Shiver down my spine response

        

   In book Shivers Down Your Spine the author mentions the effect hand-on exhibits has on the evolution of museums. As an anonymous contributor once said “The bare symbols of scientific language requires their definition to be strengthened by actual seeing and touching before any permanent trace can be left in the mind”. I agree with this quote, I too get a better understanding of things when I see it visually opposed to reading about it. I also get a better understanding of the readings we do in class rather than at home because in class it's more interactive. Along with remembering things better when I write things rather than reading it when studying.

Some may say people learn more effectively when they touch or interact with an object, others can disagree. What is not debatable is that everyone has a preference. In psychology class we learn that different interactions trigger different hormones, which varies from person to person.  Some people learn better visually, orally (lecture), hands on, one-on-one etc. Education of which, can be done in different ways and is more or less advocated. But when the debate of whether hands on artifacts and mechanics are against the entire purpose of museums i am not sure where i stand.

     Given that technology is getting more advanced everyday, it's only right to incorporate it in education, in our case, museums. The big question is, when is using technology effective? As we already acknowledge that everyone has a preference so not everyone will be technology savvy. Museums original purpose was to preserve ancient/foreign artifacts. With technology taking over, younger people are more lenient to watching a video or playing a video games rather than watching or reading about a historical object. The author explains On page 193 saying“ with X-Box, Playstation 2 and 3, GameCube, the Wii, iVideo and iPhones now standard “must-haves” for the preteen and teen- and-up constituencies, museums are under pressure  to deliver on “cool” and are afraid the modern museum with be considered boring in a few years. The Choice of rather to update or incorporate more technology in museum is a rather complicated decision.

    Unlike usual I didn't read this article before our previous class and I mentioned in our classroom discussion “imagine if P.T. Barnum had an instagram” but in reality that all museum needed at the time to evolve to what we know as museums today. One thing that you post on social media can “make-or-break” you. Similar to the overuse of technology in educational vicinities. Which can many aspects to consider but most importantly who's your target audience.This article helped me self reflect and ruminate on what career I want to do and consider the target audience and how I want to display my brand.