Museum education

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Engaging the museum visitor

It is commonly believed that the kind of multimedia experience best suited to a novice museum visitor is a structured, linear presentation in the form of a broad overview, whereas an experienced or scholarly visitor is best served by a non-linear system that allows exploration of deeper, more specific issues and topics. This paper counters these assumptions and argues that the most important outcome for a museum to achieve is a personal engagement between exhibit and visitor.

Face-to-face versus multimedia

Beyond the provision of (extended) labels and didactic panels, on-site educational services to museum visitors is traditionally delivered face-to-face. This paper compares the effectiveness of interactive multimedia with various forms of face-to-face museum education, in terms of social interaction, physicality, directness, open-endedness and cost. Some suggestions are made for interactive multimedia, as a result of these comparisons.