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ECSITE Annual Conference 2004
By Roy Hawkey |
CONNECT and CELEBRATE are both EU-funded ICT projects in which ECSITE (European Collaborative for Science, Industry and Technology Exhibitions) and various science centres are involved, but there the similarity ends. CONNECT, presented by European Schoolnet, was unconvincing; it came across as yet another example of "using tomorrow's technology to deliver yesterday's curriculum" (Hepple). (There are, it seems, those who would engineer the digital equivalent of replacing the richness of the worldwide library with the single approved textbook.) By contrast, CELEBRATE seeks to develop augmented reality resources to enrich the physical experiences of interacting with objects and artefacts. The enthusiasm of the presenters, from Athens and from Bristol, reinforced the potential of the project.
Many science centres and museums are attempting to integrate the real and the virtual aspects of a visit, through information architecture and electronic navigation. Although one may pose serious questions about the underlying educational philosophies, there was no doubt that much is clearly happening in the sector and real advances are being made. As speakers from across Europe described their current projects one was left with a desire for more: both more examples and more analysis.
The numbers of online visitors to museums and science centres already exceed those actually on site, so debates about web collaboration (or competition?) are of increasing importance. Contributors from La Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (Paris), the Natural History Museum (London) and the Exploratorium (San Francisco) shared their thoughts and ideas on cooperative approaches to website development. (Particularly enjoyable was La Cité's Mona Lisa application, where host museums can modify the iconic image in a multitude of ways in any language they choose.) The development of dynamic websites, with pages created on demand from extensive databases, it was argued, makes new approaches not only possible but almost inevitable. A spectrum of views was apparent, in which the museum equivalents of copyright, shareware and freeware were in evidence.
There is great enthusiasm for the communication of science through ICT. Several examples of web-based projects were presented, all intended to interpret scientific objects and, especially, instruments in 'educational' ways. As is often the case with such museum ventures, some of the products seemed essentially driven by a desire to transmit the expert knowledge of the curator. Others, such as that from Milan's National Museum of Science and Technology, gave real opportunity and choice to the learner.
Overall, while there is genuine innovation much is merely repetitive. The persistent impression of the sessions remains that, while much is being achieved, there is an underlying tension in developing an appropriate balance between the "explanatory" and the "exploratory" (Bradburne). This was as evident in the physical exhibits in the host venue as in the virtual materials presented in the conference itself.
Links
Literature Review in Learning with Digital Technologies in Museums, Science Centres and Galleries: www.futurelab.org.uk/research/lit_reviews.htm
La Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie's Mona Lisa application: www.cite-sciences.fr/francais/ala_cite/expo/explora/image/mona/en.php#
December 2004
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