ABSTRACT
Little documentation is available on when exactly lobby displays established a presence in American resident theatres, what percentage of theatres regularly use them, and how common the practice is in other countries. However, the tradition was likely inspired by museum exhibits. Currently studied in Museology and Museum Studies training programs, exhibit design is itself a storytelling art. Exhibits are typically created to educate the public about their subject matter through some combination of physical objects, images, and text. In the twenty-first century, two major innovations have greatly influenced exhibit design: digital media and a rise in the popularity of interactive experiences. Interactive experiences differ from passive experiences in that they include two-way communication instead of a one-way delivery of information. For example, whereas a twentieth-century exhibit on journalism might include a one-way delivery system of information in the form of a newspaper that visitors may read, a twenty-first-century exhibit might offer the visitor a chance to create his/her own newspaper, either on paper or on a computer screen. The increasing variety of delivery systems used by exhibit designers reflects the diversity of learning styles among children and adults. As museums seek to engage more – and more types of – visitors, they have placed increasing emphasis on providing exhibit experiences that appeal to a range of learners; these learners have varying desires to engage with technology and contribute (or “co-author”) content for themselves. Many of these innovations are documented in Nina Simon’s 2010 book The Participatory Museum, which can be accessed at https://www.participatorymuseum.org" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">www.participatorymuseum.org.
