[finders] Lemurs, Long Tails, and Museums

[finders at findability.org]

October 16, 2006: Lemurs, Long Tails, and Museums

http://www.findability.org/archives/000135.php

After watching Chris Anderson talk about the long tail at i-conference 2006
this morning, I returned to my office to find the following email message,
re-posted here with permission:

---

    Dear Peter,

    In the preface to Ambient Findability, you question how readers located
your book and why they did so. Here's how...

    1. In my Conceptual Design course in George Washington University's
Museum Studies Program, I had one day remaining to pick a paper topic. I
decide to write about wayfinding in museums. It's such a vast topic that I
can write an incredibly vague essay proposal without pushing myself into a
corner and being stuck with an impossible topic.

    2. I look online and discover that I've chosen an impossible topic.
Alas.

    3. I use JSTOR and EBSCOhost through my school's library and discover
that peer-reviewed articles accessible to me may not yet have decided that
"wayfinding" is a good topic to write about. In fact, academia debates that
"wayfinding" is even a word. Ditto for "way finding" and "way-finding."

    4. LexisNexis knows it's a word but doesn't think it deserves any
critical discussion, just announcements that so-and-so company is going to
re-do such-and-such hospital's signage. Boring.

    5. I resort to actual books printed on actual paper. Big mistake.
Searching for "wayfinding" in GW's library system leads me to a small set of
books. Most of them are about computer programming. I pick up your book and
decide that the lemur is cute enough that nobody will know I'm reading a
book for techie people.

    6. I also search for Wayfinding: People, Signs and Architecture, which
you quote in your book. While it's apparently "available," it's in the
dreaded N section. Oversized books. Nothing in this section is remotely
organized because the books are all too massive to wrangle into a neat and
organized shelf system. I sprawl on the floor and stand on my tip toes, but
I fear that the Wayfinding Bible is, in fact, un-find-able.

    7. At the check-out counter, the librarian stamps the back of all four
of the books I'm checking out (the other three are for other classes) and
looks at me strangely. "What?" I ask, thinking I have an $80 late fee.
"Right here, right now, is the first time any of these four books have ever
been checked out." We stand there in silence for a moment just to
commemorate the occasion.

    8. Ten minutes later in the Starbucks next to the library, I read about
how unlikely it is for me to have found your book. I could have won the
lottery instead.

    There you go. That's how I found your book. Does that make you think
twice about ever publishing a book in large format? Since this all just
happened a few hours ago, I haven't read the entirety of your book. I plan
to. I'm scanning through your borg/blog/thing right now and some of the
links you've posted. Since you are currently my one and only source and I've
decided I like both you and your lemur (and the new polar bear), I'm going
to quote you. But do you think you could say something that applies to
wayfinding within museums or museum exhibitions?

    My essay is going to be about how the National Portrait Gallery and the
American Art Museum share the Reynolds Center for American Art and
Portraiture in China Town, DC. It's one historic building (it used to be the
Patent Office) holding two totally separate museums--each has its own staff
and mission statement. Just walking around, visitors constantly pass through
Portrait space as well as American Art space. The signage is bad (I
frequently see people walk right past restrooms when they are looking for
them) and they're still working on the central courtyard, so you can't see
through the building because of all the scaffolding. There are so many
entrances and exits, that you never know if you're on the G Street side or
the F Street side, yet staff continously give you directions as if you know
what intersection you're at when you can barely see outside. Neither museum
has much of its own identity because of this mishmash and I'm not sure if
anybody discerns any palpable difference when they pass through galleries
belonging to different museums. The designers don't seem to have had much
empathy for the user.

    Do you think museums have been affected at all by the trends you talk
about in your book? Museums are different from libraries and from the
internet, but there is still a sense that visitors need to find what they're
looking for -- or at least the time period, artist, or country. Their
experience in wayfinding must profoundly affect their visit, their
appreciation of the art and the time spent with their family members. How do
you think wayfinding in museums will change in the future -- how should it
change?

    I would appreciate any kind of response you could give me.

    Thanks for wading through this long e-mail. I plan on recommending your
book to the other students in Conceptual Design. I may even mention that it
has pictures. We'll check and see if they're ever able to find it by looking
at the stamp in the back.

    Have a fantastic day,

    Erin Blasco
    Museum Studies Graduate Program
    George Washington University
    Washington, DC

---

I don't know much about wayfinding in museums, though it seems there's great
potential for geocoding and location aware devices to enhance the museum
experience...so, can someone out there help Erin? What's the future of
wayfinding in museums? You better reply quick, before her paper's due.
Thanks!