In my personal experience the aspect of a museum, aside from the content, that struck me as particularly effective happened when I visited Experience Music Project (more commonly known as EMP) with my aunt and uncle in 2004 (check date). I had a vague idea that overall my visit to EMP had been a very effective museum trip, however it was not until recently when I looked up “About Experience Music Project” on the EMP website did I see how truly effective EMP had been in meeting its goals.
Here is what EMP says it is trying to accomplish with its museum.
“Experience Music Project (EMP) is dedicated to the exploration of creativity and innovation in popular music. By blending interpretative, interactive exhibitions with cutting-edge technology, EMP captures and reflects the essence of rock 'n' roll, its roots in jazz, soul, gospel, country and the blues, as well as rock's influence on hip-hop, punk and other recent genres. Visitors can view rare artifacts and memorabilia and experience the creative process by listening to musicians tell their own stories” (Experience Music Project | Science Fiction Museum).
Weil states in the chapter “Organization-wide Quality” from his book Making Museums Matter, that the effectiveness of a museum should be measured based upon how well they meet their purpose (Weil, 18-19). Based on my visit to EMP they met their purpose very well. The “cutting-edge technology” they are talking about was the most effective part of EMP in my mind. What they are referring to when they talk about “cutting-edge technology” is this little computer that you carry around with you as you walk through the museum. It has head phones plugged in to it and comes with a barcode scanner. As you walk through the museum the visitor will notice that many of the exhibits have bar codes to scan. When these bar codes are scanned the computer recognizes what exhibit you are viewing and then plays audio with additional information relating to the exhibit. Also by scanning the barcode links to more information about the exhibit are sent to you in an email, which extends your museum experience beyond the time you spend in the physical museum.
I thought EMP did and excellent job of using technology to stimulate interests and show the “…essence of rock ‘n’ role, its roots in jazz, soul, gospel, country and the blues, as well as rock's influence on hip-hop, punk and other recent genres” ((Experience Music Project | Science Fiction Museum). The use of these hand held computers that held thousands of hours of additional information, made the museum exhibit more individual in the sense that people who visited the museum could in effect control what exhibits had more information and choose what exhibits received more attention.
When I got home, I opened my email and sure enough there were over a hundred links in an email message from EMP. All the links were sorted together under the various labels of the exhibits, and even the time when I scanned the barcode of the exhibit was listed.
I have always been interested in music and my visit to EMP taught me so much more about music then I ever imagined it would. I gained a new appreciation for where the music of my generation developed from and because of this I would say that EMP achieved its purpose quite well and was therefore an effective museum.
Works Cited:
- Experience Music Project | Science Fiction Museum. "Empsfm.org - ABOUT EMP|SFM - About EMP|SFM." Empsfm.org - ABOUT EMP|SFM - About EMP|SFM. Experience Music Project | Science Fiction Museum, 2010. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.
- Weil, Spencer E. “Organization-wide Quality: A Theory of Museums and Immodest Proposal.” Making Museums Work. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002. 3-23. Print.
Below is a link to the EMP|SFM website. I found out when I visited the site that EMP had expanded and added on a science fiction museum.
http://www.empsfm.org/
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