Kate's ITP Blog

Emotional observations

• Much more touching, hugging, laughing and encouragement between parents and children then you see in most settings. Also seems to be more affectionate touching, hand holding, kisses, etc. between couples. Museum as bonding experience.
• Familiarity of dioramas seems emotionally important and often discussed: "Come see this one over here--it's always been my favorite." Or [sounding disappointed]: "Oh look, they must have restored this one since last time--ah, the colors look all wrong now." My husband, for example, was convinced that what he remembered as an anonymous englishman in the "Old New York" diorama had recently been replaced by Peter Stuyvesant--though I tried to convince him that I was pretty sure that had always been the case, he was sorely disappointed. Why do people place such importance on this consistency and sadness in the notion of change? Perhaps because this was a memorable part of their childhoods they don't want to see modernized or left behind?
• After the initial pleasure of browsing familiar exhibits, the crowds and loud children made the experience largely frustrating and ultimately exhausting. The fatigue and frustration were worst in areas with new information like the Water exhibit.
• The Hall of Ocean Life has a great emotional feel--the impressive scale of the whale, the sounds, and the soothing color scheme all set up an amazingly relaxing and therapeutic atmosphere compared to the rest of the museum.

Informational observations

• In the upstairs part of the Hall of Ocean Life, the video screens are well-implemented, unobtrusively adding information--placement above displays was well chosen, as were the soothing images. The displays themselves, however, are overloaded with textual information--even though the visual chunking of information on cards and integrated into the phyiscal environments is a good try, the effect is still information overload.
• Downstairs in the Hall of Ocean Life the signage is poorly designed. Every person I observed was drawn to the animals in the cases and went to the signs with the outlines of the animals for more information about them--only to find that that sign only had information about the physical environment. Info about the animals themselves is contained on the image-free sign on the opposite site. Unintuitive and frustrating.
• Population explosion information visualization in Hall of Biodiversity is extremely effective.
• The Water exhibit contains far too much textual information for a chaotic, loud, crowded and playful environment. My husband and I and several people I overheard left feeling frustrated that we hadn't been able to learn nearly as much as we would have liked to or as much as we felt we should have based on the amount of text presented to us (expectation of absorption affects enjoyment)
• Video screen at start of Water exhibit poorly placed--should just have entrance lead right to the mist curtain, which does create a sense of wonder (though kids blindly running back and forth blindly through it is unfortunate...)
• Quite a few of the Water exhibits don't make any sense until you read the textual explanation--they feel thrown together (e.g., burial urn, water pipe, corn cob?), and often felt like a stretch of the theme. Even the scale, which is a sure winner in terms of interactive exhibits, gives the impression that it will provide useful, personalized information but fails to deliver (everyone I observed left frustrated, wanting to know if they were drinking enough water, which they thought the scale should be able to tell them)
• Photo directories at each level seem to work well--children can pick one of interest, useful for the foreign speakers I observed, repeat visitors can easily find the spot they want to return to. Directional stickers on floor also useful to us and many people I observed.
• Some parents take educational aspects of museum too seriously--observed parents fretting over their child's score in the "final test" of the Water exhibit, others scolding their children for not listening when they read explanatory text aloud to them.
• The globe display in the Water exhibit should have an indication of how long it is, and at what point in the presentation its currently at. All the people I observed stopped for only a minute or less; several mentioned that they didn't know how long it would be until it restarted.
• The "try this" label on most of the exhibits in the Water exhibit were too small--observed many people unsure of whether they could touch something until someone else modeled it, or just walked by after looking at it for a moment.
• The people I observed, including myself, usually didn't read the signage--as discussed in the article we read, they usually tried to figure it out themselves, then discussed with whomever they were with, and then either read the sign or walked away a bit frustrated.
• Observed some German visitors haltingly reading parts of the signs aloud to each other in English then discussing the displays in German--imagine this place could be very frustrating for non-English speakers.

Social observations

• Mother points out a fish in a diorama and tells her 6 or 7 year old daughter that it lives on plankton, points out another fish in a different section and mentions how beautiful it is--daughter looks at them both briefly then runs on to the next diorama shouting "C'mon mom, come do the next one!" (Mirrors the notion of "doing" a museum on a micro scale; idea that there is something to achieve at each station.)
• Observed a surprisingly large number of fathers who experienced the museum almost entirely through their cameras--taking pictures of the displays and their families, rarely pausing to look at anything outside of the lens. Attempting to capture an experience rather than have one?
• Many children interact by discovering an exhibit and showing it to another child--"Let me show you something!"
• Children use the trip as an opportunity for testing skills and getting approval from parents--saying aloud words they understand, animals they recognize, things they might know about an animal.
• All the white people in the exhibits I saw were early American settlers or Presidents (or busts of rich white men).

Reviews

A reporter working on a new Fodor's New York Travel Guide stops each of the following people on their way out of the AMNH and offers them a free pretzel if they'll sit on the steps with him for few minutes and talk about their experience inside.

Perspective of a middle-aged woman with a baby

Well, I came here today with my friend Susan and her baby Maxine, who's also three years old. I can tell you that I'm completely exhausted after navigating Jane's stroller through all those people, but we had a really great time. This is Jane's first time here, but I've been coming ever since I was in kindergarten--I still remember the first time I saw that dinosaur in the lobby, and it was great to see that look of awe in Jane's eyes today. A lot of the exhibits went over her and Maxine's heads, but Susan and I had a great time looking at all the old dioramas we remembered. The girls loved looking at the whale and the polar bears and the other animals they know from their picture books, and they also got a big kick out of sitting in that big clam shell in the Hall of Biodiversity. We got a great photo of the two of them. When we started to feel burnt out from walking so much, Susan and I relaxed with the kids on the floor in the Hall of Ocean Life, which I'd definitely recommend to any parent--it's so soothing and quiet in there, I could have stayed in there for hours. This is a great place for any parent to bring your kids--just make sure not to overdo it--the girls were really getting cranky by the end of it, as you can see, and Susan and I are beat. We didn't bother with any of the special exhibits because they were expensive, and my friends told me they're always packed. Maybe next time!

Perspective of a 28 year old man, there with his girlfriend

This place is a classic, and I usually have a pretty good time so I'd definitely recommend it to your readers, but I feel like I've been here way too many times now. Every time I get visitors from out of town, especially anyone with a kid, this is where they want to go. It's fun and all, but there are way too many people, way WAY too many kids running around and screaming, and it's definitely too expensive. I mean, I'm happy to bring my girlfriend out on a date and all, but spending $60 for an hour and a half? That's pretty ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, the IMAX part is fun, and I like the old dioramas, but there's definitely stuff that I feel they could do better--that forest floor section in the Hall of Biodiversity is just lame--stuffy, boring, silent--it could be so much better! And that Water exhibit really wasn't worth it--it was PACKED and though some of the interactive stuff was cool, it was like they were trying too hard. And the kids just seemed to be banging buttons because they make noise...I guess thats why a lot of the stuff in there was broken, like the 3D glasses. So much of the reading or listening stuff in there you couldn't even concentrate on with all that noise, and a lot of the displays just seemed kinda random and thrown together--I think "water" is way too broad topic, they probably should have focused just on water conservation or something. Like that game at the end--I feel like I actually learned a few useful things from it and the graphics were great, but the rest of it just felt like some sort of stressful carnival. Anyhow, I feel like I'm being kinda harsh because I'm tired--I do love this place, I just think adults should probably go during the week to avoid the hoards of kids and maybe just do part of it instead of trying to hit everything.

Perspective of a seven year old girl

Wow, wow, I had an amaaazing time in there! I don't even know where to start I saw so much cool stuff! I think the whale was my favorite part, no wait, maybe the dinosaurs, oh but there was that cool mist in the water thing and that spinning globe--jeez, I dunno! Mom, what do you think was my favorite? [Mom mentions the tree stump in the Hall of the North American Forest.] Oh yeah, that was awesome too! But sad that they cut down that big tree...actually it made me sad when Mom told me that a lot of the animals in there were real live animals once--I don't like to see dead animals. And some of that water stuff was pretty sad too when Mom told me that it might run out. But it made me happy when we learned that there is stuff we can do to help; I'm definitely going to stop running the faucet when I'm brushing my teeth! Tell the kids in your book that this is a great place to go--my class is supposed to come back here in a few months and I'm so psyched that I'll be able to show my friends around. Oh the squid and the whale! I think that might've been my favorite--it's a little scary, but sooo cool! Yeah, this place is so great--I can't wait to come back!