I'm developing a theory after visiting the American Museum of Natural History in New York City last week: the theory is that you can judge a science museum by the geeky quality of the t-shirts worn by the kids you see running around.
The AMNH, which was just filled with kids in cool t-shirts, is an amazing museum. The only museum we've seen that comes close to it around the world is the Beijing Science Museum. There are others that have cool things - the collections of natural history in Berlin and in London are also amazing - but the AMNH is a cut above the others because of the great way it displays what it has. The exhibits are so clearly labelled and sequenced that taking the kids through is a breeze; and there is nice clear lighting for most of what you see (the exception might be the dioramas of stuffed animals but that was no great loss for our family).
The cherry on the cake for us was the AMNH Explorer app. A free app (the Museum also has free devices available to run it on) that acts as both tour guide and assistant as you navigate the Museum. We set up a personal tour on the app by selecting from a list of exhibits and the app gave us turn-by-turn directions to take us through the tour. On every level this is a clever and entertaining way to guide people through a museum.
In addition to the tours, the app can take you to specific displays and provide basic information about what you are seeing. Also, importantly on a visit with kids, it will guide you to the nearest restroom. The app is amazingly accurate - it uses over 300 WiFi spots to find you - and gives excellent detailed directions as well as a moving map.
It's not hard to see how apps like this will revolutionize museum visits of the future. Add in voice perhaps? Deeper layers of background text? Augmented reality? There are so many possibilities. If you believe that part of a museum's role is to tell a story and explain the objects in its keeping then the use of apps like this are entirely the future. Right now, the Explorer app is a great way to add an additional facet to a visit to a wonderful museum.
(The Explorer app is currently apparently only available for Apple devices. Being able to borrow a device at no cost helps, but obviously will not be ideal for everyone.)
