scythians (nomadic horseriding warriors who lived in the northern Black Sea region, ca. 7th-4th century 6. C.). It offers both an adventure-like experimental situation (including a simulation) and a small database to compare the experimental results with real archaeological data. The second program covers general aspects of a whole archaeological culture (the Iberians, former inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, ca. 8th-1st century B. C.). The visitors can explore seven themes ('daily life', 'environment', 'economy', 'art', 'religion', 'settlements', 'foreigners-) and a time line with important events. One of the main tasks of this program is the ability to allow the visitors realistic impressions of archaeological sites. This is achieved by providing interactive panorama technologywithout a 'lost in space-feeling.
First chapter of P. Hecht and H. Din (eds). The Digital Museum: A Think Guide. Washington, D.C.: ... more First chapter of P. Hecht and H. Din (eds). The Digital Museum: A Think Guide. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums, 2007, pp. 19–34. Also published as “Visual Velcro: Hooking the Visitor.” Museum News 86, no. 6 (Nov-Dec 2007): 57–62, 68–71.
At SFMOMA, an interpretive goals process has been instituted that brings together curators, educa... more At SFMOMA, an interpretive goals process has been instituted that brings together curators, educators, educational technologists and other concerned parties to design the interpretive " menu " for exhibitions once they are put on the schedule. The result is a transition from the old model of " technology as remediation " —in which kiosks were placed at the end of an exhibition (or on another floor altogether) while visitors were often left clueless before the art itself—to a mix of analog and digital resources, designed and dosed to meet visitor needs as they arise. The result may be a net decrease in technological interventions, but arguably a more effective use of technology when it is deployed. Three case studies illustrate the range of responses to this process, and the development of technology solutions at a variety of scales and budgets, with varying degrees of success. Results of recent evaluations of mobile tours, both cell phone and multimedia-based, are included, as well as indications for future directions stemming from this action research.
Art museum curators and educators worked closely together to develop "Points of Departure", an ex... more Art museum curators and educators worked closely together to develop "Points of Departure", an exhibition in which artworks and educational media were seamlessly integrated. Four multimedia prototypes were developed and deployed in the galleries: interactive .srnurt taDle,s featuring curatorial video introductions to each of the six exhibition themes; handheld iPAQ Gallery Explorer PDAs displaying video clips of featured artists; a Flash-based "Make Your Own Gallery" activity in which visitors were invited to curate their own exhibition and comment on it; and Making Sense of Modern Art, a kiosk (and Web-) based program providing in-depth treatment of the artworks on display and the issues that surround them. Evaluation of visitor response to these varied educational technologies is currently underway and will be reported at the ICHIM conference in Milan.
Artworks are highly coded power objects. At best, they serve as windows onto profound and unspea... more Artworks are highly coded power objects. At best, they serve as windows onto profound and unspeakable experience; at worst, they’re simply “wall obstructions.” In this paper, two issues will be addressed: • What do artists, in their role as extremely subtle information designers, have to teach us about how deep knowledge is conveyed? What do their visual strategies teach us about interface? • How can a digital program be designed that respects the properties inherent in each artwork, and yet harnesses the power of multimedia to make connections across space and time?
Today, museums all over the world are faced with the opportunity to re-invent themselves and thei... more Today, museums all over the world are faced with the opportunity to re-invent themselves and their relationships with their publics. But what will it take to do so? In 2011, the authors began the research project “ONLY CONNECT: Visitor-Centered Museum Interpretation”—at once a search for defining criteria of excellence across museum types and an opportunity to visit salient sites, observe and talk with visitors and fellow museum professionals, and report back to the field. Initially hoping to benchmark “best practices” in museum interpretation, we solicited nominations and criteria from more than 50 colleagues in North America and Europe. From that list, we distilled a small subset of museums that, with the help of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, we were able to visit, document, and describe. All told, we conducted 35 interviews, including 11 with museum directors and seven each with curators, educator-interpretive specialists, and cross-departmental collaborative teams. We began the study by looking for innovative interpretive practices. What we found was something more: a visitor-centered focus leads to organizational transformation. Once a museum decides to shift its approach and place visitors at the center of its mission, how does it follow through on that goal? The following anecdotes offer a first glimpse of what we saw, a set of scenes that touch on the changes taking place in museum practice.
The Evolving State of the Art CD-ROM: The National Museum of American Art and Les Impressionistes
Archives and Museum Informatics, 1998
... for a multimedia approach suited to the complexity of modern and contemporary art: a view fro... more ... for a multimedia approach suited to the complexity of modern and contemporary art: a view from America. In Hadwig Kräutler (ed.), New ... After the Overview topics, the Galleries includes an appropriate beginning: ''Director's Choice. Here, Dr. Elizabeth Broun, the NMAA Director ...
The authors observe that: (1) arts education is in trouble; (2) for a variety of reasons, museums... more The authors observe that: (1) arts education is in trouble; (2) for a variety of reasons, museums are a rational choice of institution to work towards reversing that trend; and (3) museums are generally willing to undertake such a role, but are in need of assistance to do so. The authors advocate that targeted philanthropy can provide such assistance, and describe the partnership of the Edward and Betty Marcus Foundation with the New Media Consortium (NMC) to help museums across Texas learn to scale education efforts to produce measurable outcomes that can make a difference. Project rationale, objectives and lessons learned are shared. (Contains 12 footnotes.) [This paper was published as part of NMC's Digital Education Project for Texas Art Museums,]
Artworks are highly coded power objects. At best, they serve aswindows onto profound and unspeaka... more Artworks are highly coded power objects. At best, they serve aswindows onto profound and unspeakable experience; at worst,they're simply ``wall obstructions.'' In this paper, two issueswill be addressed: (1) What do artists, in their role asextremely subtle information designers, have to teach us abouthow deep knowledge is conveyed? What do their visual strategiesteach us about interface? And (2) how can a digital program bedesigned that respects the properties inherent in each artwork,and yet harnesses the power of multimedia to make connectionsacross space and time?
This paper describes possibilities of hypermedia in archaeological exhibitions concerning aspects... more This paper describes possibilities of hypermedia in archaeological exhibitions concerning aspects of vlsualizatlon and interactivity. It explains two very different kiosk systems, which supported exhibitions at the Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Bonn) in 1997 and 1998. The first program deals with a very specific problem in (pre-) history regarding demographic data of the Scythians (nomadic horseriding warriors who lived in the northern Black Sea region, ca. 7th-4th century 6. C.). It offers both an adventure-like experimental situation (including a simulation) and a small database to compare the experimental results with real archaeological data. The second program covers general aspects of a whole archaeological culture (the Iberians, former inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, ca. 8th-1st century B. C.). The visitors can explore seven themes ('daily life', 'environment', 'economy', 'art', 'religion', 'settlements', 'foreigners-) and a time line with important events. One of the main tasks of this program is the ability to allow the visitors realistic impressions of archaeological sites. This is achieved by providing interactive panorama technologywithout a 'lost in space-feeling.
First chapter of P. Hecht and H. Din (eds). The Digital Museum: A Think Guide. Washington, D.C.: ... more First chapter of P. Hecht and H. Din (eds). The Digital Museum: A Think Guide. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums, 2007, pp. 19–34. Also published as “Visual Velcro: Hooking the Visitor.” Museum News 86, no. 6 (Nov-Dec 2007): 57–62, 68–71.
At SFMOMA, an interpretive goals process has been instituted that brings together curators, educa... more At SFMOMA, an interpretive goals process has been instituted that brings together curators, educators, educational technologists and other concerned parties to design the interpretive " menu " for exhibitions once they are put on the schedule. The result is a transition from the old model of " technology as remediation " —in which kiosks were placed at the end of an exhibition (or on another floor altogether) while visitors were often left clueless before the art itself—to a mix of analog and digital resources, designed and dosed to meet visitor needs as they arise. The result may be a net decrease in technological interventions, but arguably a more effective use of technology when it is deployed. Three case studies illustrate the range of responses to this process, and the development of technology solutions at a variety of scales and budgets, with varying degrees of success. Results of recent evaluations of mobile tours, both cell phone and multimedia-based, are included, as well as indications for future directions stemming from this action research.
Art museum curators and educators worked closely together to develop "Points of Departure", an ex... more Art museum curators and educators worked closely together to develop "Points of Departure", an exhibition in which artworks and educational media were seamlessly integrated. Four multimedia prototypes were developed and deployed in the galleries: interactive .srnurt taDle,s featuring curatorial video introductions to each of the six exhibition themes; handheld iPAQ Gallery Explorer PDAs displaying video clips of featured artists; a Flash-based "Make Your Own Gallery" activity in which visitors were invited to curate their own exhibition and comment on it; and Making Sense of Modern Art, a kiosk (and Web-) based program providing in-depth treatment of the artworks on display and the issues that surround them. Evaluation of visitor response to these varied educational technologies is currently underway and will be reported at the ICHIM conference in Milan.
Artworks are highly coded power objects. At best, they serve as windows onto profound and unspea... more Artworks are highly coded power objects. At best, they serve as windows onto profound and unspeakable experience; at worst, they’re simply “wall obstructions.” In this paper, two issues will be addressed: • What do artists, in their role as extremely subtle information designers, have to teach us about how deep knowledge is conveyed? What do their visual strategies teach us about interface? • How can a digital program be designed that respects the properties inherent in each artwork, and yet harnesses the power of multimedia to make connections across space and time?
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Papers by Peter Samis
CONNECT: Visitor-Centered Museum Interpretation”—at once a search for defining criteria of excellence across museum types and an opportunity to visit salient sites, observe and talk with visitors and fellow museum professionals, and report back to the field. Initially hoping to benchmark “best practices” in museum interpretation, we solicited nominations and criteria from more than 50 colleagues in North America and Europe. From that list, we distilled a small subset of museums that, with the help of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, we were able to visit, document, and describe. All told, we conducted 35 interviews, including 11 with museum directors and seven each with curators, educator-interpretive specialists, and cross-departmental collaborative teams. We began the study by looking for innovative interpretive practices. What we found was something more: a visitor-centered focus leads to organizational transformation. Once a museum decides to shift its approach and place visitors at the center of its mission, how does it follow through on that goal? The following anecdotes offer a first glimpse of what we saw, a set of scenes that touch on the changes taking place in museum practice.
• What do artists, in their role as extremely subtle information designers, have to teach us about how deep knowledge is conveyed? What do their visual strategies teach us about interface?
• How can a digital program be designed that respects the properties inherent in each artwork, and yet harnesses the power of multimedia to make connections across space and time?
CONNECT: Visitor-Centered Museum Interpretation”—at once a search for defining criteria of excellence across museum types and an opportunity to visit salient sites, observe and talk with visitors and fellow museum professionals, and report back to the field. Initially hoping to benchmark “best practices” in museum interpretation, we solicited nominations and criteria from more than 50 colleagues in North America and Europe. From that list, we distilled a small subset of museums that, with the help of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, we were able to visit, document, and describe. All told, we conducted 35 interviews, including 11 with museum directors and seven each with curators, educator-interpretive specialists, and cross-departmental collaborative teams. We began the study by looking for innovative interpretive practices. What we found was something more: a visitor-centered focus leads to organizational transformation. Once a museum decides to shift its approach and place visitors at the center of its mission, how does it follow through on that goal? The following anecdotes offer a first glimpse of what we saw, a set of scenes that touch on the changes taking place in museum practice.
• What do artists, in their role as extremely subtle information designers, have to teach us about how deep knowledge is conveyed? What do their visual strategies teach us about interface?
• How can a digital program be designed that respects the properties inherent in each artwork, and yet harnesses the power of multimedia to make connections across space and time?