Christine Reich

Understanding the Multilingualism and Communication of Museum Visitors who are d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Abstract The current conversation of multilingual engagement in museums often focuses on people who use spoken languages. Deafness, and visitors who use signed communication, such as American Sign Language (ASL), is instead placed in the realm of disability engagement. Drawing on relevant literature and contextualized by data gathered through recent visitor research at the Museum of Science, Boston, this article defines how people who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing are a diverse audience with a range of language and communication needs, argues that museums currently support only a subset of this audience, and lays out potential methods for better supporting the needs of all visitors who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing. Three categories of d/Deaf or hard of hearing visitor groups are described, including “Spoken-Focused,” “Simultaneous Language,” and “ASL-Focused.” Whereas written resources support “Spoken-Focused” groups and sign language resources support “ASL-Focused” groups, multilingual groups in which visitors use both ASL and English require further support. In order for museums to better prepare for and engage visitors who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing, museums should not conflate hearing loss with ASL use and understand that there is a wide range of multilingual and communication needs within this diverse audience.

Social participation of families with children with autism spectrum disorder in a science museum

ABSTRACT This article describes a qualitative research study undertaken as a collaboration between museum and occupational therapy (OT) researchers to better understand museum experiences for families with a child or children impacted by autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Inclusion for visitors with ASD is an issue that museums are increasingly considering, and the social dimension of inclusion can be particularly relevant for this audience. The construct of social participation, used in OT, provides a promising avenue for museum professionals to think about inclusion. Social participation situates social and community experiences within the context of peoples’ diverse motivations and the strategies they use to navigate environments. This study took these multiple factors into account when observing families’ museum visits—including analysis of their motivations for visiting, environmental features that influenced their visit, family strategies used before and during the visit, and the families’ definitions of a successful visit. Learning more about these factors that are associated with social participation can inform future efforts to improve museum inclusion for families with children with ASD.

Exhibition Accessibility and the Senior Visitor

Christine Reich is an exhibit planner at the Museum of Science, Boston, who served as both a planner and an evaluator on the Secrets of Aging exhibit team. She has a special interest in creating universally designed exhibits that provide meaningful and educational experiences for people of all ages and levels of ability. Minda Borun is director of research and evaluation at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia. She has published numerous articles and four monographs on studies of visitor learning in the museum setting. Borun is also a consultant on exhibit and program evaluation. She was project evaluator for Secrets of Aging. How do you create a science center exhibition that appeals to a senior audience? Do the needs and interests of seniors differ from those of the general audience? Can you truly create an exhibition that works for everyone? The Museum of Science, Boston, asked these questions when starting to develop a traveling exhibition called Secrets of Aging, which targeted seniors as a potential audience along with the traditional science center audience of families and school groups. Traditionally, seniors do not attend science centers in large numbers, and little is known about their needs in a science center environment. To learn more, the Museum of Science held assessment sessions to study the ways existing exhibitions worked for seniors. The fmdings were incorporated into the design of Secrets of Aging and were reexamined during formative and summative evaluation.

Using Provocative Questions to Address Societal Health Issues

Abstract Debates about healthcare, abortion, stem cells, and other issues illustrate that health decision-making can be a societal challenge. This article posits that museums can take an active role in helping visitors participate in public health decision-making by asking them to think about socio-scientific issues through the lens of argumentation. As a part of the development of exhibits focusing on public health and human biology, the Museum of Science, Boston conducted a front-end study to understand the potential of socio-scientific questions to generate discussion, the abilities of visitors to create socio-scientific arguments, and the impact of the questions on these arguments. Findings indicate that visitors have a variety of views about these issues, that they use different kinds of supports (values, science evidence, and informal evidence) as part of their arguments, and that the claim a visitor chooses may impact the supports they use.

Tackling Tough Topics: Using Socio-Scientific Issues to Help Museum Visitors Participate in Democratic Dialogue and Increase Their Understandings of Current Science and Technology

Abstract In a world of increasing scientific and technological complexity, where science and technology play an expanding role in our lives, there is need for a democratic citizenry that is skilled at discussing and making choices that are informed by science and shaped by individual and collective values. Although an oft argued rationale for teaching science is the need for informed citizens, few have connected science education goals to democratic dialogue. At the Museum of Science, taking on this task—to promote democratic dialogue and teach the public about current science and technology—has meant a change in our approach to science education over the past decade. We know that creating an informed citizenry prepared to address todays challenges requires educating the public about cutting edge science and technology research connected to the issues of the day, but it also requires moving beyond a public understanding of science model to a public engagement with science model in which the publics expertise, values, and personal experience are respected, explored, and discussed. Socio-scientific topics ranging from “Under what conditions should nanotechnology in medicine and personal care products be made available to the public?” to “Should parents be able make decisions about their future child based upon their genetic sequence?” have proven to be an effective means to achieve the goals of public engagement mode. In the projects detailed here, we show how and why they also prove effective as a means by which science museums can promote democratic dialogue and learning about current science and technology.

A Review of “Touch in Museums: Policy and Practice in Object Handling”

Touch in Museums: Policy and Practice in Object Handling, edited by Helen Chatterjee, presents a rich compilation of research-based articles that discuss the value of and possibilities for object handling by the public in museums and other cultural institutions. It is the outcome of a series of workshops funded by the United Kingdom’s Arts and Humanities Research Council titled “Touch and the Value of Object Handling.” The 21 articles stemming directly from this workshop series focus on a wide range of topics including the neurology of touch, haptic technologies, the history of touch in museums, touch and memory, therapeutic aspects of touch, and the relationship between knowledge and object handling. An underlying theme of the book is social justice and the social value of object handling; many of the articles address ways of increasing access to museum collections for a wide range of traditionally underserved audiences. The book begins with a powerful article by Fiona Candlin that discusses the history of touch in museums, particularly how museums began as institutions where visitors were invited to touch and handle the full range of artifacts in their collections. During this era, museum visitors were largely members of the privileged classes. As museums extended their reach and offered members of the middle class the opportunity to attend, they simultaneously enclosed their objects in glass cases, lest these visitors be tempted to walk away with any of the museum’s many treasures. According to Candlin, it was during this time period that the visually focused, non-touch museum so often experienced today was formed. This chapter in many ways sets the tone for the rest of the book. By presenting the current day, glass-cased museum as a modern phenomenon, this chapter puts forth the possibility that museums could once again engage visitors in touching and manipulating objects as they move forward into the 21st century—an idea that is further envisioned through the remaining chapters. Following Candlin’s chapter is a series of articles that address neuroscience and touch, specifically looking at aspects of touch such as the connections between emotion and touch, tactile perception, and the difference between sensing and feeling. These chapters highlight the complexity of the sense of touch, and how our perception of what we touch is greatly influenced by stimuli we receive through other senses. These articles raise a great many questions about touch and artifact handling