The recent thread of covered carbarns & sheds, as well as example photos of each, was very timely for us at the new SE Narrow Gauge & Shortline Museum. We hope to break ground on ours around June 1, and we sent every single piece of info from that thread to our architect who is now making some appropriate changes with regards to height, lighting, fence heights, and overall visibility.

In this same vein, do any of you have some examples of good or bad displays/kiosks which you have encountered. At a minimum, I suppose we would want readable, error-free text with clear photographs or diagrams. At most, perhaps something interactive with sounds, lighting, or video (though I think videos run the danger of being too long and people walking by not wanting to take the time and go back to the beginning).

Anyone have any examples?

Thanks,

Matt Bumgarner

Take this with a sack of salt, because I can't volunteer on-site anywhere right now. We have, however, been to over a hundred museums and such over our homeschooling career and plan on hitting a lot more as time permits.

Make sure, whatever you use, that it's easy to maintain. It's tempting to build a whole lot of kiosks, but after a few years they'll look battered if they're not protected enough, are too hard to change/fix/etc. Think about the finish. If you use painted wood, somebody will need to touch it up periodically. If there are lights, consider going with LED bulbs you won't have to change as often. This all seems like quibbling, but really, beat-up or outdated displays and dirty restrooms (seriously) are two of the things that other families have told me made them doubt whether they'd go back to a museum.

Displays have to be sturdy, because people will let their kids climb on them. They will park drinks on them, lean on them, and deliberately try to break them. Unless you're showing an old-time display case, too much glass is a bad idea.

Ease of upgrade ought to play into it, too. I've seen a lot of nice displays where the content is under plexiglass held on by bolts (often not obvious from the public side.) That way, if you get new information on a piece, you can change the display text. You can also change out faded placards, although the right cover will eliminate a lot of UV damage.

If you use electronics, make sure someone can maintain them. How many times have you been at a museum with what are supposed to be videos, only to find broken or missing monitors? One of the neatest displays I know is at the Hannibal (Ohio, not MO) Lock and Dam. The problem is that the original narration was on an eight-track tape, which wore out and made "Beautiful Ohio" sound ghostly just before it broke. Because it's a government facility, it's difficult for anyone to get permission to volunteer to fix it.

Also, when you do need something fixed, asking, in a newsletter, on a website or in person, helps. Several times we've been at a museum where some small repair was needed, but no one on staff knew how to do it. In one case, it took my son less than five minutes to fix the problem and he was glad to do it--but he had to find a staff member and offer. In another, the "mystery" about a piece on display was something I knew very well and could explain.

A "what the heck is this thing?" display case, or a "We'd love to know more about Thisville Station and Thatsburg Siding" will get you all kinds of answers. Some will be baloney, but if you get enough people to look, someone will put you on the right track. If you have a need, being specific helps too. "Donate magazines" will get you an avalanche of stuff you can't use, but "We need a December 1939 issue of Robber Baron Monthlyto complete our collection" will work.

Matt,

Are these exhibits going to be exposed to the elements, directly or indirectly?

Steve

Steve,

We will have both indoor and outdoor.

Thanks,

Matt

Examples of good kiosks and displays in the east and midwest can be seen at Steamtown, New York Transit Museum, Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum, the KC Rail Experience in the Kansas City Union Station and the Sedalia, Missouri depot museum. There are certainly others, but those come immediately to mind.

Aaron Isaacs, editor
RMQ/Trainline

I realize Mr. Bumgarner is asking about the physical properties of kiosks and signs. But it made me think also about the content of signs.

I think a lot of visitors simply do not read interpretive signs because the content is not engaging. A typical sign you see next to a park locomotive might contain a thumbnail history and a condensed data sheet (date of manufacture, boiler pressure, steel thickness, etc). Even if a visitor bothers to read it, they likely forget all of it after they walk away. As a way to make a visitor want to read the signs, and to hopefully walk away having learned something, why not try using a rhetorical structure in the way signs are designed?

What I mean is, design the interpretive signs as you would a paper in your English composition class. Have one sign with a main point (or thesis argument). Then have subordinate signs at each object that reiterate the main point and offer supporting information.

Here's an example of what I am thinking. (Please feel free to hate this idea if you like).



And here's how it might be implemented:



This is just me brainstorming and thinking out loud here... thanks for reading.

Railpark in Bowling Green, KY has some nice ones. Many are interactive.


http://www.historicrailpark.com/Exhibits.html

Bill

Here is a photo of the lighted kiosks we use in Street Car Hall.
They were relatively inexpensive. The mylar inserts can designed using MS Publisher.

Wesley

Probably one of the best small interpretive displays I've come across was at the Texas Electric depot and substation museum in Plano, Texas. This was located less than a block from the Plano light rail station. For a local museum, the displays inside were really well done. Panels along the substation walls and in a former transformer alcove were professionally done and told a variety of interesting stories. The front was the former station ticket area and off to one side was the gift shop. On display outside under a shed was a Texas Electric interurban car. Several photos are attached. These were taken while attending the spring 2009 ARM Board meeting hosted by the McKinney Avenue Transit and the Museum of the American Railroad folks.

Note the photo of the youngsters looking at the model layout. Gotta keep the youngsters interested.

Thanks!

Couple more photos of the Plano Texas Electric depot and substation museum.