National History Museum

October 20, 2024

In the first exhibit that we looked at called Cellphones: Unseen Connections, they used a variety of different presentation techniques to explain the information. One of the first presentation techniques you saw when walking into the exhibit was a large phone screen with a front-facing camera on it that showed a video feed of yourself on the phone. Thou was a very unique and different presentation technique that really caught your attention and made me interested in the rest of the exhibit. I think that was the main purpose of this part as there wasn’t a whole lot of information on these screens, but they were effective at catching people’s attention. Another type of presentation technique that was used was a board game on a screen where you had to progress to the end and answer different questions. This was very cool and I was very engaged with this as it wasn't a type of exhibit I had seen before. It also did a good job of including different questions that let you learn about cell phones, how they work, and their history. The last type of exhibit I found very interesting was one showing the different materials used to make a cell phone. Inside the exhibit was each of the raw materials that are used in cell phones available for you to look at. This was extremely helpful in visualizing how many different things are actually used to make a cell phone and how while they are very technologically advanced, it is all made out of things found on Earth and tied to nature in that way. A different exhibit that I saw, similar to the one I talked about previously, was again focused on the materials used to manufacture cell phones. This one, however, was concerned about the availability of resources and discussed how all of the materials that are used in cell phones are finite resources. It showed many of the different types of resources used and where they come from. Copper, for instance, comes from various mines but produces an enormous amount of waste for each pound mined. This is just one example of the different environmental effects that come from the production of cell phones and the resources they need. One of the exhibits there also gave information on how to extend the life of your cell phone because it is not amazing for the environment. It talked about reselling and repairing because a lot of the time, recycling cell phones is very difficult and expensive to do, so they are often just thrown away. Another exhibit we saw talked about one of the technological impacts that cell phones have had. One of these is the way that we store and spend money. With cell phones, many people now use them as their primary way to carry around money and spend it using apps like Apple Pay or Venmo. This is one technological impact that I think has been positive and overall makes our lives easier. Cell phones also have societal impacts as well as technological ones which aren’t always as positive. For example, with the rise of cell phones people have been exposed to a lot more misinformation than they have been in the past. They convey this by giving examples of some ridiculous news headlines such as people growing horns on their heads because of cell phone usage, which is clearly not true. It then shows a conversation between two young people discussing the dangers of misinformation and how it can come up which is a unique and cool way to show this information. Another societal impact and one that may or may not be good is that with cell phones, people are seeing more and more images and videos containing violence. This again is conveyed as a conversation between two people where they are talking about how it sucks to see these kinds of things online, but can be helpful in showing people that a problem really does exist and open their eyes to it.

In the exhibit called Human Origins, there were various different unique exhibits that displayed many different topics. One of these was about how people in the past expressed their identity. This exhibit showed a person and different things that they might have worn to express their identity, such as jewelry and necklaces, as well as other adornments. Over time these types of things have evolved greatly but they are still often used in today's time to express identity and other things such as societal status. Another exhibit in this section talked about when humans started writing. This exhibit had a section of information for you to read, but then also had a few pictures and examples of writing that were done thousands of years ago, which was very interesting to look at. Over time, writing has evolved significantly. The examples given were writings on lapis lazuli and clay tablets, while today we write on paper and computers. The purpose of writing, however, is still the same, which is to preserve messages. Another exhibit we found gave information about burials that happened in the past, and how things similar to funerals were done tens of thousands of years ago. It discussed two examples of burials that occurred in the past and showed a reconstruction of one as well. Burials are still done today in a more structured way, but still for the same reasons they were done in the past. While some people might think that the exhibit de-emphasizes the human impact on the environment, I don’t think that it does that. I think that the exhibit talks about humans and the climate in a way that explains why many of the decisions were made. For example, it talks about how settling down and farming instead of continuing to hunt and gather made it easier to produce large quantities of food. While this is more harmful to the environment, I don’t believe the exhibit is trying to hide that but instead just giving reasons and facts for why they happened. The exhibit also talks about how humans have evolved in a time when the climate was constantly changing but doesn’t say anything about how humans are not or were not responsible for any of it.

In this exhibit in Ocean Hall, there were interactive video stations showing videos about various different subjects. One of the videos we watched was called Fool’s Gold. This video talked about iron pyrite, or fool's gold, in the ocean and how it fertilizes life in the sea. It is spread by vents and volcanoes underwater and is beneficial for all kinds of ocean life. I think that this video was very easy to watch and understand and they did a very good job of making it accessible to all people watching it. Another video we watched was called It’s Easy to Help Whales and talked about an app called Ocean Alert that you can use to help save whales. Whenever you see one, you input information about it and its location so that other large ships can slow down or avoid those areas. You can also report if you see a whole in distress and a trained team can come to rescue it. Overall this video was easy to understand but wasn’t as engaging or interesting as the previous one, and felt more like an advertisement for the app. In this exhibit, there was also a large globe with a screen on it playing a video. The video highlighted how oceans affect Earth's climate, mainly talking about how they absorb heat and CO2. The oceans take in the sun’s heat, helping to regulate the planet’s temperature. This process, however, does create a temperature imbalance, leading to natural disasters. Changes in ocean temperatures also impact global weather patterns, such as El Nino and La Nina. The oceans also absorb CO2, storing it on the ocean floor in plants and phytoplankton. Over time this carbon becomes fossil fuels which humans burn, releasing CO2 back into the atmosphere. The large sphere playing a video enhanced the learning experience since it was very engaging to watch and was able to display how all of these things impacted the earth right on the globe. The unique presentation style improved the overall educational value of the video in my opinion.

When walking into the Deep Time exhibit, there are different pillars depicting different environments and how they were in the past. One of the pylons we saw modeled a floodplains in Montana 67 million years ago. At this time and in this place, the carbon dioxide levels were 4 times higher than they are today, the average global temperature was about 16 degrees higher than today, and the sea levels were roughly 700 feet higher. The world was a very different place then and much warmer, and it was very interesting to see modeled and shown to us. I think it did a great job of showing what the world looked like in the past and made the information very easy to digest. Another pylon we looked at modeled a lush rainforest about 55 million years ago. At this time, the carbon dioxide levels were 5 times higher, the average temperature was about 20 degrees higher, and the sea level was also about 700 feet higher than it is today. Again this display did a great job of showing what that type of environment could have looked like and made the information very easy to understand at the same time. In a different section of this exhibit, there are various different displays showing climate change's effects on the earth and what caused it. These exhibits talked about the climate in the past but also about the climate in today’s age and how it has affected our environment and lives. These exhibits talked about how we use various different strategies and sets of data to figure out what the climate was like millions of years ago, and all together give us a strong idea of what it was actually like back then. I do think that these exhibits did a good job of explaining how fossil and geological information can help to inform us about current and future climate change. I think this because the way that it was presented was very clear in the messages they were trying to get across and made it easy to follow all of it. It also used language that was easy to understand allowing others and I to really understand what they were trying to tell us. The exhibit also used different visual techniques to help make the information easier to digest which was very nice.