November 23, 2008
The Marian Koshland Museum is a private museum located in Washington, DC. It is quite sophisticated and showcases very interesting current issues that are pertinent to everyone. This museum targets a more educated audience that is capable of understanding some relatively complex scientific issues. Although it is small, the museum houses three galleries entitled, "Wonders of Science," "Global Warming: Facts & Our Future," and "Infectious Diseases." I will discuss two of the displays in each of these galleries, beginning with the issue of global warming.
One of the first displays I examined was entitled, "Climate Change Hits Home," which addressed the concept of rising sea levels in Maryland. There was a large map above three different buttons. When pressed, these buttons would illuminate certain lights on the map. These buttons corresponded to different sea levels, and were effective in showing how much of Maryland (especially Eastern Maryland) would be flooded with minimal rises in sea level.
Another display that drew my attention was entitled, "A Changing but Uncertain Future," and expressed increasing temperatures and carbon dioxide levels from 2000 to 2100. A large, sliding diagram showing earth's temperatures relative to average temperatures today, accompanied a large but simple graph that extrapolated CO2 levels and temperatures to the year 2100. The graph and diagram used reliable models from GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory),and NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research), and were very effective. The graph clearly shows rapidly increasing levels of C02, as well as temperatures, and the sliding diagram becomes almost entirely red by the year 2100, indicating that temperatures around the world are more than just a few degrees Celsius higher than average. The fact that the diagram requires the individual to move it through time, forces attention to it, and does a masterful job of illustrating the extrapolated temperatures.
The second gallery that I will discuss was entitled, "Wonders of Science." The first display I observed in this gallery was entitled, "Safe Drinking Is Essential." This display was located under a Sound Tube that isolates the sound of the videos found at the display. "Safe Drinking Is Essential" deals with the concept of water treatment, which is discussed in a short documentary that is certainly very effective (videos are an easy attention-getter). The video was also accompanied by some information that contained highlighted vocabulary that could be defined when "moused over": this was icing on the cake. This display contained almost and over-abundance of tools to understand water treatment and its importance.
The second display I visited in the "Wonders of Science" gallery was entitled, "Cosmic Expansion." The display obviously addressed the idea of cosmic expansion, and discussed dark matter and dark energy, using laws of physics and some more recent knowledge. This display was also located under a Sound Tube, and utilized video techniques. Additionally, interactive graphs of dark matter and dark energy accompanied the video. The participatory nature of this display is certainly effective.
The final gallery I examined was "Infectious Diseases." One display I examined was entitled "Developing Stories In Infectious Diseases," and it provided recent information on infectious diseases and the hotspots of these diseases around the world. This display was a simple screen with a globe, containing dots for the aforementioned hostpots. When a hotspot was selected using a joystick, information about the disease was supplied. This information was accurate, relying on medical data, as well as evidence found in the media about other aspects of the disease and how it spread. This was certainly an effective display as well, giving current information on relevant diseases. It also contained many examples from around the world, presenting the viewer with a disease smorgasbord. The interactive aspect was very gripping, and the abundance of examples supplied a global perspective on such a global problem.
Another display I visited in the Infectious Diseases gallery was entitled, "Exponential Growth," and it conveyed the concept of the bacteria growth (specifically, E. Coli). The display was simply four large tubes that we're roughly 6 feet tall, and corresponded to the first bacteria, then the amount of bacteria at two, four, and eight hours. The display was also accompanied by a plaque that described the growth, and the known growth rate of E. Coli. The first mutation occurred at eight hours, so a single yellow marble was among many other marbles in the eight-hour tube. This was a very simple, obvious display that certainly conveyed exponential growth of bacteria very effectively.
Many of the displays that I discussed were interactive, and were quite effective as an outcome of this. However, there are some disadvantages to interactive displays. Compared to the traditional "specimens in a case" display technique, interactive displays do not offer as much of a life-like experience. They have to rely on two-dimensional images, whereas specimens are three-dimensional. Another disadvantage of interactive displays is more relevant to museum operators. Interactive technology is often much more expensive than "specimens in a case." It is also expensive to update and replace this technology, further adding to the costs of the museum.
This problem is especially pertinent to private museums such as the Koshland, because they have to be cost-effective. Although, the interactive technologies are expensive, they are certainly attractive to museum visitors. If the technology is reliable and the museum can possibly arrange special deals, it can be a great way to attract customers. Another strategy that private museums can utilize is a gift shop. By making sales this way they can certainly add to their profits. Finally, museums should provide a memorable, comfortable experience that does not depend on their technology. This includes constructing their museum in a coherent fashion, organizing special events, games and challenges, and creating a structured introduction to aspects of the museum. The Koshland utilizes many of these techniques, and they are certainly very useful.
The Marian Koshland Science Museum
Already enjoying the trip at the metro station.