"Museums at Play" provides an extraordinary and comprehensive international overview of the development, use and evaluation of games within museum and cultural contexts, through more than 40 detailed case studies.

How can emerging technologies display, reveal and negotiate difficult, dissonant, negative or undesirable heritage? Emerging technologies in museums have the potential to reveal unheard or silenced stories, challenge preconceptions, encourage emotional responses, introduce the unexpected, and overall provide alternative experiences. By examining varied theoretical approaches and case studies, authors demonstrate how “awkward”, contested, and rarely discussed subjects and stories are treated – or can be potentially treated - in a museum setting with the use of the latest technology.

"Museums and Interactive Virtual Learning provides informal educators with practical resources that will help them to build dynamic digital engagement experiences within their own cultural organizations. Presenting vignettes from experienced museum educators and end users, as well as scientific data and practical resources, the book highlights the mutual benefits interactive virtual learning (IVL) programs offer to the museum and those visiting from a distance. Chapters mirror the step-by-step process of developing reputable IVL programs and emphasize how important it is for cultural organizations to encourage cross-departmental collaboration, if they wish to ensure that their programs align with the overall goals of the organization. Providing a thorough overview of the technologies, budget, marketing and staff requirements, the authors offer a realistic depiction of the work involved in building content for digital engagement. Emphasising the importance of assessing existing programming, the book shows how institutions can adapt content to fit a virtual format and create inclusive digital engagement opportunities that reach local, national, and international audiences. Museums and Interactive Virtual Learning is an essential guide for professionals who are tasked with interpreting the content of a cultural organization and building lasting digital engagement opportunities. It will be particularly useful to those looking to reach diverse audiences"--

MUSEUM MEDIA Edited by Michelle Henning Museum Media explores the contemporary uses of diverse media in museum contexts and discusses how technology is reinventing the museum. It considers how technological changes—from photography and television through to digital mobile media—have given rise to new habits, forms of attention and behaviors. It explores how research methods can be used to understand people's relationships with media technologies and display techniques in museum contexts, as well as the new opportunities media offer for museums to engage with their visitors. Entries written by leading experts examine the transformation of history and memory by new media, the ways in which exhibitions mediate visitor experience, how designers and curators can establish new kinds of relationships with visitors, the expansion of the museum beyond its walls and its insertion into a wider commercial and corporate landscape. Focusing on formal, theoretical and technical aspects of exhibition practice, this in-depth volume explores questions of temporality, attachment to objects, atmospheric and immersive exhibition design, the reinvention of the exhibition medium, and much more.

The development of interactive displays has transformed the traditional museum world in the last decade. Visitors are no longer satisfied by simply gazing at worthy displays in glass cases - they expect to have hands-on experience of the objects and be actively involved with the exhibits, learning informally and being entertained simultaneously. Hands-on museums and science centres provide the most remarkable example of how museums are redefining their roles in society - improving access to real objects and real phenomena, so that they can be enjoyed by more people. In recent years museums have been thrust into intense competition for the public's time and money with all branches of the leisure industry, from commercial theme parks to retail shopping and home entertainment. This has upset the traditional stability of the museum and their visitors. A hands-on approach encourages a broader visitor base, which in turn helps to bring in additional revenue at a time of declining public subsidy. Tim Caulton investigates how to create and operate effective exhibitions which achieve their educational objectives through hands-on access. He concludes that the continuing success of hands-on museums and science centres hinges on attaining the very best practice in exhibition design and evaluation, and in all aspects of operations, including marketing and financial and human resource management. Hands-On Exhibitions provides a practical guide to best practice which will be indispensable to all museum professionals and students of museum studies.