Exhibits people have been giving generously of their time to advise about development of the ExhibitFiles site. Earlier this year, 17 of them spoke with interviewers from Randi Korn & Associates about the exhibit development process, the resources they draw on in their work, and what they’d find useful in this new site.

Most striking to me is their extraordinary generosity of spirit. Most said they would be willing to share descriptions, photos, evaluations, lessons learned, final budgets, and other material. The reasons for their willingness to share: a commitment to collegiality and collaboration and, to quote the report, “a desire to build a learning community and avoid reinventing the wheel.” We look forward to hearing from others about what they would find useful, and ways they hope to contribute.

Front-End Study (PDF 163K)

As part of the ExhibitFiles design process, we conducted a workshop at the Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, California, June 13-14, 2006. Most of the workshop participants were exhibit developers, the primary users of the website.

We focused on potential features of the ExhibitFiles site. Card sorting, free-listing, and a lot of discussion over the two days really helped move our thinking along.

We’ve captured some of the results from this meeting in a Design Workshop Document (880K PDF). As always, your comments and questions are welcomed.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is one of the resources science center and museum people have been using over the last 10 years to share information and offer mutual support. The list now has 1,330+ subscribers in more than 20 countries (most in the United States and Canada). To help us understand what kinds of questions come up around exhibits, we asked Randi Korn & Associates to analyze postings from a six-month period. We wanted to make sure we’re taking into account the real problems people run into in their work–not just whether or not someone has produced an exhibition about a topic like infrared radiation (to use a recent example), but more technical issues like inexpensive alternatives to heat-imaging cameras. We’re using this analysis as we specify content requirements for the exhibition records that will serve as the core of the ExhibitFiles site.

Analysis of ISEN-ASTC-L postings PDF

ISEN-ASTC-L: subscribe and search archives

Early planning for the ExhibitFiles site was guided by conversations with colleagues, brief surveys, and analysis of listserv records. Results are summarized here:

User Needs Assessment Summary PDF