Interviews

Curator Responsibilities

Half of the curators' job is managing inventory of artifacts and the museum database . The other half is organizing collections and designing exhibitions to tell the stories behind each object.

Museum Database

Most museum-owned artifacts are kept in storage. These artifacts are sometimes digitized for students to access online or licensing is sold to generate money for the museum. Data on 75 percent of the entire museum inventory is available online.

Old Grand Rapids Limitations

A big limitation in the Old Grand Rapids exhibit is the audio. Audio could be played from devices, but there is already existing audio playing on speakers throughout the exhibit. Headphones are too difficult to store, distribute, and clean for each group. Character voices must match or at least play in sync with ambient music at a moderate volume level. We may be able to post vinyls or posters on murals in the exhibit. People who frequently visit the exhibit in Grand Rapids don't like to see major changes, so the game should be non-intrusive to accommodate everyone. ADA laws must also be followed to allow people with disabilities to enjoy the exhibit.

Possible Things to Add

The exhibit does not have obvious signs or markers to interpret the history or stories behind people or objects. There is an opportunity to add signs and poster which introduce storytelling and historical facts to the exhibit. The murals are a big surface that could possibly be a location for signage and posters.

Must Haves of Old GR

There should be a large emphasis on the businesses and the people that started these businesses. DON'T MAKE IT BORING. "The first crack that we took at AR in that space and we ended up cancelling was just boring, so don't make it boring."

New Possibilities for Old GR Exhibit

Targets can be interesting and tell a story on its own. Space on murals can possibly be used for targets or signs. Adding a variety of languages to listen to and guide students through the exhibit. Spanish is the most popular language requested by visitors. Spanish and English are used on all new signs of text with hands-on signs using Spanish, English, and Braille.

ADA Accessabilities

New exhibits must include concessions which follow the latest ADA laws and give the same experience for everyone. New exhibits include hands-on stations or signage with braille for visually impaired people.

Storytelling

Most interesting stories around this era revolve around the businesses and the influx of immigrants coming to work in factories. The narrative of this game should explain the interconnectedness of business in Grand Rapids. There are stories about the first African-American business owner in Grand Rapids, JC Craig, and of course the story of Anna Bissell becoming the first female CEO in America.

Takeaways

Grand Rapids has changed a lot in 130 years. Grand Rapids was and still is a city of immigrants from many different corners of the world. There was a lot of interconnectedness between the communities at grocery stores and jobs. Students should leave knowing that old Grand Rapids was a hub of immigrants. This exhibit will dig deeper into each of things that connected these communities.

Final Comments

Don't rely on the app or technology to do the heavy lifting. There should be stories and a great narrative to knock this out of the park. The museum would also require a heavy focus on universal design and that the exhibit is available for the maximum number of people.

Questions

What is your job at the museum?
What are the constraints in terms of manipulating the space: Social constraint
Should we match the targets or object to the style of old GR or make them contemporary?
What can we bring to the Old GR experience that is not there now?
What are the must have parts of Old GR to address
What are some of the most interesting stories?
Are there objects that help tell these stories?
What else should we know?

Bill's Notes

What is your job at the museum?

Chief Curator
Uses real things to tell stories
Is in charge of the collection
Making collection accessible to the audience
Online archive - usage rights: currently copyrights owned by GRPM but looking at a creative commons license - we have all access rights - over half of the artifacts are in the database
Is developing a hands-on education tier of artifacts.
Works on cross-functional teams that develop exhibits... sometimes as a lead.
AR may be the next big thing for museums. Can still be in the real world with real people. The museum experience is a social experience. Surveys most influential part of museum visit is where you go therewith.

What are the constraints in terms of manipulating the space:

Old GR... many people like it just the way it is because they like the immersion.
Add posters?
Add targets?
- Add 3D printed objects - yes
- Add floor markings? - yes
- Add audio (coming from tablets) - sanitation of checked out headphones is some effort. Public might enjoy hearing the additional audio.
- Turn off existing audio? Alex Forist can check on that... not sure
- Can we stick something on the murals?... yes
- Who approves?

Should we match the targets or object to the style of old GR or make them contemporary?

Contemporary if you want to make it easy to find... but don't ruin the immersion
Of the era, if you want to make it harder to find.

What can we bring to the Old GR experience that is not there now?

Signage
The whole old gr is based on a particular day in a particular year
Video of the interpreters - print shop, pharmacy, department store
Stories

What are the must-have parts of Old GR to address

it's changed a lot in the last 130 years
city of immigrants
The city as a hub of connectedness for the people.

What are some of the most interesting stories?

The place where the new museum was... Voight milling company.
Historical Fiction.. is OK
Objects...

What else should we know?

Current text on signs written is at 5th-grade reading level.
Sight-impaired and hearing-impaired are not accommodated really well right now. New toys exhibit hands-on instruction signage braille, Spanish and English
Universal Design is huge.

Audio Devices?

-difficult sanitizing and checking out

Equipment

Storing
Staging
Using
Moving
Cleaning

This is the only exhibit without signage. What do you think about integrating signage with the targets.

Simple takeaways

Grand Rapids has changed a lot.

Grand Rapids was a city of immigrants.

neighborhoods were all interconnected.

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