Museums and the Web 2005 Presentation

How can we use the Web to encourage post-visit learning in exhibits? Paula Sincero and I explored this topic in our presentation at the Museums and the Web 2005 conference in Vancouver. The paper is: “Using Museum Websites to Change Visitors’ Real-World Behavior.”

A few points that we focused on:

1. We propose this guideline: “An exhibit website should actively support at least three hours of activity done away from the computer in the real world.” (This is our major point).
2. Identify the audience and suggest a path to follow
3. Structure the Website for behavioral change
4. Make specific behavioral change a designed-for outcome
5. Provide “I can do that!” imagery
6. Use the dynamic duo: Flash and PDF