On the Pine and Gilmore (2012) reading, there was an emphasis on this idea of experiencing “through time” or recognizing an experience but in reflection or as a result of time. I wonder the impacts of people expecting experience vs.(?) not expecting experience vs.(?) recognizing experience as it’s happening vs.(?) recognizing experience after the fact. The question marks are because I’m not sure about the overlap that is present / possible. For example, in going to a themed food / drink experience, for example, you may know what you’re getting yourself into and you’re expecting that. In the realm of museums, how much are people expecting an experience, WHAT experience are they expecting? Talking about memorabilia is really resonant as well: I find there’s something extremely meaningful about being able to engage in that way, and the physicality and tangibility creates and solidifies memory as well.

On the Dorn et al. (2014) reading, the general trend on statistically significant measures for repeat vs. first-time visitors were all about fun / excitement; the repeat visitors reported more fun and more excitement. Small sample size, quality of study, relevance of context aside (?, can’t really put it aside), does this provide actionable insight into how we can design?

On the Schiele (2020) reading, I find the timing to be really relevant: how did the events of 2020 to today even further impact the ideas of public participation and public engagement? I appreciate the highlighting of individual knowledge and worth, even going so far (and insightfully so, I think) as to declare “knowledge of [all] people is merely local and situated”. I’ve been grappling with this question myself for this year: given that everyone is so individual and has so much to bring: how do you make decisions? In the context of a museum, and me coming from a pedagogical / educational lens, how do you account for those different backgrounds in knowledge coming in and those different expectations and those different approaches to learning? Will any kind of museum in its current state be replicating the deficit model, and also, is there not space for some features of a/the deficit model? As the roles of institutions as a whole change, and as the role of a museum changes, again it brings us back to the same question: what’s the purpose of a museum?