{"id":4306,"date":"2018-11-06T17:02:16","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T22:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/?p=4306"},"modified":"2018-11-06T17:28:31","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T22:28:31","slug":"a-multi-sensory-visit-to-the-american-museum-of-natural-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/2018\/11\/06\/a-multi-sensory-visit-to-the-american-museum-of-natural-history\/","title":{"rendered":"A Multi-Sensory Visit to the American Museum of Natural History"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the beginning of October, I\u00a0used my New York Public Library card\u00a0<\/a>to pay a visit to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The enormous complex was packed on that sunny Saturday afternoon, but I was still able to deeply engage with the exhibits.<\/span><\/p>\n

AMNH was the 12th most-visited museum in the world in 2017, having almost 5,000,000 people come through its doors throughout the year (<\/span>TEA\/AECOM, p. 19<\/span><\/i>)<\/span>. The institution holds 34,120,652 specimens and artifacts in its collections, and recently added over 44,000 more (<\/span>American Museum of Natural History Annual Report, p. 4<\/span><\/em>). <\/span><\/p>\n

The public spaces of the buildings that make up the institution are segmented into 4 floors and a lower level. Upon entering, visitors are given a physical map outlining the best paths to take depending on the order in which they\u2019d like to see the exhibits. AMNH also offers a mobile app that gives “turn-by-turn directions”, provides descriptions of exhibits, and allows for the use of augmented reality and other digital experiences that can open up more levels of engagement throughout (<\/span>Figure 1<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 1: A sign notifying visitors of the museum’s navigational app.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A very notable way in which AMNH creates a logical navigation of the space is through a mixture of information visualization and mapping. <\/span>Figure 2<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Figure 3<\/span><\/i> show some charts for The Hall of Vertebrate Origins, in which a cladogram\u00a0<\/span>is used to physically arrange exhibits throughout the Hall in order of evolutionary relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 2: A navigational chart in the Hall of Vertebrate Origins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Figure 3: A navigational chart in the Hall of Vertebrate Origins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This technique melds the information on display with the physical space in order to help visitors navigate. Other visual techniques are also used, like the display in Figure 4 that makes up for missing parts of a fossil in order to show what the complete specimen might look like<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 4: using a metal outline to show what this fossil may have looked like as a prehistoric animal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As mentioned, the museum also has the ability to use augmented reality, permitting interaction with the exhibit itself and enabling the experience to not just rely on a visitor\u2019s ability to read as they browse collections (<\/span>Robinson, 2015, p. 4<\/span><\/i>). Signifiers are placed on the floor throughout to signal when this function is available (<\/span>Figure 5<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 5: a sticker on the floor notifying visitors that an augmented reality experience is available through the app.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AMNH also uses tactile methods for visitors to engage on a more active level by embedding multi-sensory interactions into the exhibits themselves. <\/span>Figure 6<\/span><\/i> shows a touchscreen that teaches more about \u201cEvolutionary Changes in Placoderms\u201d by providing the option to interact with a device rather than just merely showing a description on a sign. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 6: a touchscreen next to a fossil exhibit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In <\/span>Figure 7<\/span><\/i>, a sign says \u201cPlease touch this\u201d, a very obvious signifier telling visitors that they can literally touch the bony scales of a <\/span>Vinctifer<\/span><\/i>, a fish that swam in the ocean 110 million years ago. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 7: a fossil that visitors are allowed to touch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The world\u2019s largest meteorite on\u00a0<\/span>display, The Cape York Meteorite (<\/span>Figure 8<\/span><\/i>), lets visitors experience \u201c<\/span>touching an object that is nearly as old as the Sun\u201d (<\/span>American Museum of Natural History\u2013 Ahnighito<\/span>). <\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 8: the largest meteorite on display in the world, which visitors are allowed to touch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using the sense of touch fits into Robinson\u2019s idea of using multi-sensory options when interacting with a display in order to make exhibits more participatory (<\/span>Robinson, 2015, p. 5<\/span><\/i>). <\/span><\/p>\n

Established in 1869, the American Museum of Natural History is a scientific juggernaut, <\/span>a leader in exploration and research, and is constantly adapting to the new ways in which people can experience and enjoy museums.<\/span><\/p>\n

References<\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. TEA\/AECOM 2017 Theme Index and Museum Index: The Global Attractions Attendance Report<\/span><\/i>. (2018). Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/www.aecom.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/2017-Theme-Museum-Index.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  2. American Museum of Natural History Annual Report 2017<\/span><\/i>. (2017). Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/382887896\/AMNH-Annual-Report-2017#fullscreen&from_embed<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Robinson, L. (2014). <\/span>Multi-sensory, Pervasive, Immersive: towards a new generation of documents<\/span><\/i>. Retrieved from Centre for Information Science \u2013 City University London: <\/span>http:\/\/openaccess.city.ac.uk\/6864\/1\/LR%20-%20Immersive%201.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  4. American Museum of Natural History \u2013 Ahnighito. Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/www.amnh.org\/exhibitions\/permanent-exhibitions\/earth-and-planetary-sciences-halls\/arthur-ross-hall-of-meteorites\/meteorites\/ahnighito<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    At the beginning of October, I\u00a0used my New York Public Library card\u00a0to pay a visit to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The enormous complex was packed on that sunny Saturday afternoon, but I was still able to deeply engage with the exhibits. AMNH was the 12th most-visited museum in the world in 2017, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":549,"featured_media":4325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,243,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-bowler","category-field-reports","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/11\/IMG-3568-e1541541886175.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/549"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4306"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4366,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4306\/revisions\/4366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}