I wasn’t able to visit a museum within the past week, but I wanted to write about the use of technology I observed while visiting the American Museum of Natural History in New York during winter break. I think this museum stands out because it focuses on scientific research – coming up with ways to display this knowledge and information – rather than displaying artwork and leaving it more to the visitor to interpret.<\/p>\n
The grand layout of the museum is very spacious and is divided into sections that represent each area of cultural research, whether it’s on dinosaurs, the earth and space, the ocean, mammals, etc. Large objects of display that adorn the vicinity of the museum\u00a0are not only visually appealing to visitors, but help guide them through which exhibits would interest them most – for example, giant assembled dinosaur bones or a huge life-size sculpture of a blue whale set the theme.![\"\"](\"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/03\/17203800_10210567392374424_770358802_n.jpg\")
Because the collections are so huge, the museum has an app people\u00a0can download called Explorer that is essentially a type of Google maps for the visit. The app is used as the visitor walks around the museum, giving simple directions such as which direction to turn when approaching \u00a0certain object or area.<\/p>\n
I explored the app myself and found that it was like walking through a history textbook in real life. With hundreds of Bluetooth hotspots, any artifact I was interested in had fun facts, animations, and videos revealed through the app. People definitely seemed preoccupied with the museum displays, craning their necks to get a full view of the impressive artifacts, but having this educational information within a touch is helpful. Other museums that have mobile phone interactive tour guides tend to attract visitors who neglect\u00a0it, but the fact that the museum is about natural history and things that spark a memory from the wonders we learned about in elementary school makes me want to take extra steps to learn more.<\/p>\n
The content of the exhibit was so bizarre and unique, such as frames full of actual preserved bugs, that I think people were too busy observing to bother with technology. Whereas in The Broad I noticed them using social media and taking pictures in front of the art because of its visual aesthetics, I feel like the objects here sparked more of a curiosity because it has an endless history behind it that allows us to envision what the world we live in now used to be. People actually read the text that accompanied each artifact because it enhances their imagination of dinosaur bones coming to life, whereas text about the life of a contemporary artist has less incentive for visitors passing by to read.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh150w17\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/03\/17199045_10210567391974414_2059928781_n.jpg\")
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