Hi Sarah
On a geeky, historical note I'd vote for an exbihit in the Urania exhibition
in Berlin as being the oldest working interactive in a science centre.
Urania was, arguably, the world's first interactive science centre, dating
from 1888, with a 100 interactive exhibits, a public observatory and a
science theatre.
Unfortunately the judging panel may quite properly disqualify this entry on
the grounds that it hasn't received a "day in, day out" pounding - Urania
closed in 1928. Some of the original exhibits from Urania are now housed
behind glass cases in a corner of the Spectrum science exhibition in Berlin.
When I visited several years ago, I seem to recall there was one cased
exhibit which, through a knob and lever, could still be controlled by
visitors.
On a more general note, I think Ian Simmon's "survival of the dullest"
rule-of-thumb is relevant to almost all "ancient" interactives:
"Good exhibits are popular, get used and therefore break down.
Dull exhibits don't get used and so don't break down.
Therefore all interactive exhibitions, if left to themselves, eventually
tend towards the dull."
If an interactive is old and popular, all of its parts have probably been
replaced several times! So perhaps in our search for the oldest exhibit, we
need to look for the dullest interactive ever?
All the best
Paul McCrory
think differently
7 Moylena Meadows, Antrim, N Ireland
t 028 94463439
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w www.think-differently.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sarah Angliss
Sent: 28 March 2007 00:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PSCI-COM] Golden Balls
Hello
I hope this question doesn't seem completely off-topic - but I know
quite a few of the people on this list are into scientific interactives:
We're always hearing about interactive science exhibits that are
breaking down. But what's the oldest hands-on science exhibit that's
still going strong? I think the Golden Ball in the Science Museum
could be a strong contender as I understand it's been there, in one
guise or another, since the Children's Gallery opened in the early
1930s. But do you know of anything more venerable? And what about the
oldest screen-based interactive? The oldest computer games console
was Computer Space (1971) so I reckon there can't be anything much
before that - or was there something lurking in the corner of a
gallery with dots on a cathode ray tube?
Anyway, answers on a postcard please. I'm really looking for
exhibits that genuinely get a pounding, day in and day out, in a
public space. This is for a little commercial article I'm writing, so
I have a Golden Ball (well, a Golden Easter Egg) for the person who
can come up with the most convincing ancient interactive exhibit in
either category.
Sarah
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