Updated 7 / 20 / 08

"...where regular people delight in their own creativity."

[A zoo-like setting where the exhibits are creative people & there's lots of interactivity.]

Code: "OCCO" = Other Compatible Cluster Options

Also see McWane Pitches for other ideas pitched to McWane.

I thought I already had this somewhere else in here, but maybe not....

“3 Things -- in Common (3 things in common)”

visitors get to select 3 objects from a pile, or shelves. He selects a baby blanket, a horn and “plastic lips” placed upside down. They're all blue/blew he says.

Compile best, most cleaverest ones in the Hall of Fame there.

“On 205 at 205 in 205”

Birmingham Collective Art Project --

On 2/05 (of any year) at 2:05 in the 205 area code

Send in cell pone photos of things happening

People sign up with cell phone #s all year.

1 week, 1 day and 1 hour beforehand, remind them all (via text message)

Freaks Like Me –

Representations in any of these forms of physical oddities:

• Video

• still photos

• life-sized (realistic) sculptures (various textures)

• outlines on wall

Like:

• the guy with rolls of fat on his head or

• a depression in his chest or

• hammer toes

It shows kids that variation is very normal.. It's NOT “freaks like them” – “but freaks like me.” Or freaks like us.

Visitor can also propose his/her own oddity to be included in the “freak gallery.”

For a cut or 2 on the music CD, let Vs record simple parts (maybe depending on age) in a “technology of music” or “technology of sound recording” exhibit. The best few (or all) become part of the final CD.

For the “Science Show”, fund raiser kids can do shows for tips (from audience) and also, firm the show and submit the video for consideration in the totem pole science (see Birmingham Art Museum proposals) video competition. [work on this more.]

Where in the world is it?

Aka: “Global Hot hot Hot”

Using www.confluence.org (.com?), flash a photo of a confluence spot.

V takes a special stylis (or his finger) and puts in on a grided flat word map. A speaker says hot, colder, warmer, warmer, hot, colder, hot. [or can just orally give the distance it is away form the correct spot.]

When the correct spot is found/pressed, a bell rings (or some other pleasant sound), perhaps the location (23 miles east of Gerlach Nevada) is displayed and said.

And then a new pot location is displayed.

Parents would be good at this.

Easy logistics: (see sketch)

• have a grid of electric-current carrying wire on the wall.

• Project a world (or us) map onto it.

• A stylis or finger at an intersection could be detected because it would block a current in both directions (?) so this teaches electricity too.

• EZ way: Th ones right around spot say “hot” The ones after that say “warm.” All others say “cold.”

• Speaker should only work if only one confluence is pressed.

Take it to the next Level (TITTNL)

Pennies fr Progress – on a “Scales of Justice” type scale, let boys put pennies into the blue bucket and girls into the pink bucket, to see who wins each day.

Floor / Wall Tiles

An alternative to buying a tile would be to buy a “bigger than life moment”

A photo of your family (or whatever) displayed on a large screen on a prominent wall in McWane for a short time, then another one, probably 5-15 seconds per photo.

Or projected onto the outside McWane wall at night or

as a collage of 10x15 pictures onto the screen before a movie.

$100 for each photo. Display each collage for 5 seconds. In 1 minute, you've displayed 12 of them.

10 x 15 x 12 screens x $100 = $180,000

--or--

Buying a “larger than life” package is like buying

1. a sure thing – a small photo in collage at every showing and

2. a chance to have their family photo be the size of the whole (or maybe a quarter) of the Imax screen. This randomly selected photo(s) changes with each movie showing.

For the tile floors, offer:

1. 1 foot x 1 foot tiles for $100, or

2. 6 inch x 6 inch squares for maybe $25 or $30 or $50

   Maybe patrons can just submit a square on cardboard or something. Then they're all put down and clear sealant is put on top.

   We can sell in gift shop. Sell the backing – (which is numbered??) -- then V takes it home.

Notes:

The tiles can be wall and ceiling tiles also.

Having a tiling chart like stadiums have seating charts where more desirable placement locations sell for more

Logically this can be done by “grid numbering” the squares on back (like x and y coordinates)

Might need to have “assigned tile locations” so someone could buy a chunk of multiple squares together.

Ideas for tile content =

• baby foot prints in paint

• photograph of family, “Suzy Loves Bobby 7-2-07” [wedding date]

• Class photo

• club photo

• kid in science costume

Event- have artists there that will add an “artistic finish“ to (or even just create a premium) tile -- $150 instead of $100. V can also keep a copy.

Price structure could include low end price points

4” squares = $12 each = $108 / square foot

3” squares = $7 each = $112 / square foot

For this low-end, you jut do it there at the gift shop on your part of a 1 foot square.

Maybe can sell to businesses but at 2x or 3x the regular rate.

For additional money, let groups of Vs rent it for big party in its raw form. They can spray paint (“destroy”) it. In the theme of “Destruction proceeds creation”

The “Take it to the Next Level” party includes party plus tile: Photo collage of party photos on a tile(s).

Party is on unfinished Level 4.

Have blank poster boards with a "Wisdom of the Ages" or "Wisdom of All Ages" logo in the middle.

Have an example of a completed poster, and markers for V to add.

Post that the best of all will be put together in a poster to be sold.

Is Wisdom(s)OfTheAges.com available?

PFS: The Poster, translated into a deck of cards or greeting cards

Variations:

• "My daddy always said..."

• "My grandmother always said..."

• "If I've said it once, I've said it 1,000 times...."

• "Now that's what I want to hear..."

• (half baked): "If I had a nickel for every time."

aka Tactile Puzzle-

A row of boxes each with an item in each.

V goes down the line touching the item in each box.

The top (or side) of each box is made of 4 (or more) pieces of rubber that allow the V's hand to go in but V can't look inside (like at Smithsonian)

There's a posted trivia or science trivia question and the answer encoded in the boxes:

So, for example, if the answer to the posted question is "Skinner" then line of boxes contain in order:

1. a Spring

2. Keys

3. Ice

4. Nickel

5. Notebook

6. eraser

7. rubiks cube

Here's some options:

aka:

• "Feelings, Nothing more than feelings"

• Good with my hand(s)

• How do you feel?

If V gets the right answer he gets a sticker that says: "Good with my hand(s)"

Notes:

• This is easy to switch up

• Vs can submit ideas for (1)future questions and (2)for items in letter boxes

• Could be the booth McWane sets up @ art events to emphasize that McWane is hands on

• Perhaps instead of an "I'm good with my hand" sticker, V gets a sticker that says

  • "I get hands on" -- McWane

  • and this sticker is good for $2 off next admission to McWane

• Put the braille symbol for each item (enlarged?) on outside

• This word could be done as a sign language word – done in a still-shot poster or in a video loop. Perhaps this would be something re the deaf and blind.

• OCCO: Disabilities, Tactile Twister

(variation on The New Cubist Art / Shades of Gray)

Using a box of 64 crayons, and a small sheet of paper or a blank index card

Have a light table so grid marks show through...

The paper is divided into 150 squares: 10 by 15

Then the kid is given a sheet and told

1. Line 1: 5 "FF0000", 7 "FF8800" 3 "00FF41"

2. Line 2: etc. for 10 lines.

To see what color "FF0000" is, V can look on a chart or type it in on a computer. Both SHOW the color and the crayon name.

Easier Alternative but does not teach about base-16 color numbering system is:

1. Line 1: 5 crimson red, 4 wintergreen, 2 pearl white, 1 midnight black, 3 navy blue

2. Line 2: etc. for 10 lines.

   On the sheet of codes is also an "Excel "-type cell number like AB44. After coloring in his page, he writes AB44 on the back.

A large wall is grid-marked off in the visitor puts up his section on AB44.

What cell is determined

• at random or

• visitor can select a particular cell, and type that cell address (like AB44) into the computer to get a printout of the code for that cell.

LIFE SPAN:

• How many people will be involved: For an image 400 pixels by 600 pixels (average sized), It will be 1,600 visitors. Assuming 50 a day do it, it will take a month.

• This will create an enlarged image sized: 10 feet tall by 15 feet wide.

• This is an ez way to keep things changing. Sometimes I bet people who visited McWane last week won't go again, because nothing has changed. Well, this changes everyday, as more and more of the photo is revealed.

NOTE:

• Some Vs might not complete the assignment so when (after time has passed) the codes of all cells have been produced/printed out, some spots on the wall might still be blank (or just obviously wrong). So might have to manually see what cells are still empty and let that code be produced again for V to color.

• This same wall grid can be reused time and time again for multiple photos.

• Each cell is labeled with it's address (like "AB44"). This makes it easier than V trying to find where AB and 44 intersect.

• The fun is in being part of the wall mural and seeing it come to life, piece by piece, and guessing what it might be.

• Just use a single piece of double-sided tape to post each piece.

• V can sign his section on back.

• V can submit photos, and one is chosen secretly -- at random, perhaps, as long as it's graphically interesting enough

• It demonstrates base-16 (in color numbering), and

• It could depict scientific event(s)

• Could be a rhombus, and the first person to guess it wins a prize.

• To avoid any little slivers of wall showing thru, should each card have a "border of overlap" -- I think this is not necessary?

Use tilted Chain-link fencing or chicken wire and insert balled-up colored fabric into each hole.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inspirations/similar ones (from Ripleys Believe it or Not):

• Artist Simon England by raking and burning hay into strategic positions, created a 300 foot long image of a zebra in a field in Warwichshire England

• Artist Rob Mulholland created a 300 foot long human figure in a Glascow Scotland park using 300,000 aluminum cans. (MY NOTE: contact recycling place)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mass Mural

A V is given a blank index card and access to 64 colored crayons, and instructions.

The V attaches her index card to a light table with grid marks on it.

The index card (viewed on a gridded light table) has 150 squares (15x10).

Instructions tell V to color for example....

• Line 1: 2 squares Asparagus, 2 squares Silver, 4 squares Macaroni and Cheese, 5 squares Granny Smith Apple, 2 square brick red

• Line 2: 4 squares Silver, 3 squares Macaroni and Cheese, 5 squares Orchid and 3 squares Goldenrod

• etc. to Line 10

The instructions say where to hang it on wall when done (for example "AB44"), and V just puts tape on the back of the index card and attaches it there.

[The wall is divided out into a gridded pattern and labeled Excel-style.]

LIFE SPAN:

• How many people will be involved: For an image 400 pixels by 600 pixels (average sized), It will be 1,600 visitors. Assuming 50 a day do it, it will take a month.

• This will create an enlarged image 10 feet tall by 15 feet wide.

• This is an easy way to keep things changing. Sometimes people who visited McWane last week won't go again this week because they believe nothing has changed. Well, this changes everyday, as more and more of the photo is revealed.

NOTE:

• The fun is in being part of the wall mural and seeing it come to life, piece by piece, and guessing what it might be.

• V can sign his section on back.

• Image can be of a scientific event

• V can submit photos, and one is chosen secretly -- at random, perhaps, as long as it's graphically interesting enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OCCO: 

• Colors Colors,

• (this is a variation on Shades of Gray)

• Spastic Chameleon

• Enlarge this

• Me Only Bigger

• Daily, have a photo – could come from anywhere – famous, topical, snap shot, viewer-contributed.

• Place a graph on the back and cut it up into 100 (“1%-squares”). Note: the graph has to be backwards to make this work.

• Give each kid a “1%-square” and he/she draws/colors paints it and then put in on the wall. Teaches graph numbering.

  OCCO: Mass Mural, pixel quilt, the big picture

The Pixel Quilt or Pixel Patchwork could actually be sewn together to make a single fabric. In that case people need to submit squares that are an inch larger on all sides to allow for the sewing overlap.

How to sew:

• sew each row together then sew the rows together with a portable hand-held sewing machine. -OR-

• Just use safety pins (would need 2 for each patch)

  Alternative: Fencing Mesh (Insert fabric into each hole like a pep rally/football games) or chicken wire.

Other items that could be pixels =

• lipstick, or

• nail polishes or

• soda cans or food cans or

• CD's or CD cases or

• a thumb (or hand print) of each V

If this was a large image (i.e., if the pixels were large items), the ideal view could be from atop the Ferris Wheel at VisionLand or from some other height there.

At recycling place, encourage people to drop off patches (squares) for the pixel quilt. This gets people to go there.

For Visionland....

“One Pixel at a time”

Is a graphic visual representation that a little bit of knowledge added up together builds “the big picture”

So get a simple image like 100x150, and set up a 100x150 grid, labeled-Excel style (#s across and letters down)

V get to choose a difficulty/age level like

• pre-school

• 1-3grade,

• 4-6grade,

• 7-9grade,

• adult.

  And V is asked a question like...

What planet has rings around it?

If you think it's.... take a token from box #
Saturn.................1
Jupiter.................8
Pluto...................15
and put it in square CG44.

So have like 20 boxes with painted pennies in them like

• Box 1 = black

• Box 2 = dark brown
  ....etc....

• Box 20 = white

Notes:

• The place where CG meets 44 is clear because the row CG lights up and the column 44 lights up. This is in back behind the plexiglass

  • User types in CG and 44 and both stands light up. V can see where they cross. This is a good bonus lesson in electrical current.

  • Horizontal and vertical lasers could be activated automatically – OR --

  • Just have an upward pointing flat-bottomed laser pointer, connected to a short chain which is connected to a circle which is around a horizontal rod so it can easily moved but never be lost/taken.

• Similar to Mass Mural

• Make sure its not deep enough for kid to climb on it at all. One way to do that is to put horizontal ones against wall and vertical ones in front so little feet couldn't even get in far enough to touch horizontal surfaces.

  • Horizontal = 1” deep (which is over half of the depth of the pixel). Must be substantial enough to hold 15,000

  • Vertical = 0.5” deep (or less). Just enough to separate and to keep kids from climbing on it

  • The depth of both “planes” of plexiglass = the depth of a painted wood cylinder.

    • The wooden cylinder is maybe 1.0 to 1.5 inches deep and 1 inch wide, buy it bulk at Home Depot, and cut it very cheap.

    • Each front is painted one of the 20 chosen colors.

    • V can write his initials (or whatever) on the back tip.

  • The intersecting electrical current or laser pointer marks the center between of the square.

• Must keep weight down because 15,000 x anything is heavy. Each pixel could be the top of a pop-bottle or of a spray-can or chopstick tip (if wanted very small).

• Could do a much smaller prototype (20x30, maybe with “large” pixels)

Have adventurous volunteers to take camera out into the Bham night to disprove what the coffeehouse-brothers say about there being nothing to do in downtown at night.

Identify the 50 logos.

Worked on as a group but each V can only stay 2 minutes so they have to make sure to pass their knowledge of what each logo is to the "next generation"

Half Baked idea

Survival of the Fittest (half baked idea)

(half-baked ideas):

• The science involved with football

  • The physiology of the throw

  • How one senses if opponent if faking left or going right

  • Sports Training.

  OCCO: all the other Football ideas TODO: pitch this to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame

OCCO:

• Upside Down kid

• Typewriter Art -code to spell out "Happy Birthday Jenny" or whatever

• Morphing Software so all kids could morph the photo of the birthday kid, and

  • kid gets book of all his faces

  • or each birthday guest gets to wear a mask of their morphed birthday kid friend

• My how you're growing

• The Creative Zoo Birthday Party Cluster

• Face It where kids color in bday kids face

• Cubist Grays "Shades of Gray"

• Send a black and white photo headshot of bday kid.

  • could be sent with party invitation

  • or emailed or

  • make available as download on McWane web site

  • Ask kids to decorate "any way you want" and to bring it to bday party (perhaps instead of gift)

• A CIA activity is for guests to see a short "how to caricature" video instruction and then to draw/paint/clay sculpt a caricature of the bday kid. This becomes bday present to bday kid.

Could have a partnership between APT and McWane -

V have IAs at McWane to compliment what's on APT.

Like for example, to compliment the Scientific Dating Special:

• you could have scientific dating night, and

• also let Vs see how they can make themselves more attractive:

• do the morphing continuum between female to male face

• create the perfect woman morphing software

• OCCO: Girl Cluster, Go Mad, SSCH

Free or 1/2 price admission on certain days if "A" (free) or "AB" (half off) honor-roll or perfect attendance.

Could have other visitors gift to “Scholarship fund” -- to fund this

• I've got some SCIAS that involve voting (like in the Invent Cluster)...Either only members get to vote or member votes count double

• For the index finger (Brain gender experiment), the zeroxing of the hand could be free for members

• If you didn't have personal web pages for everyone, you could have it as a perk for membership

aka "Recently Heard" or "Birmingham Speaks" or "Birmingham's Talking Now"

Outlines on a dry erase board on a wall of two speaking bubbles at the same height * that you see on cartoons and V can come up and fill those in and then stand as though they're the ones saying it and squeeze a button and the picture is taken and put in a loop for everyone to see and that one particular one goes on that V's personalized web page

Note:

• Could keep it free-form or have themes like

  • What the Scientist said to the Artist or

  • A scientific Exchange

• Options for other walls:

  • Thought bubbles instead of speaking bubbles (call it "Read Your Mind") or

  • bubbles at different levels so a kid or a seated adult could be involved

Alternatives:

• Instead of making the "bubbles" out of dry-erase-board material and having the V write on them, have the bubbles be metal and have a whole bunch of refrigerator magnet letters. That would make it easier to move from one person to the next because no erasing is involved.

• The bubbles could be made such that a stylus pressing down on it forms marks, like the "Magna Doodle" toys that kids have. (Could be sponsored by Magna Doodle). Makes the erasing easy.

  • This could be done in the plaza area outside just during the day to avoid people using dirty words and then pulled in at night.

• On the Plaza...

  • the bubbles are lightly magnetic, the letters are metal

  • Plexiglass is over the flat "speaking bubble" and extends beyond the base of the bubble to hold all the letters. The distance between the wall (i.e., the drawn bubble and the plexiglass is just a tiny bit larger than the depth of the letters.

  • V use a heavily magnetic stylus to move the letters around (The stylus is connected with a chain so its hard to steal, and it's cheap so it can easily be replace if stolen)

  • How it works:

    • Ideally, the connection between the metal letters and the lightly magnetic base are such that over a matter of many minutes, the letters slide down, thus automatically clearing the bubble, or

    • Post instructions like this:

      • As you can have a timed light go off in 5 minutes in a bathroom, V presses a button or turns a dial to set it for 15 minutes (or maybe a shorter amount of time).

      • Vs move letters to form words in bubbles.

      • A photo is taken when both people press their buttons on the wall at the same time. Note: only one every minute to avoid multiples. All photos appear automatically on the webs site, searchable by date and time. So Vs are motivated to go look at the McWane web site.

      • To access their full-sized photo, must enter an email address. This builds up list of email addresses. Each week, can send best Quote Photo to all email addresses as a reminder of how cool the McWane Center is.

      • At the end of the 15 minutes (or when V presses an "I'm done" button) a horizontal wiper blade goes top to bottom to top to wipe it clean. This keeps it enticingly blank and ensures any dirty words disappear quickly.

    • If the knob is not turned, the wiper blade automatically wipes every 15 minutes

• Crazy Idea, but “Cartoon it”...

  • have a photo filter that makes the people in the photo look like a pencil-drawn character (cartoon). The people stand on a clear acrylic platform.

  • Have the background be a line drawing on white background with a cartoon frame (double-line) frame around it.

  • Set up kinda like “Framed” - outside, strung between trees

  • OCCO: Spastic Chamillion, Shape Makes What flip-book

• If this is used as a “Grab-and-Go”, tell Visitors...

  • I pick the 3 I like best and put them up, on the website. Check the website (here's a card with the web address) to see if yours is one of the 3.”

  • on the web site, offer non-winning Vs a digital copy of their photograph if they

    • email me what they “said” I can find it, and

    • send Lamar an ”I love The Creative Zoo” note with $$ or email him.

• Instead of making the "bubbles" out of dry-erase-board material and having the V write on them, have the bubbles be metal and have a whole bunch of refrigerator magnet letters. That would make it easier to move from one person to the next because no erasing is involved.

Note:

• The best of these projected onto McWane parking deck walls.

  • So incoming Vs can do photo op.

  • Change daily.

  • Could actually be unrelated scientific quotes or Questions/Answers.

• Could have changing (vague) themes like "Pick Ups" or "Only Downtown" or "Scientifically Speaking"

• V could do multiple frames to have an entire conversation. V put a number (like 1, 2 or 3) to indicate which frame it is

• Quality Prints are for sale by outsourced company to participants or to anyone]

• Loop of best are shown inside [a notice of this is posted outside to entice people to come in]

• can have Themes for “Say What” like

  • “You said the funniest thing” or

  • “Are you Kidding?”, or

  • something the advertiser-client wants ----- ADVERTISER could have his mascot (speaking a bubble) as a permanent entity in the frame. For example, it could be Clara saying “where's the beef?” and the visitors answering her question, or the Gecko with a blank bubble that the V can fill in, or a bubble that permanently says “Because I'm worth it” (Clairol)

OCCO: 

• Framed,

• Creative Captioning

• Analogous to "Shape Makes What" CIA

Bubbles Theme Cluster

• Cartoon Bubbles

• Soap Bubbles

• Bubble Wrap (OCCO: Mundane Science)

• big rings to make big soap bubbles by blowing as they have at the Exploratorium <-ez->

McWane had puzzle tables, where volunteers or staff gave V problems to solve. It definitely required a human. I'm remembering the little show-boating kids that always want to be involved in the experiments so have a "Junior" McWane Volunteer for the day*. So these Junior Helpers are the ones showing the V the puzzle. They can be as young as 8 or 10 as long as they are able to speak and be understood and understand the concept. Many kids would enjoy having that limelight and it would increase the number of interactions with less staff. (*or for 1 hour or 2 hours or for the afternoon)

• Kids can travel on it

• McWane (of course) is at the center of it.

• Could be very undetailed

• Kids can put a dot or a smily face on where they (with their parents) determine their home is. Leave these stickers on until they wear off naturally with foot-traffic.

• Alternative: kids can use markers to write "Katie lives here" or whatever. Leave it on until footsteps wear it off.

OCCO: Treasure Map

A volunteer gets inside a sound proof glass container and Vs can come up to a microphone to record their critique/suggested improvement. This could be done in the McWane Plaza area. Great attention getter.

The subject of "Judge Me" has a little display sign saying something like:

• I want to look younger without looking ridiculous. What do you suggest?

• I'm young but I want to be taken seriously by voters when I run for City Council. Any ideas?

• What can I do to get girls to like me more?

OCCO: Go Mad

OCCO: Etc~Go Mad, SSCH

For example "Right From Birth" that APT is doing a series on.

Books written by local scientists...Let the local scientist put together the exhibit/cluster

Products: Their books for sale in gift shop

OCCO: Local Inventions

• 13-18 year olds only - dates/groups of friends, or

• for 20-somethings that work/live downtown

• "will offer an entertainment experience unlike anything else available in Birmingham"

• GO MAD = Go McWane After Dark (slogan)

  Notes:

  • An alternative use of the McWane space

  • Tailored to teenage and young adult couples and groups

  • Open at McWane Science Center Friday and Saturday nights

  • Gives option other than drinking, getting in trouble, watching sports

  • Emphasize the social interactive stuff and the "weird stuff"

  • "Family Friendly" during the day, more hipster after dark.

  "If you're sleepy, stressed out, uninspired or bored, McWane is the place for you."

"Go MAD" -- the Social Sciences

1. Hey lets go downtown and turn ourselves into a painting (Framed, Create a Famous Painting, Big Flat Canvas)

2. Lets go see (feel) what's in the Tactile Twister and have a Variety is the Spice of Life platter in the Dimly Lit Cafe

3. The Advisory Board – like The Advice People -- but can be 2 or more people -- Interchangeable with qualifications written by them behind them. All money goes to charity.

NOTES:

Could have singles night Fridays and Couples night Saturdays (OCCO: Couples Cluster)

OCCO: 

• CIAS~Tarrost Card Readings

• Scavenger/Treasure Hunt Connect the Dots. But could involve space outside McWane -- this blurs the line between downtown and McWane

• Judge Me

• Virtual Bowling

Notes: Turn the McWane center into "the museum of science, art and human perception" like the Exploratorium in San Francisco

Part of GoMad

Can have tables on square balcony above and surrounding BFC, so that patrons can see BFCs being made or Just have live video feeds of activities.

• Treat Me Like Buttons (OCCO: Treat me Like)

• (get the rest off my email)

• How was your day? -- Patrons get to draw/color and/or write on a sheet titled "How was your day May 19, 2006" or whatever.

  • All submissions for a given day are displayed that day.

  • The winner each day gets a free coffee-- gets people coming back each day to see if they won

  • The best for each day get displayed on giant calendar on wall.

    • Perhaps the best one of the entire month, gets to name the "drink of the month" for the next month

  • It's sort of a cathartic/end-of-the-day experience

  • Regulars have their own clipboard on another wall where they keep adding to their visual diary each day.

  • Patrons can submit their own ideas for wall drawing themes like:

    • "How science affected me on May 19, 2006" or

    • "What I learned (unexpectedly) on May 19, 2006"

    • The lunch I had on May 19, 2006

    • Why May 19, 2006 was a perfect day

    • The beauty of May 19, 2006

    • The biggest frustration / triumph of May 19, 2006...

    • What I dreamed about last night

    • The most colorful thing of May 19, 2006

    • What made me scratch my head (in bewilderment) on May 19 ,2006"

    • Hot and cold of May 19, 2006

    • The weirdest thing (happened) on May 19, 2006

    • (also, instead of a phrase, can just have a shape on it as a theme, like my cia "Shape Makes What")

  • Not knowing which of "starting phrases" they'll get keeps it fresh

• A painter or sculpture "of the week" who works there and then displays art for sale at the end of the week. [OCCO: Inspiration Cluster could also be a setting for this]

• Used Book Corner - where people bring in books they want to sell (and I --an outsourcer-- sell online) and give them store credit or donate to a charity or cash after they're sold. This brings Vs in.

aka: Outside the Box bar (might be what the Coffee House turns into at night)

Notes:

• To keep it dynamic and gives a sense of ownership:

  • Patrons esp creative writer, report types could come and plug in their laptops and project onto big screen at the inernet cafe or

    • or maybe random screens of V @ Internet cafe could (with permission or at request of user) could be displayed on large screen.

    • or Quarter (4) sections of large screen each have a quarter of someone's screen (and with background of cool wavy things like on stage at American Idol)

  • A still screen shot is projected up against a dry-erase board where various Vs can improve/mark it up with dry erase markers. Change daily. Inspires interactivity and "thinking outside the screen"

Components / Details of Cluster #3 -- “Scientific Method”

 Teaser: Be a test subject in a fun, long-running scientific experiment – we’ll surprise you how.  (Boring note for adults: actual participation in a scientific experiment reinforces the principals of the scientific method)

This really shows two ideas:

• The power of suggestion and

• The Scientific Method.

It’s a simple throw-the-ball-thru-a-hoop exercise, with the results tabulated automatically.

The participant goes inside a private room with 3 balls and a hoop.  He is randomly (secretly) assigned to one of three groups and he then hears (or sees) the rules:  “The goal is to throw each ball though the hoop.”

• If he’s category A, that’s all he hears.

• If he’s category B, he also hears “This is very easy and most people get all 3".

• If he’s category C, he also hears “This is very hard and most people don’t get any."

After his throws, he gets to see the running tab of hits/misses of each group:

And he sees/hears an explanation of hypotheses, control group, and randomization (as well as a separate display about "the power of suggestion").

2nd part of Results Room

• Lets kid-visitor state a hypothesis they'd like to test and how they'd design the experiment (or the idea could be submitted later on McWane.org)

• If theirs is chosen and implemented, their life-sized photo (cut-out) --in a scientist-outfit is displayed outside the Results Room.

• This "Junior Scientist" would go on interviews with local media and create great free P.R. (Public Relations).

Lamar's Concern: For the "Specific Method" exhibit, he wondered how to keep people from doing this multiple times...

When a visitor buys her ticket, she is asked if she's done the ball-hoop experiment before. If not, she gets a token (like a parking deck token; this token could have a hole in it, so that the visitor could wear it like a necklace). (Instead of a token, it could be a key or a key card or a code.)

If you do start to use bar codes, an alternative to the token-method is to enable certain bar codes (those assigned to those who have not yet participated) to open the ball-hoop room (aka private room) once (and only once).

The token (or bar code) grants entry into the ball-hoop room. Maybe it has a revolving door so that other visitors don't get to peek inside, and so that only one person gets to enter at a time. To leave -- either after she finishes throwing all 3 balls (hopefully), or at any time for any reason -- she can exit through an exit-door that only opens outward.

This keeps it completely automated (needing no staff).

After a visitor completes the ball-hoop activity, she receives written and/or audio instructions on how to use a "code"* to enter the"Results Room". This code also allows visitors to go into the Results Room on later visits and to check out the results on the McWane web page. This limited access keeps visitors who haven't participated yet from ruining their fun (missing the lesson) by accidentally going into the Results Room first.

[*The "code" could be "SM" (Scientific Method) or "RESULTS" or "MCWANE" typed into a keyboard - anything that is easy to remember so Visitor remembers it the next time they come in too.]

Other thoughts on “The Scientific Method” exhibit

• To keep it fresh and easily changeable, you could test different hypotheses/have different activities (not just a ball-in-hoop test), like for example:

  • How long does it take to untie a knot if (a)you hear nothing, or you "overhear" people who seem to be other visitors engaged in the same activity expressing either (b)how easy it is or (c)how hard it is?  (The “overheard people” are actually just a recording.)

  • Is our perception based on pre-conceived notions?  Do we try to be like those we think of as “like us” and do we try to be different from those we think of as “different from us”?: 

    • Tell visitor that he is about to play with a puzzle game that is/was very popular (a)in Papau New Guinea 100 years ago (b)in Papau New Guinea currently (c)in Mississippi 100 years ago, or (d)in Mississippi currently.

    • Then have visitor play with it and rate how much he enjoyed it on a scale from 1 to 10.

    • If the hypothesis is true, the average rating score would be higher if the subjects believed the puzzle was popular in a very similar culture than if they believed it was popular in an alien culture.

    • Could challenge the older kids / adults to see how this experiment might be flawed or how to improve upon the design of it.

  • Do people who categorize themselves as “smarter than average” do better on a puzzle than those who don’t categorize themselves that way?

  • If the puzzle is called popular among elementary students vs if the puzzle is called popular among college students. Ask V to rate how hard it was for them to solve.

Note: CORD pamphlet says "design your own experiments and present results to others”. Participants in CORD could do behavior experiments with Vs.

Roaches, Lightning Bugs and Humidity(and tornadoes) -- 3 (or 4) inescapable elements of an Alabama Summer

This is regional and seasonal which is good because local-museums should reflect what's special about their community.

General:

• Could be sponsored by Orkin (and/or the Birmingham Zoo) and weather station

• Kids can submit their drawings of these

• Give the Latin name(s) of roaches and lightning bugs.

  • This is an introduction to the classification system of animals.

• Profile scientists who have (spent a lifetime) studying lightning bugs, roaches, humidity

  • How are they studied?

OCCO: Tornadoes

OCCO - Food Pyramid; Tasty

OCCO: 

• Addiction cluster

• Grow up - Plot (for a chart on wall)

Teaser: Pose as a doctor or a nurse, diagnose patients, interpret “doctor talk” into English, find your internal organs, broadcast your heart beat, smell (if you dare) various bodily fluids.

Notes: Decor could be xrays on the walls. In Seattle there were a bunch of chest xrays that someone had put up. They're not boring, they show details like necklaces, various things, bones. OCCO: Smoking

OCCO: 

• When I Group,

• Dentist Cluster

aka "Smile"

OCCO: 

• Doctor Doctor

• "When I Grow Up" photo op that includes a frame and suggestions on what to do to prepare

• The Real Cost

NOTE:

• What my dentist says that I might work into it somehow:

  • there is good bacteria and bad bacteria. A child is not born with bacteria in their mouth; they get it from kisses from their mother. Because the child is less likely to reject mother's bacteria because child and mom's immune system are similar.

OCCO: 

• Freeze Frame

• Learn Me Something

• Pre-Learning

• Smell Memories

• Re-Create a Famous Painting (because creating/participating makes you remember better)

OCCO: 

• Medical Cluster (Doctor Doctor)

• Upside Down kid just to show how skin sags

• Tactile Twister (because it uses the sense of feel)

Casa -- In Wonderville, have a Spanish house (casa) where you hear voice-overs of very basic Spanish dialog (and maybe what it means in English). Also have a "translator wand" that kids can carry around. It audibly gives the Spanish term for anything the visitor touches with it in the casa. My Casa Tu Casa -- The Casa in Just Mice Size Space could be My Casa Tu Casa (you'd use TU because it's a little kid's casa)

Micro-polis -- Just mice space exhibit could be called Micropolis -- "micro" meaning small; sounds like Metropolis. And sort of has a scientific feel to it, and like superman

Christmas in July etc

• Have just various rooms set up as they would be at Holidays.  (This could be part of Micropolis).

• Have a house with a Christmas tree and presents, a Minora in the den, easter eggs in the "yard" and flags flyer for the 4th of July.

• Children all throughout the year can bring in wrapped presents to be given to under-privledged at Xmas.

• This could start reminisent conversations among family memories.

From what I understand about your plan of putting "creators" or other types of people into the Just Mice Size space, my CIA "Question the Creator" might fit nicely.  It lets a kid ask a question like...

• "How many brushes do you have?" or

• "What will you do with that painting when you're done?" or 

• "How do you paint a face?" or

• whatever the kid wants to ask.

The person is not interrupted with the questions right then.  Instead, he reviews the questions at his convenience, and answers the ones that appeal to him.  

Then...

• The kids' questions (in the kids' voices) and the person's answers are played back in a loop for visitors to hear -- or --

• Each question (that gets answered) is typed out and displayed.  If a visitor wants to hear the answer to a particular question, she presses the button next to that question which causes the question and answer to be played for all in the area to hear.

Have a farmer -- Traditionally, zoos are interesting because they show stuff you don't ordinarily see. Nowadays, the process of food being grow is an exotic thing, most kids don't ever actually see (OCCO: Science of Agriculture)

BUILDING SCIENCE / BUILDER Cluster: -- could be part of Just Mice Space

"The Science, Culture and History of Home"

Pitch: McWane had "the Science Culture and History of money" so have it for the Family Dwelling

Kitchen Sciences: (OCCO: Girl Cluster)

• Science of the kitchen - how a refrigerator / microwave work

• Science of cooking/food preparation

• The Science of Food - why does spaghetti that's perfectly done stick up on the wall?

Log Cabin

Lincoln Logs but size sized so that 6 year olds can build a cabin they can walk into.

Inflatable Legos and Lincoln Logs

Have a bunch of blow up toys (like beach balls toys) instead each would be in the shape of a Lego piece and so the kids could play with oversized lego toys without being able to bop each other in the head and do damage. Or could have inflatable Lincoln logs. Could be part of Just Mice Space.

Little Houses

like in Charlotte Discovery Place -- called I believe "If These Walls Could Talk"

Builders each submit/donate a fun kid-sized building like a cave or a castle or a beavers dam

See-Thru House

See thru walls of a small* house. (*small in terms of square feet, but tall enough for Vs to easily walk into.)

Shows plumbing -- incoming and outgoing pipes (and septic tank?) are see thru

Can also show electricity flow and fire hazards

The science of electricity of the home -- have this in the Itty Bitty Magic City

• A house with clear walls to show how electricity moves around the walls

• Could also be a fire-safety thing

OCCO: 

• Enlarged Toys

• "Builder" will work well with the Arch building that McWane already has

From British PBS special

OCCO: 

• Girl Cluster,

• Do You Recognize Me?

• Perspectives Cluster

• kids vs adults

Knots: (or In Knots or Tying Knots or Tied in Knots)

Video is on Horizontal Monitor, which makes it easier for V to follow along because he sees his hands right about the knot tying hands.

OCCO:

• Robotic Cowboy (both use ropes)

• Robotic String Art

• Boy Cluster

In the food pyramid, take a meal that's not good for you and break it down into its elements in liquefied form so Vs could have the image of what they're really eating the next time they eat a cheeseburger with mayo and fries

OCCO: 

• My Kid the Guinea Pig,

• Tasty

• VITSOLP

• Fat and the people it lives in

Have a robot arm attached to a lasso that's limp on the floor and then using the laws of physics (teaches the laws of physics), the robot arm moves in a circle shape thus making the rope be a circle and the robot arm pops up and (shazam) it's a lasso. Vs could control the speed of the movement to show how the speed affects it. Have a wall display about the physics involved and ropes for kids to try to make lasso of.

OCCO: Knot tying; Robotic String Art

Tasty (the Taste Cluster)

Tasty / Smelly - put something in these clusters to show pregnant women taste and smell things differently. Also that over a lifespan, people smell/taste thing differently

In the smell and taste exhibit, how are artificial smells and tastes created. Daily, have a demonstration to do that.

OCCO:

• Smelly

• Tactile Twister

• Food pyramid

• Perception Cluster

Maybe have a computer generated baby based on V's face (Tannenbaum)

Vs get to select a kid from [[]] Show the kid as he goes thru various ages, pictured with his 4th grade class, his baseball teammates, at his wedding, with his children

Designer Baby

How do you feel about designing your baby?

(Give option of letting V just take what nature gives you.)

Maybe have computer generated baby based on V's face.

Show the kid as he goes thru various ages, pictured with his 4th grade class, pictured with his baseball teammates...

• if altered

• if natural

How do you feel about each version

-- half-baked

This is a exhibit of multiple-stages over time (like the "Invention - that's an interesting story" exhibit)

Also: Live Mice Races - have rats at various levels of training and see how one bets the other

OCCO: My kid, the guinea pig

Have 10 different terrariums, each containing, a standard block of wood and a standard amount of termites. But each has had the termites in it a different number of days, like the first has had termites it in 30 days and the last has had termites in it 3 days. This show the progression of what termites can do.

Could be sponsored by a Termite company.

OCCO: Roaches, Lightning Bugs

Explain physiology of it.

The physiology of Anxiety - how you can consciously impact/counteract it -meditation, prayer, action, exercise, prescription drugs, other drugs. Explain physiologically.

OCCO:

• Addicted, Smoking

• Freeze Frame (Adrenaline and Memory)

• Police

• Girl Cluster: Mend and Befriend

Cluster called Disabilities

aka: Differently-abled, Americans with Disabilities

V experience what it's like to have various handicaps

• deaf

• Have hearing in only one ear (can't tell what direction a sound is coming from)

• blind -- the blind thing (OCCO The Tactile Twister)

• Blind in one eye – loss of depth perception.

  • Have V look thru a hole at an object (like a ball) and try to grab it with his hand.

  • Could be 2 balls – each appearing to be of same size.

  • Goal: grab the blue one with right hand, and the red one with right hand.

Can use:

• wheelchairs

• crutches

• braces

• seeing eye dogs

• an oversized car to show what it's like for a little person to drive

• "Wee Sign" - info -- kids can learn to sign before they learn to speak. Video of deaf family communication with very young child.

See what it's like to be dyslexic (try to read something but the letters are all turned around) OCCO: perceptions, “Ask me Anything” (see below)

Have a disabled person (who is an "Ask me anything person"). In other words, the kids know it's okay to ask them anything.

Just takes stuff in everyday life like

• ziploc bags

• ink pens

• remote controls

• scissors

• packing bubbles

• Ink Pen

• Pencil

How do they work? Demonstrate the science of how they work. Lots of hands on.

OCCO: 

• Kitchen Science.

• Invent Cluster

• Evolution of

Smell Memories (the Smelly Cluster)

Examples of smells:

• baby puke

• fresh mowed grass

• a carnival smell like wood chips mixed with puke and carmel apples

• Cologne/perfume from olden days

• swimming pool (chlorine)

• playdoh

• burning crayons

• roasted marshmallows

• pot

• dog poop

• hospital smell

• new car smell

Notes:

• As Vs go down a "buffet line of memories", Vs are automatically videotaped as they smell the smell.

• V doesn't know what the smell will be so the memories are purely smell-induced.

• Put the best video re-actions together and show as 2nd part of exhibit.

• Shows the commonality of experience

• Could do a parallel one with just the items, not the smell, to show how powerful smell is in provoking memories.

• In the smell and taste exhibit, how are artificial smells and tastes created. Daily, have a demonstration to do that.

Tasty / Smelly - put something in these clusters to show pregnant women taste and smell things differently. Also that over a lifespan, people smell/taste thing differently

OCCO:

• Perception Deception

• Tasty;

• The Tactile Twister

• the nose screen of "Both~Me only bigger". Loop of various noses or in real time

• Sit A Spell and Memories-- because it gets V to talk to each other about memories

a product like scissors.

Show the earliest version through the latest version.

OCCO:

• Invent Cluster

• Science of Efficiency

• Neadrathal Man

• Celebration of Failure

Show Titles and Summaries of papers being submitted at UAB graduate school along with photos of the authors (both current and childhood photos) with a brief audio and/or video of the student stating why this is interesting or important or how they got interested in it.

• How could this be done better, faster, easier?

• Examples of Inefficiency

• Surprising things about efficiency that don't seem logical

• Interactive: V try to be the most efficient at doing something

OCCO: Work Cluster

sort of a half baked ideas still, but basically, it is to let parents put their kids as subjects in experiments

OCCO: Food Pyramid

– See Nobacco in “Other Ideas”

Addiction displayed like in Charlotte.  Charlotte had a video of a rat running around, could actually have the real rat.

Explain physiologically what addiction in the brain looks like, and how the brains of

• a never-drug addict,

• a using drug addict and

• a "recovery drug" addict are truly different.

What drug are they on?

• (aka "Name that drug)

• Videos of people acting strangely - then Vs can guess what drug they're on.

• (Answers available under flip boards)

OCCO: 

• Drugs and Creativity

• What Drugs are they on

• Smoking~The Addiction Ride

• Smoking~The Quitters

• Fat and the People it Lives in

• The Physics of baseball, of juggling.

• The Science of Sports Training

  • because little boys are absolutely fascinating with muscles, and building up their own muscles [OCCO Kid power]

  • Why is muscle "A" stronger than muscle "B"?

• How technology increases the Work that Muscle can do. This compliments the "Pulley chairs" that V seems to love

OCCO: 

• Kid Power

• Knot Tying;

• Agri-Culture, Boxing

Take Examples like Boxing and Medicine

Is boxing an art or a science?

• The Art of Boxing

• The Sweet Science

Discussion Questions: 

• What is Art? What is Science? What requires a combination of the two?

• Art vs Science - how is science in art? How is art in science?

• Gallela and Michaelangelo

• Students who study music do better at math - why

Is philosophy a science? History and evolution of science as a field of study. The future of science.

-- McWane.

Show winning science experiments from the local schools

OCCO: Both~Design Competition

“How many are there?

Jelly beans in a jar for example.

Teaches:

• Volume,

• Math and

• physics -- because Jelly beans compress or do they?

• Why using his can't you say with absolute certainly how many are in there

• Eureka - measuring volume in a bathtub -- could measure a Barbie doll or a jelly bean in a cylinder

• Let Vs submit guesses and a post winner on web site. Winner gets a small prize announced on web site to draw traffic

• Post a graph (bell curve) of guesses of previous week's guesses.

• Examples of how to calculate # of jelly bean in jar:

  • See how many fit in a cross section (hands on)

  • Let Vs submit techniques, especially the winning visitor

OCCO: 6.5 million people exhibit

-- Appliance Dissection

Vs can bring in old broken appliances.

Kids can take them apart and...

• then hopefully put back together again so other can take apart

• or just trash them

Notes:

• I'm sure lots of stuff would be donated @freecycle.

• Also, it could be part of a larger recycle/waste management exhibit.

Shows:

• Social Sciences

• Political Science

• Cultural Anthropology.

Put 5 random Vs in a room.

Offer a single prize:

• Prize could be small

• a mystery prize worth "up to $200"

Tell them:

• they have 5 (or maybe 15) minutes to decide who will get the prize.

• They must all agree. If they don't all agree, no one gets the prize.

Others can watch the decision-making process at work thru a 2-way mirror

Anthropology students could label the various failed and successful decision-making paths, like:

• intimidation

• bargaining

• merit based on age

• merit based on social status

• merit based on beauty/attractiveness

• pity

• chance

• etc

And summarize in graphs what % did each and what other ways it could be characterized.

Graphs could take into account:

• the sex of each group: (OCCO: Male vs female brains)

  • all female

  • all male

  • mixed, primary female,

  • mixed, primarily male

• the age range/average age

• Could show in what % of groups the "leader" was the winner. Did this depend upon When the leader emerged as the leader?

Shows how cultural anthropologists might study document cultures/societies.

Variations:

• Could do larger donated prizes

• Could have non-participating Vs put $$ into the prize pot. The Vs would know that the more $$ that was at stake, the more interesting the decision-making process would be to watch.

• Could have everyone interested in doing this buy (for $1) a chance to be in it. [For this example let's say 50 people buy a chance.]

  • For those, select at random 5.

  • Then the selected 5 have to

    • each put in $5 more

      • This makes the prize pot be $1x50 + $5x5 = $75, which is significant for most people.

    • OR, perhaps the 5 Vs among themselves determine how much extra each will put in, for example, they decide:e

      • each of the 5 will put in $5 (so the prize pot is 50+5x5 = $75)

      • OR each of the 5 will put in $10 (so the prize pot is 50+5x10 = $100)

      • OR each of the 5 will put in $0 (so the prize pot is $50)

      • OR 3 of the 5 who have it will put in $8, the 4th person will put in his watch and the 5th person doesn't have to put in anything (so the prize pot = 50+3x8 = $74 plus a watch)

      • it can be whatever they as a group decide.

    • Question: How will these initial negotiations affect who gets the prize pot.

  • So, in summary, with this variation, you have 3 parts:

1. Part 1 - entering into a raffle to get the 5 participants

2. part 2 - the chosen 5 adding to the prize pot

3. part 3 - decision making process of who wins.

• Note:

  • parts 2 and 3 are entertaining and can be viewed by Vs

  • everyone who put in $1 is invested and would want to watch

    • perhaps only those who bought a $1 ticket would be allowed to watch. This would encourage Vs to buy the $1 ticket

Notes:

• This is like that show Unanimous and a little like Survivor

• I should research other studies done.

A daily or weekly abbreviated Jeopardy type game where Vs can take a written or computer test to qualify

The highest 3 scorers* are chosen to compete against each other in game show.

*perhaps (occasionally under a certain age)

Notes:

• All topics are science-related

• Contestants stand behind 3 colored podiums -- like red, blue, yellow (the primary colors)

• Other Vs can watch and cheer with little pom poms -- have 3 sections each with either red, blue, or yellow ones (OCCO: Rat Basketball)

Use the McWane technology that tells V how tall she is to determine the size (front to back) of a person's head. Then superimpose a correctly sized map of the brain on the head.

Note:

• Could ask the age and have that be a factor because the brain changes over time.

• Could do a top view, left and right view and put all on one screen at same time or

• Could alternate images so it looks like a camera is moving from right view to top, to left view to top, to right view.

• Sing song (slaps) -- in video (can have V's partner be a girl facing the screen so V can sing song and clap along with the image)

• Jump Ropes (video)

• Rap -- have a contest to get local kids to write rap songs with a scientific theme. The winners perform live at the opening event, their CD is for sale in the gift shop (they get all or partial profits) and their Music video is played.

• What else is rhythmic -- let V submit examples on wall

• Scientifically speaking, what is soothing about rhythm

• The Science that backs them up or

• The science that debunks them

• the reasons/history

I’m a little fuzzy on how this would actually look but show somehow

• How a bully thinks vs. how a non-bully thinks

• What the bully is really trying to get to happen, what needs the bully really has

• How the bully selects his victims and how any kid can make himself less likely to be selected / How to not be the victim of a bully

• How a girl bully is different than a boy bully

• Are bullies born that way?  What makes you a bully?

• Are there bullies in nature?

• What happens to bullies when they grow up?

• Are there adult bullies?  How do adults deal with adult bullies?

• Show some bullying video – pause it at various points to analyze what is really happening – football-coach style.  What options are possible and what results occur. (Maybe let the visitor selects a particular option and sees the results.)

• How bullying was done in past cultures

• How bullying is done in other cultures

This lets a kids visualize a potentially damaging (physically, emotionally) situation he most likely will encounter at some point and thus be more prepared for it if it occurs.

Also: The Science of Popularity

(or Agri-Science)

1 example I can think of: a kid can push a plow and 1 or more other kids can be the mules/horses and be a once-a-day exhibition

Note:

• kids love dirt and are generally attracted to growing things.

• Could inspire discussion between kids and their grand-parents/great grand-parents of what farm life used to be like.

Teaches mechanics and agri-science.

Display growing produce including organic produce with details of each.

OCCO: Boy Cluster, Knot tying

Exhibit Sugar - part of food pyramid or part of kid in candy store:

• Chemical formula for sugar

• What it does to the body and mind specifically (OCCO Mind body connection)

• what life without sugar would be like

• sugar addiction (OCCO: addiction cluster)

• cultures that don't use sugar

Erosion - show how erosion can happen by using a substance that erodes over time as little kids

• run/walk on it

• pour water on it

• Chess boxing

• Holistic healing

• Examples: good cafeteria Food in NY schools

• Physiology of Anxiety

• The talking cure – rorschetts blot / Sigmand Freud

• vs

• Modern neuro-psychology (chemical)

half-baked idea

• What would be in this?

• Compare playground and other childhood situations to historical political events – like...

  • settlers playing on the Indian's playground and forcing the Indians to leave, or

  • Hitler picking on certain kids and no one doing anything about it, or

  • or kids making an arts-&-craft project and someone they've never seen demanding part of it (taxation without representation, American Revolution), or

  • one part of a soccer team wanting to break away and form their own soccer team (civil war)

  Gets kids to realize politics is not some distant thing.

• If you were president and Congress how would you spend all the budget money – have bills that are like million dollar and trillion dollar bills.

(Boys would love this)

Also continually show loop of real buildings being demolished (with their specs)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

DESTRUCTION - an exhibit to show that destruction leads to creation.

• A forest fire kills trees and makes them habitable by certain species

• The Dark Ages created the renaissance

• A volcanic eruption creates an island

• lots more examples

Encourage Visitors to come up with and record their own examples and add it to the exhibit.

• The perception thing about you can read words as long as it has the first letter and the last letter in the right spot and the other letters don't have to be

• If you see an upside down person with eyes right side up, he looks just fine. Only after you turn him right side up, does the face seem strange

OCCO: 

• FaceIt

• Upside Down Kid

• Deception Perception Cluster

They have that in Charlotte I believe. I believe they can make a tornado (kind of a lame little thing) but if there's one thing people in Alabama should be interested in it's tornadoes.

Have a wind speed room where kids can put their hands in. Wind maybe blows at 30 miles an hour and demonstrate how that compares to a big tornado

OCCO:

• Roaches, Lightning Bugs and Humidity

• The show about lighting that McWane already has

(for kids)

A kid takes a Ziploc bag and fills it with remnants of his (his family's) daily life, and then brings it in.

In turn, that kid gets the bag left by someone else.

What do these remnants tell you about their life.

Note: 

• Part of Archeology Cluster

• Upon leaving McWane, kid is given an empty [except for a card describing this and what to do] Ziploc bag.

  • He's take this home with him and it will be a reminder to come back soon.

  • Sponsored by Ziploc. Who could also put a coupon in the bag (or on the back of the instructions)

    • OCCO: Mundane Science

aka: I don't know my own strength (power)

OCCO: 

• In the same way that everyone loves the 3 pully seats (there's always someone in at least one of them), they'll like this because it's a physical activity.

• Saw Man and Juggler in Sculpture Party

• Boy Cluster

• Things that spin

• Plaza Fountain

• Kid Inventors (even kids can invent things)

• Smoking Kid Power (even kids have some power to help their parents quit smoking)

Earth, air, fire, water – Vs submit scenarios of how all 4 work together: A seed is planted in the ground, water makes it grow. It catches on fire when air blows sparks from a campfire to it.

OCCO: Elements – kids

In the history of the field of science, talk about the 4 elements: earth, fire, air and water and so a little something on each of those. Do for each of those a little play area of sand, water, fake flames like air rushing through red material, etc -- like what I have for the 4 elements of TCZ (Peace Joy Love, Harmony/Balance).

OCCO: Elements

Gloves or band-aids kids can put on to replicate submersion into fresh water/saltwater. Then after 30 minutes, can look at fingertips -

1. regular

2. saltwater

3. pure water

under microscope (project super large on the wall) and decorate walls with photos of other kids fingers.

Occo: Give me some skin

I'm sure you couldn't call it the Tactile Dome and you'd not want V to see exactly where they're going, so have it be the Tactile Tunnel. The ceiling of the tunnel is only a couple of inches from the top and there would be trap-doors all along the way for easy escape (because apparently that's pretty important), or the Tactile Twister (TT).

So instead of it being a tunnel the whole time, it can come up out of the ground -- just make sure it's dark there. So it could be like a roller-coaster ride, totally encased.

For dating couples who wanted to go through it together, but wanted to avoid inappropriate touch, the female could be offered "the guard/the shield" (which would be like a bullet proof shield or a metal shield that would cover her front area/her bikini area).

Could have multiple TTs with different themes to them. This would make it more enticing for return Vs to return.

So as to not stigmatize the dating girls to wear protective vests. Maybe every V has to choose some tactile-ly interesting outfit (just recommend to the people who don't want to be felt up to select the protective shield).

Logistics:

• 7 rooms (R1-R7) let 6 parties (P1-P6) in at any time. A party is a single, couple or group of friends/family.

• R1......]......R2......]......R3......]......R4......]......R5......]......R6......]......R7

• p1..............p2..............p3..............p3.............p5............empty..........p6

• R6 is empty, so the door to R6 unlocks and lets p5 move into R6

• R1......]......R2......]......R3......]......R4......]......R5......]......R6......]......R7

• p1..............p2..............p3..............p3...........empty...........p5 ............p6

• Then....R5 is empty, so the door to R5 unlocks and lets p3 move into R5

• etc etc

more clearly.... ][ = a door to a room. In other words, [ or ] equals a wall. = is an unlocked/open door

• 7 rooms let 6 parties (P1-P6) in at any time. A “party” is a single, couple or group of friends/family.

• [.....p6.....][.....p5.....][.....p4.....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....=..............]

• [.....p6.....][.....p5.....][.....p4.....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][..............=.....p1.....]

• [.....p6.....][.....p5.....][.....p4.....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....=..............][.....p1.....]

• [.....p6.....][.....p5.....][.....p4.....][.....p3.....][..............=.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• [.....p6.....][.....p5.....][.....p4.....][.....p3.....=..............][.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• [.....p6.....][.....p5.....][.....p4.....][..............=.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• [.....p6.....][.....p5.....][.....p4.....=..............][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• [.....p6.....][.....p5.....][..............=......p4....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• [.....p6.....][.....p5.....=..............][......p4....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• [.....p6.....][..............=.....p5.....][......p4....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• [.....p6.....=..............][.....p5.....][......p4....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• [..............=.....p6.....][.....p5.....][......p4....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• =.............][.....p6.....][.....p5.....][......p4....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• =....p7.....][.....p6.....][.....p5.....][......p4....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....]

• [.....p7.....][.....p6.....][.....p5.....][......p4....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][.....p1.....=

• [.....p7.....][.....p6.....][.....p5.....][......p4....][.....p3.....][.....p2.....][..............= (p1 leaves tunnel)

• Repeat (from the first one above)

• etc etc

Notes:

• Vs should also wear protective goggles so as to not get stuff in their eyes.

• $10 entry to Tactile Twister

  • $100,000 to build

  • $1,000 a month = 3 visitors a day.

Items in TT:

• Sand

• cushy balls

• hippy type bead curtain

• cold steel

• Astroturf

• wall of hairbrushes

• robot type arms with people inside them stroking heads and shoulders of Vs

• Bubble machine

• Playdoh in airtight bags so it stays smooshy

• Shaking Pom Poms

• Wind

• Random Water Squirts

• a single (white) pin light to show it's time to go thru the next door

• hair (from local beauty shops)

• wax stalagmites

• imitation fossilized remains

Notes:

• This is inspired by the Tactile Dome at the Exploratorium in San Francisco

Rules:

• Take your shoes off

• Tell V to go bare foot or use flipflops (However they'd go to the beach)

• wear googles

• If you want to avoid running into each other, hold hands(?)

• remember we can see you

• Maybe there's a scavenger-hunt inside?

  • The items on the scavenger hunt might form/fit together to form something surprising. 

Birth Canal - "Tactile Dome" type

• Reed's idea of the Side Show birth canal

• For those of us who were robbed of the birth experience due to C-section !

The tactile dome:  seven rooms let six parties in at any time, (a “party” is a single person, a couple or a group that know each other.  The entry door to the empty room is the only door that is not locked at any given time.)

Smorgesborg

• Could include Smorgesborg - (food eaten in the dark) as an add-on.

• Could be part of the totally dark tour, or available in the "Dimly Lit Cafe" (alternative name = "Before Dawn")

• Link this to the VITSOL Platter [[]]

Notes:

• Blind Restaurants (blind waiters, pitch black dining area) are popular in New York. I saw several stories about this. Blind people are the waiters, and the darkness focuses attention on the sense of taste.

• Blind people could be a tour guide or give a speech before hand.

• Encourages blogging where Visitors speculate about what was in the Tactile Twister.

• For a very special rare prize, someone could be chosen (and sworn to secrecy) about what is really inside the TT.

• Perhaps (or perhaps not) Patrons in the Dimly Lit Cafe are encouraged to draw out what they experienced in the TT. Perhaps not because you want to keep the focus on the tactile -- not on the visual.

• Senasthesia – blended senses (kiki boba) – like when people can taste colors for example

OCCO: Give me Some Skin (skin is the tactile sensor), Making Sense

Kaleidoscope Cluster – 8 to 16 “pie “ slices Vs get to put together to form a an image (half-baked idea)

Lamar says “Competitive Colors” has already been done. Their feedback says how close V is to each correct RGB value.
TODO: I should listen to the tape to see the nae of the similar exhibit Lamar talks about.
TODO: Program this in Visual Basic and video tape it using digital-camera or screen-shot it.

Teaser: Use hexadecimal numbers to create millions of colors.  Compete with your friends to see who can make a specific color the fastest or just find your own favorite color. Learn how to make your own basic web page.

Other parts of the display:

Some possible extra stuff:

• Scanner / reader.  Could have a reader that takes a color (skin, article of clothing) from a Visitor and interprets it to a RGB value

• Display about colors   –  For examples: What emotional responses various colors provoke, like red is alertness --Why?  Why are people“green with envy”?

• How rods and cones in the eye work

• Literally (physically) mixing the 3 colors

Miniature Golf -- just like the one at the art museum in Seattle in the early 90's where a student-artist and a student-engineer are forced to work together as a team to create.

The first season's theme is "2 Heads Are Better Than 1". For this season it's 9 teams to design 9 holes. People vote with $$ which holes they like from both an artistic and engineering stand-point. (Visitors simply put in money at the lock box at each hole if they like it.)

Visitors who score a "Hole in One" get a card with a password on it, where they can later go online and can submit a suggestion for the next season's theme.

At the end of the season, $ from hole 4 for example is split between TCZ, the creators of hole 4 and the winner of the competition to be used to design the next season's course.

The winner team (ie the hole that gets the most $ over the season) gets to design and create the entire 9 holes for the next season and get all or most of the profits.

The theme for the 2nd season is chosen by the winning team from the suggestions left by the "Hole in One'ers".

OCCO: Science and Art - Boxing and Medicine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Completing Putt Putt golf holes

Have 2-person teams of a science-honor student + an art honor student, together create a putt-putt golf hole.

Each V is given a ball. V plays the two holes (accidentally learning about the science of physics). Then V votes for the one she likes best by leaving her ball in the clear box by that Hole.

Each week (or month) (or when one box is full) the loser is replaced with the next entry.

(like at Modern Art Gallery in Seattle)

OCCO: Competitive Art Gallery

aka: "Teach me Something"

Educational Video that Vs make.

• In a booth or small room, with a dry erase board and a video camera that maybe shuts off after 5 or 10 minutes.

• "What do you know that most people don't know (but should know)?"

• How to do stuff that 99% of the people don't know how to do.

• "Teach others what you know."

• This could make a fantastically varied and fun video.

Note:

• Vs might really get into it and bring props and even rehearse at home beforehand.

• Vs have to either sign a release form or read it on camera to be involved

• Selected participants receive 1% of profits

• As a finishing touch on some, might film off-set also to add varied footage.

• Maybe have blue screen background so can add moving graphics (like on interview section of TV Show "Cheaters") to make fluid continuity and V can just hold up dry erase board when appropriate

How to access a lesson:

• Could have a display that has

  • the best 12 lessons, or

  • just a random 12 (rotated in and out periodically) or

  • all the recorded ones

• V types in the # of the one he's interested in.

• Maybe the lessons are not necessarily pre-screened, and the "Teacher" simply types in what he wants to call the lesson, and it's automatically added to the list of options.

  Or

• Play throughout the day at TCZ with a list (name of skill and a photo still) by it so V knows when a particular skill of interest will play.

  Or

• Alternative to displaying it on location is (at any given time) to let Vs pick whatever skill they want to see at that moment. The most selected ones are put together into a selected video. Can change it weekly. Split $ with the chosen X's

  Or

• Could let V personalize a DVD of the skills they want. Automate this: V buys a card and then inserts it into the slot by the skills they want on their DVD, so automatically they get a customized DVD made.

  • The describers (x) get ½ of proceeds

  • V can buy a skill for $1 each (r 99-cents each) – minimum of 8.

  • So if X (describing how to “y”) is chosen, X gets ½ of $1 (=$0.50).

  • This is a motivation for describers to create videos

The Teacher Exhibit could be re-named or subtitled:

• What do you know?

• What do YOU know?

• What do you know, Teacher

• How do you do?

• How do you do...?

OCCO: Learn Me Something, Odd Jobs, “Watch Your Language”

This creates a product for sale

Aka talk to an expert

Have 2 separate phone booths --

person P1 is in Booth B1 -- person P2 is in Booth B2

Each booth says something to the effect of “What is your area of expertise? What do you know more about than most anybody else on the planet.”

So P1 goes into B1 and types out “the real infrastructure at UAB” and this is displayed at B2. So someone passing by B2 sees this and decides to talk to P1 about that. Then, when the conversation ends, P1 leaves and P2 is asked to type in his area of expertise and this is displayed in B1, etc, etc.

Notes:

• There could be lots of Booths, so passerbys see...

  Talk to an Expert in

• “Raising a genius”

• “Hair Braiding”

• “Punk Rock”

• “Valencia Spain”

  This would offer a greater selection.

(like GodBooth at Burning Man)

McWane- have an annual competition of high school seniors to design a science exhibit.

Maybe McWane determines the theme or maybe it's "open".

The finalists can all be installed in prototype form and Vs can vote for the winner maybe by contributing money into glass containers. All proceeds go to county (or city)-wide science programs. Winner gets a bonus and gets to have his exhibit displayed for a year and a paid summer internship.

OCCO: CIAs~Science Fair Winner

______ both8

Put a kid in the shell of a car (or half-car).

See SKETCH#4

Using blue screen technology, camera moves on track, including zooming in and out. [see sketch]

Final product is video of kid (V) driving

• around a corner on Hwy 101 or across the grand canyon or up to the Academy Awards, or

• on a motorcycle loop-de-loop.

TODO: Pitch this to the Chicago place that sponsored the moving movie exhibit in Charlotte.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blue Screen Video – in front of blue screen

• Skiers (for sporting clothes store) – don't show feet

• race care drivers

  OCCO: Creating Family, Blue Screen Acting

Can have blue arms so female V can grab/hold hands with known male-actor.

Might be good publicity for those up-and-coming actors and/or those in fledgling shows.

Example:

• An Office and A Gentleman where Richard Geer carries the girl. Have a 3-d-blue Richard Geer statue so V can climb on and be the girl in his arms. How to make the background is: take single still of the movie and eliminate Debra Winger from it using photoshop.

• Have Clark Gable (on 1 knee) slip an engagement ring onto your finger.

• Shake hands with someone famous. Still-image blue-screen-technology (and a blue-hand positioned properly) can have V shaking hands with anyone.

OCCO: Skiing / race car video

OCCO: Look at Me, I'm on TV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blue Screen Fun – 3x (3 times the fun) aka “3V”

Film a person on blue screen with a 1 minute delay and with a 30 second delay and no delay. So a person sees her real-time image on top of her image from 30 seconds ago on top of her image from 1 minute ago. Note: this could be infinite until reset

The goal of each V is to gather stamps or stickers to fill each of the 9 squares below. To get a sticker, you complete some activity in the McWane Center. Each focuses on a different area: example: 1 is for understanding music, 2 is for completing a memory game, etc.

The McWane Center

Grand Slam Winner

[date stamped here]

Alternative Style -- 8 pieces...

Notes:

• Wouldn't have to be square -- could be triangle-shaped (9 equilateral-triangles) – triangles like on TV show "Endurance".

• The perimeter can have sponsor advertisement.

• Completed puzzle shows some cool scientific event.

• Each of the 9 pieces is awarded after doing something in each of 9 sections.

• A glue or post-it company could sponsor.

• Gathering the 9 puzzle pieces is similar to winning the 13 puzzle pieces to win "Endurance" (on Discovery Kids). It's like collecting merit badges.

• Ties in with the 7 Types of Intelligence. including for example musical intelligence

• To make sure there are no "losers", even if a V can't properly complete a task, he can get a black and white sticker for that square, that's not as fancy as the full color one but still allows him to complete the pieces. On the black and white sticker, it has a web address where V can go to learn more, so that perhaps next time, he can get the color one.

McWane Advertising People (or an aspiring cartoonist) creates a short animation and Vs get to color in the cells.

• This gets vs invested and the "home-made" nature of it is cool.

• Let the Vs know that there are 2 copies of each cell and only the better one will be chosen. This keeps Vs from being just goofy.

• In the bottom right corner of the cell (same location on each cell), V can sign his name. Of course this will change so much that it will be just a blur at normal speed but people can record it and slow it down and look for their names if they want to.

• Could just be a streaming-video on the internet also.

• Can be about a “spastic chameleon” that changes coloration all the time so the Vs could have total leeway in coloring the chameleon.

• Note: this could be for an advertising commercial. People would watch because they'd think maybe theres was in there. Also, if they draw a commercial, they're gonna believe in the product. OCCO: Pitch to Ad Agency

V is given a muted map of McWane floor plan and a list of things to find.

An abbreviated example (the real list would have many more):

1. A floor sticker that reads "Science is fun"

2. The smell of peppermint

3. The largest non-extinct land mammal

4. Something in the same shape as the great monuments of Egypt.

So...

• when V finds a "Science is Fun" floor sticker, he puts a "1" on the muted floor plan map where he found it.

• When he find a pyramid (the food pyramid) he puts a "4" of the muted floor plan map where he found it

When he's found most everything on the list, he does a traditional "Connect The Dots" puzzle using the #'s he's written himself.

This is a puzzle which is good for brain development and just fun.

It encourages:

• reading

• counting

• deductive (??) reasoning because if V can't find the #7 on the list, V can look at the mostly completed design and use deductive (??) reasoning to extrapolate (??) it out.

• observation of the environment and

• short-term memory -- keeping the list on mind as you go thru

The final solved puzzle ...

• may be a reward in and of itself, or

• it may entitle V to be in a drawing for a prize (maybe for free admission next time), or

• maybe it's part of a bigger puzzle.

NOTES:

• It gets people to visit various places in downtown (or whatever shopping area or mall you're trying to promote) – a completed SHCTD gives free or disconnected admission to TCZ (or someplace)

• If don't want everything to connect together, can have “Blue 1, Blue 2, Blue 3, etc, Blue 15” and “Red 1, Red 2, Red 3, etc, Red 17”. This indicates that the red and the blues aren't connected together

• Instead of (or in addition to) words, could have photos (or drawings) of the individual items that are to be found.

• OCCO: Boy Cluster (because boys like treasure hunts and maps)

1. Same Muted Floor plan

2. Math problem stickers on the floors (and walls) like

   • [[12x4]] or

   • [[square root of 25]]

3. The LIST is the answers to the math problems like

   • #1 = 48

   • #2 = 5

4. Could have multiple levels:

   • Easy - for grades 1-3

   • Medium - for grades 4-6

   • Hard - for grades 7-9

5. Each level uses a different color* and makes a different design**

   • *for example, (a)the muted floor plan and (b)the stickers for the "Easy level" would be green.

   • **for example, the design for the "Easy level" is simpler (10 items on list) than the design for the "Hard level" (20 items on list)

NOTES:

• Boys like treasure hunts and maps.

• For the Easy Level, the list could be:

  1. #1 = 1

  2. #2 = 2

  3. #3 = 3, etc

• The scientific purpose of rebellion

• How animals rebel (if animals rebel)

• What society without rebellion would be like

• How society benefits from rebellion

• Rebellion over time and cultures

  • The history of rebellion -- how generations before us have rebelled over the years

  • Rebellion in different cultures -- now and in the past

aka: FaceIt

Looks at the face:

(People love their own face of course)

• Police - Sketch Artist -- draw or use computer program to draw the face of the person who took your ticket today

  • Display best, worst, and most interesting

  • or display all in video loop

  • include the person's actual face.

• Me Cubed

• Laced Faces

• The Merged Faces that McWane already has

• Ed Tannenbaum's plastic surgery morphing – which by the way Lamar says they paid $19,000 for. (et-arts)

• Face Kaleidoscope (Table Top) -- where 2 Vs can look at each other and each see the other in a kaleidoscope fashion [OCCO: "Mirrors and Video" Cluster]

• Me Only Bigger

• Girl Cluster - Beauty Mask

  • Have Ed Tannenbaum do a morphing program to show a V's face looks morphed to the beauty proportions (I've emailed him about this.)

• Explore how all 6.5 million people on the planet have a face so different that you could find your best friend out of all 6.5 million of them.

• Funny faces - just let kids make funny faces, just for fun -- put into a video loop that continually played and updated

• Trading Races

• Aging booth (like at OMSI, looks like it could be Tannenbaum work), that ages V face so she can see what she'll look like at 60 for example. OCCO: Stages of Life

• A black and white print out of V face that V can color fill in and display or take with him:

  • (OCCO: Visualization)

  • Can be part of Bday cluster - other kids can do it to bday kid's face

• Let V get his photo taken with a very standard lined-up pose. So that all can go together in a video where one morphs into the other on various continuums like :

  • age

  • whitest to darkest

  • most feminine to most masculine (OCCO: Girl Cluster)

  • or just random

  • in terms of ethnicity (OCCO: What language is spoken here)

OCCO:  (with the theme: "What makes us unique")

• Finger Prints

• Dental Forensics

aka: Trisecting Man (at Burning Man)

• the 3-parted person

• "McWane Reflects You, Birmingham"

• http://www.thecreativezoo.com/trisected_person.htm

On the plaza area...

• Mirrors are arranged so that if 3 people (XYZ) stand at certain spots, X sees 1/3 of his body combined with 1/3 of Y's and 1/3 of Z's.

• This will work only if all 3 are basically average height.

Notes: 

• Provide blocks of several sizes that shorter participants can stand on, to make everyone's head be amount the same height.

  • These blocks can be permanently in place, and then if someone is the right height, they just stand in front of it.

  • Perhaps have a taller one for the left position and a shorter one for the right position.

• Could describe exactly what to do, or make it vague (just put X or a circle on the ground where each is to stand) and let people figure it out.

• If you let people figure it out, they will think how clever they are and tell their friends (and everyone) to go there.

• This will draw people into the Plaza

• Artists Statement =

  • Trisecting Man shows that if we have kids various parts of us will be around in the future combined with various parts of others

  • In the future, your legacy (your genes, creations, accomplishments, games, ideas and ideals, good deeds and crimes) will mix with others to form unpredictable new combinations.

Option: 

• Can have it so that the mirrors could move so it's the V's choice whose head, whose torso, whose legs.

• Could have a different one set up for shorter people (kids) –

  • call it “Miniature Trisected Person” if use 3-mirror tiers

  • “Bisected Kids” if use 2-mirror tiers. Just 2 mirrors and have a step-stool for any smaller kid to use.

• Could use a humanoid-mascot advertising icon (like Ronald McDonald) or politician as one of the 3. Pitch this to an advertising agency/ad agency. This could be either

  • a cut-out

  • a statue

  • a stationary inflatable

  • a programmed dancing icon

  • a costumed actor

See prototype

Notes:

• Can have this in window at McWane to get people to stop

• Can have "Bisected Kids" for shorter people.

• The angles on the mirrors and the "X" standing positions could be changed periodically or by Vs to show the effects of angles.

Supplemental Exhibit: Laced Faces

Variations:

• an oversized vase with yellow flowers in it. [OCCO: Girl Cluster]

  • The Center of each flower is a round mirror.

  • The subjects (1, 2, and 3, in this example the Viewer's 3 daughters) must stand in certain spots in front of a yellow background.

  • The Viewer must also stand at a certain "viewing point". When he does he sees his daughter's 3 faces as the center of the 3 flowers.

  • If he had had only 2 daughters, the center of the 3rd flower is just simply the yellow background.

• an oversized-fish tank:

  • Visitors can go into the fish tank in costume, plus

  • there are things with mirrors suspended in the fish tank (using technique described in Vase example above):

    • the son's face is the face of the suspended octopus

    • the baby's face is the face of one fish positioned as though it is swimming toward the Viewer

    • the daughter's face is the mermaid's face.

    • the mother's face is on a hermit crab sitting on the bottom of the tank.

    • and dad is captain of the sunken ship on the bottom of the fish tank. He is the only one actually physically inside the tank. The rest is done with mirrors as in above Vase example.

    • Note:  Each background that a V can stand in front of has a drawn face on it, so if there is no one who wants to be a mermaid for example, the mermaid still has a face.

Note: 

• The Viewer can take photos. Also perhaps there is a video monitor at the viewing stand so that all participants can see it from the "correct" viewpoint as it is happening.

• TODO: Check out if maybe an advertiser might be interested in putting their mascot as 1 of the 3 people in trisected person – makes a lasting impression because customer has literally bonded to brand.

• For the “Advertising Angle” of it, put logos on all sides of the step stool that short people can use.

OCCO: Laced Faces

project magnificent magnifications of anything the visitor wants, and/or permanent images of magnified things

On the wall, have an image of something magnified but it doesn't say what it is.

Nearby is a place where Vs can submit their contact info, and a guess as to what it is. The ones who get it right get something (10% any visit the next month). The others get an email as to what it is.

This gets people on an email list. In the future, you can send them images of other things magnified with a "Guess What this is." caption. To get the answer they either have to go the the McWane web site or they have to come visit McWane.

The Rat Race" & "Enlarge This"

• Take an ant farm (like from a kid's room) and enlarge the image of it onto a large screen so that ants are dog-sized or even a bit larger. Then build a scaffolding system right next to that screen where V's can travel the same path as the ants sort of competing with them. There might even be baseball-sized "sand grains" Vs can carry which would be the same proportions as the real sand to the ant.

  This feeds into the creative theme by letting you see something familiar in a different way just by changing one component (in this case size) of how you see it.

  A similar idea is "Enlarge This." A V can bring in anything and it is enlarged and shown on a big screen. It's all recorded of course including the V deciding what to enlarge and their delighted reaction to seeing it enlarged. The best are put into a video (perhaps in childrens-style or in "stoner" style.)

  Also "Identify Super Enlarged Things"

OCCO: 

• Me Only Bigger in "Mirrors and Videos" Cluster

• Enlarged Toys

• Mirrors and Video

• House of Mirrors

aka "Smell Hunt"

Throughout McWane or where ever, there are "noses" attached to boxes.

When you see a nose, turn the knob to smell the scent. Write down the word (or the letter) on the box next to the scent

Turn competed one in at the end to win a prize:

• A hankerchef with McWane on it (and advertising of sponsoring company)

• or Breath Right nasal strips

• or a big nose to wear

*Carbon monoxide doesn't smell. This exercise would reinforce this.

Possible sponsors: Fire Dept or Brinks or Carbon Monoxide people

OCCO: Smelly

(Speaks to the subjective nature of our perception and hence our reality)

• The subject is =

  • an enlarged photo, or

  • art work or

  • Rhorshots blots or

  • projections of rhorshots tests (Sigmand freud vs Tim Leary)

  • short video

  • short of changing rhorshot blots.

  • The subject could be anything.

  • Maybe Vs can submit snap shots (that we can choose from)

  • (Switch it up periodically or have multiple ones)

Note: use Speech recognition software

What's your favorite color -- kids select 3 values (red, blue, and green) using some sort of sturdy slide controls and then provide their (their parents) email address, so that this favorite color becomes the background color of all emails sent to them promoting upcoming events.

1. secrets wall = postcards sent in ala PostSecrets.com

2. the science of how (a)sodium pentothal and (b)lie detectors work.  Maybe have a daily demonstration using audience member

3. and the psychology (psychology is a science) of fourth and fifth steps and Catholic confessional booths

4. the psychology of interrogation techniques.  Let people sit in an interrogation room

OCCO: Police

A visual scavenger hunt -- (at Art Walk) --

Have list of 9 images of things Vs an find @AW. Beside each actual item is an ink stamp -- (or a sticker*)

V put that ink stamp image on the paper in the correct square. When you've got all 9, you have a full Ink Stamp image. (The Art Walk Logo maybe) that entitles you to enter a drawing.

NOTES:The clues are real photos or good sketches of the actual (pretty easy to find) items

• To make it easier, could have the store name/location next to each image

• Could give a small prize (example: free soft drink) to all who complete it.

(insert better illustration)

*If it was a Sticker --

• it which would require less start-up costs

• Stickers limit the number of people who can do it but that might be okay too.

• Backup plan - Vs can copy a posted design onto the proper square in pencil/pen

- <-ez->

both7

Like the Spreadsheet Vickie emailed me 6/2/06 that BPA and CMS spent 20 minutes enjoying.

Insert link here.

Most Wanted - “McWane's most wanted" or "TCZ's most Wanted"

Get Described

In the morning when Vs come in you ask for a volunteer of someone who wants to get described ("DV" -- like Described Victim).

DV sits down with a writer and after this interview/observation period the writer writes a 1-paragraph description of the DV in the way that true crime novels describe them -- maybe a little bit of background and how they carry themselves. It would be more writerly/artistic than this person has brown hair, is 5'4", weighs such-and-such. It would be much more elegant, as a novel would describe a character.

Then copies of this one paragraph are printed out and other Vs can pick it up -- with the idea being that they can search the whole place for DV and so this makes Vs more aware of other Vs and encourages them to be perceptive and also shows the art of describing someone.

So hopefully the Vs are able to find DV and when they do, there's a spot below the paragraph where they profiled V can provide their autograph and they're told to do that if Vs come up to them and ask for that

When that V leaves (if they get their early they might leave before the end of the day) it's announced over the loudspeaker that DV is no longer there but that maybe another DV is chosen to be written about later in the day and have the same thing for that.

And on V's personalized web pages (if they found the person and got an autograph as proof that they found the person) they get a picture of DV on their personalized web page along with the 1 paragraph description.

An alternative to a signature is DV gets a roll so stickers that say "You Found Me" and that sticker could be put on the paragraph-description as proof that DV was found.

Logistics:

• If V finds McWane's Most Wanted [from the sketch or the written description] and goes to "authority figure" console and types in what the wanted person's shirt says: Pisces (or whatever). This gives her a token that lets her create her own "McWane's Most Observant/Perseptive" flyer with her face on it.

• This flyer has her photo and a description she get to type/write:

  • Because they've used Description to find a person, the V (unconsciously) will be more comfortable writing her own description

  • Use a set up like "Moneyville Face Value"

OCCO: Police

-- ask Visitor to draw the welcome sign or the gateway that Visitor had entered thru or draw a police sketch of the greeter (perhaps using a computer program). The best and strangest of these could be displayed

OR

Have the Visitor pick out the greeter from a police blotter / police line-up / police "6 pack" of pictures. Or show the Visitor a duplicate (nearly identical) sign/gateway/greeter with 1 or 2 changes on it. Ask Visitor as they leave (or after the visitor can't see the item/person anymore) to identify the 1 or 2 differences and leave their phone and address and email.. Of the correct answers, either mail/email/give all $2 off next visit or draw from all correct answers for a bigger prize

Perhaps the local police or a local attorney office would co-sponsor this.

OCCO: Police

OCCO: Girl Cluster

[[[]]]]

Inventors

aka Alabama Inventors

aka: Invent Cluster

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ALABAMA INVENTORS

This inspires Vs that inventors are plentiful, come in all shapes and sizes and, in many cases, live in Alabama, and that they too can be inventors. It's "interactive" in that it goes through multiple stages over time -- the specifics of which are determined by Vs.

Stage 1

1. McWane selects 12 (or 20) living and willing Alabama Inventions/Inventors

2. Vs see a small display of each Invention/Inventor; hopefully much of this is hands-on stuff so V can touch, interact with each invention

3. Vs are given an "I vote for" "voting token" upon admission.

   1. Vs can put their token into the voting container for their favorite --- i.e., the one he wants to learn more about/likes best.

      --How: Each invention has a # on it. There are clear containers nearby with these #s (and short descriptions) on them. To Vote, V puts in his token.

      --A sign says to vote multiple times, put in $$ ($1 = 1 vote)

   2. Vs can also put in money if they want to have additional votes.

   3. During 9 weeks of elimination, the one with the least votes each week is eliminated from the display (ala American Idol). Note: because Vs Vote, they become invested in this

Stage 2

1. The top 3 are profiled more extensively in an exhibit/given bigger displays: Short videos of inventor talking, a prototype perhaps, a patent application, a few photos, etc

2. Another Round of Votes ---- Vs vote with "I vote for" tokens and/or cash

3. V can submit a question to ask one of the inventors, such as

   1. What gave you the idea?

   2. How much did it cost to develop it?

   3. Why is it blue?

   4. How did you make the prototype?

   5. Did people tell you it was a stupid idea? What do they say now?

Stage 3:

The winner is the one with the most "I vote for" tokens/$.
Winner gets extensively profiled and Vs get to submit video questions (or maybe that's already been done in Stage 2)
Videotape an interview in which ALL questions that Vs have submitted for him are asked and answered.
He wins the title of “McWane Alabama Inventor of the Year”
Extensive display / Ceremony of winner / he answers V video questions

Display:

1. This interview is compiled into a 10-minute repeating video

2. Lots of mementos, paperwork, initial sketches, etc related to the invention, awards, lots of photos

3. prototypes

4. Answers to questions that didn't make the final cut of the repeating main video: could be

   1. be video, or

   2. written out, or

   3. click on specific question on computer screen to hear/see question and answer.

5. For the 2 runners up, a few questions and answers are available in text format or audio format.

Any money raised could

• go to the individual inventor that the V gave it to, or

• all go to the winner, or to the charity chosen by the winner or

• to a "scholarship for inventors" at a local school or

• be a grant awarded later to an aspiring inventor. [The winning aspiring inventor is chosen by the winning inventor]

Supplemental Exhibits:

• Kid Inventors -- exhibit like above but only of inventions invented by people under 18

• The Next Great Inventor or "Aspiring Inventors"-- kids can submit ideas for their inventions and the winner gets awarded a grant or scholarship

• “What Would You Invent?” -- V submit ideas on wall or on video

• Necessity is the Mother of Invention -- Give V a set of items and have them invent a useful product. The product is something that has already been invented using those items supplied.

1 = 2-3 paragraphs about your invention focusing on the science of it. Ask Inventors:

1. Would you be willing to write 2-3 paragraphs, give a sample or 2 of your invention,

2. possibly more if you're the winner -- like prototypes, patent applications, photos of process and do a video interview where you answer any and all Questions

3. Mentor a new inventor? -- To what what extent?

2= Photo or item for V kids to touch, handle, interact with (to inspire kids)

Interactive in that Vs vote for the winner who gets bigger display, gets video interview.

Then later stage... kids submit their invention ideas (AKI). The winners of the Alabama Inventor pick the New Inventor (AKI) winner and give them an “Inventor Scholarship” or Grant. Little PR for everyone, Gets kids excited.

The inventors get to pick a “New Inventor” that they offer to mentor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alabama New Inventors / Alabama Kid Inventors (AKI)

AKIs submit their invention ideas through various ways:

1. On Web Site Form

2. Paper/report format with or without prototype

3. Home video tape

4. Fill out submission there @McWane

5. Possibly video booth @ McWane.

   To keep ideas from getting stolen, ONLY the 12 or 20 Alabama Inventors from “Alabama Inventors” see these submissions. The 20 AI's get to pick the AKI they want to mentor, the one each thinks has the most potential. The picking order goes 1=the winner of the McWane's Alabama Inventor of the Year, 2=the runner up, etc.

   The 24 (or 40) pairs get together to meet @McWane – good PR store.

   The “promised mentoring” is maybe 30 minutes per month for 3 years (with is 18 hours total) -- (or until the kid turns 18)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alternative could be Female Inventors or Inventors Under 18

OCCO: A Celebration of Failure

• And use this to create future exhibits.

• The person suggesting it gets their name/image put up as part of the exhibit, and perhaps help design the exhibit

• Again, the creates a feeling of ownership among Vs.

Use in a couple different spots:

• In police cluster (where you're already fingerprinting the kids for their identification kit) they could also have to find their thumbpint among many thumbprints so the V would maybe see an enlarged picture of his thumb and his thumbprint plus those of other visitors and he'd have to find his own. V gets to choose difficulty level -- maybe only have to choose between 2 thumbprints or have to choose between 20. If success, bells and whistles

• As a "thumbs up": In the feedback loop if they like something. Or in the "Sign this, no sign this", V could put his thumbprint to indicate yes I agree with this.

Could have 4 levels of the chess game:

1. The regular board on the table with the players sitting beside it

2. The oversized (3-4 foot tall) chess pieces that you see in a lot of urban parks

3. Indoor "People Pieces" -- people dressed up as the pieces standing on the inside over-sized chess board (which could be done in the Big Flat Canvas pit), so that people can line up all the way around on a balcony overlooking it to observe it.

4. outdoor "People Pieces" -- People dressed up (ala Seattle Cacophony Society) and positioned on different street corners. These "People Pieces" are volunteers, could be from

• local theater companies or

• costume rental places or

• local chess players (because this really promotes their game)

• karate or boxing clubs (since they could do a battle demonstration when they take a piece or are taken)

• and they're carrying

  • signs that say "Ask me what I'm doing here" and

  • maybe a web page on their signs and

  • maybe a list of interesting chess facts (a lot of professional running backs play chess for example) and

  • facts about McWane and

  • perhaps a discount to get into MAD.

• people who come up to the "People Pieces" and are interested in what's going on and want to see the next take-down/capture, they can use their cell phone and text "c" for chess to a certain number and they can be alerted via text where and when the next take down is.

With each move of the game, a photo of the board that the actual people are playing on is emailed to the cell phones of all the participants on the street corners so if people come up to them and ask them what they're doing. They can say This is what I'm doing and look here's a picture of it.

When a piece is taken, a real battle takes place. Each knows who wins and who looses but a real battle takes place. This battle is filmed by the BhamCam and shown back at McWane in real time.

Also shown at MCwane in real time is the chess board on a big screen. but in 4 different ways and it loops/cycles between these 4 different ways:

1. chess board (normal)

2. a chess board for children which has the names of the pieces and what each piece can do/how it can move

3. Still Photos of each "People Piece" (taken that morning in full costume).

4. a map of the city of Birmingham overlaid on the chess board so you can what square each corner represents.

To have some audio, on street corners,

• "people pieces" can call in and give suggestions, critique, report of how they think the game is going and some goading like "hey knight why don't you come get me? Can't you handle a little pawn?" -- you know some "Chess trash talk". Either have it be

  • one "person piece" at a time. Show the still photo of the one talking or

  • have multiple ones in an audio room.

• Or have a well known local sports announcer announce it.

The news media would really pick up on this.

For a DVD, take the game, and edit it to show each move and each battle.

Something to look at: Chess Boxing -- where players alternate between rounds of chess and boxing. How does that fit in? You're got the art and science of boxing. So maybe you have the art and science of chess.

Product for Sale: 

• Chess boards,

• chess boards for kids which explains what each piece can do.

• Could also offer set of "People pieces" so you get square shapes that fit on chess board with black outlines or red outlines and the name of the piece and the photo of the "person piece" who played it.

Note:

• Could pre-record and then edit out the "non-moving" (i.e, the thinking) parts (or do speed-chess playing) to keep the pacing fast enough to keep the attention of the "people pieces"

• Have costumes (velcro on) that V could use to play the "people pieces" on the indoor board if a group ever wanted to. (OCCO: Dress up Cluster)

• Also, could have oversized checkers pieces (which young kids might be more likely to play with)-- that could double in an oversized "Connect 4" board game

1. Based on that game show at Entros

2. What IS that? Call it (or the other CIA that I've already called What is THAT?) something different. Or maybe not. Maybe the different emphasis (one on IS and on that THAT) is enough and extra clever!

3. Each V is given a punch card. They take it to the "What IS that?" Exhibit, and insert it into Display #1 which has an obscure object here.

4. Under the object there are 4 possible things it is and V selects A B C or D and that gets punched on their card and then they move onto the other displays -- maybe 5 to 8 in all. They write their contact info on the card and leave it.

5. If they're right on all of them, they get emailed a 50% off next admit card.

6. Also this encourages them to check TCZ. com next month ** to see the answers. (**Displays are changed monthly)

7. Note these could be scattered around (each Display in a different location) to make it a little harder and more active.

8. Could use sample from the Enlarge this IA.

9. Could also have audio bits -- "What is that sound?"

Variation:

• Get 3-5 Visitor Volunteers (VVs)

  • Get 3-5 copies of an obscure item. (science-based item if done at McWane).

  • Each VV carries a this item, and wears a vest/t-shirt saying (on front and back) "Ask me what I'm carrying."

• A V can come up to a VV and ask what it is.

• The VV says (for example): "It's a devise that was sold in Europe in the 1600 proporting to change wheat into gold..... or am I lying?"

• If the V looks confused, the VV hands him a card explaining that

  • there are other people carrying around the same item (with DIFFERENT definitions) and that only one of them is telling the truth, and

  • the truthful answer is available .... (could be any of these ways, they all have advantages):

    • available upon exit -- this makes the visit feel final and does not overly-frustrate Vs

    • or available on web site - this gets Vs to come to web site.

      • To find the answer they have to type in the password on the bottom of the card they got at McWane. This keeps web site Vs from accidentally seeing the answer before the visit and ruining the fun

    • V can leave her home phone number and McWane will leave a message on V's voice-mail as to the correct answer--

      • Note: to automate this, V just simply types her home phone number into a key pad and presses enter. (Perhaps the key pad could look like a phone.)

      • This makes it easy for the V to get the answer (because everyone can easily check their vm)

      • And the Vs can still debate the answer on their way home.

      • This also gets the home phone number of Vs in case you want to:

        • sell the list to a company

        • do occasion promotions over the phone, or

        • do surveys about their experience

Notes:

• If the VV at any time gets tired of being asked, he can turn in his vest and item and it's give to another VV.

• Even Junior Volunteers could be VVs.

• Very important I think that each VV does NOT know if he's got the correct or an incorrect answer. This makes it easier for all VVs to sound believable

• Could be taken to the streets like the chess big Bham Chess game.

• Sensors on gloves

• sound effects for strike, gutter ball, etc

• keep it kinda retro feeling

TCZ must have something with shadows (hand shadows??)

• Like the '96 Atlanta Olympics Opening Ceremonies, a 4 foot tall child (with proper protective eye cover) can stand facing away from a large light source and create his 20 foot tall shadow image on a large hung cloth, which can be seen a far distance around. Take a photo of the child's normal-sized family standing in front of (i.e., on the other side of the cloth from the child) the gargantuan shadow. This is child wish-fulfillment.

• Cut out shapes that depending on the shadow angle, makes recognizable

• Show on video screens how to form hands to make wall shadows (OCCO Knot typing)

• Shows (like in Charlotte, near the Tannenbaum Recollections exhibit): red light, blue light, yellow light. So, if you block the red light, then the blue and yellow light together make a green shadow of you on the wall. OCCO: Colors Colors

OCCO: "Outlines"

• Expectations

A place where kids can go in (or adults can go in for that matter) and ask any Why or How question that they want answered. And perhaps the kid can provide a phone number or an email address or the kid can be assigned a particular personalized web page that would be created to answer this question. All that's pretty labor intensive to response to the child personally to answer the question, but the main thing being that it could be the inspiration for future exhibits.

If the child wants to know Why is the sky blue, then maybe when we're planning exhibits for the next year, answer the question why is the sky blue. Or if they want to know Why do cats only live 8 years. Whatever they want to know can steer the exhibit development process.

And also you could have the video or audio recording be part of the exhibit, like if the child asks "Why is the sky blue?" and you decide to do that exhibit, then showing the kid ask "Why is the Sky Blue" and the other kids who come in at various points who ask "Why is the sky blue", have all of them asking that (on video loop) as part of the future exhibit explaining Why is the Sky Blue.

Notes:

• At least some of the "Why is the Sky Blue?" exhibit questions could be answered by high school honor students interested in science and/or teaching.

• Always when high school students speaks to the kid, McWane or a parent or the high school teacher is on the phone line too. Or a "cc" to kid and to all the above (parent, teacher, McWane).

• High school student learns research and communication and customer service skills and science too.

(mirror Cluster)

Mirrors and Videos -- Be the human in a Human Kaleidoscope (while learning about angles), marvel at your 6-foot-tall head, lace your face with your friend’s face for a cheap laugh, and take the fascinating “more or less attractive” test.

Can include the following:

• Magnificent magnification cluster

• Kaleidoscope cluster

OCCO: 

• Roaches, Lightning Bugs, and Humidity (enlarged Roaches),

• Magnificent Magnifications

• House of Mirrors

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5 exhibits in PORTABLE Mirror Cluster

1-3 (or all 5) can be done at an event (i.e. Are Portable)

1. Portable human kaleidoscope as in that website photo (Duck-In-Kaleidoscope) hung up at park that Vs duck into. Free-moving, surrounds V from about upper torso to top of head.

2. Beauty Mask – Phi Facto (Face-sized mirrors with “phi”-ratio-lines on it)

3. Trisected Person / bisected kid

4. Poser -- Posing for an Artist. Use 2 mirrors.

5. Laced Faces or laced bodies

A visitor can go into a booth and

• see various questions she can answer about her visit to The McWane Center.

• Just be asked (by an audio recording): “What did you love about The McWane Center today?”

• You could put one by a star attraction – that says (for example): “Tell me about playing Mindball.”

Before visitor leaves the booth, visitor or a parent (if it’s a kid) has to read out loud a statement that it’s okay to use these images in ads for The McWane Center.

Everything is video taped of course.

This...

• Lets kids practice their communication and description skills and reinforces their love of The McWane Center,

• Could make great material for tv/radio ads.

• Gives good feedback for your exhibit evaluator.

Conspiracy theorists say this is how the fake moon landing was filmed.

Put people in space-man gear against the appropriate backdrop, have them jump, and film it at HALF-speed.

Again, this fits into the Creative theme because it shows how things can appear completely different just by changing one detail (in this case: speed).

OCCO: The bouncy Moon walk "room" that you rent for Birthday parties/festivals.

Inspired by

• Japanese video game where people see video of people dancing and have to mimic it and

• the Seattle Broadway footsteps for dancing.

A person puts on hospital style footies -- like green for the left foot, orange for the right foot. And then whenever they see a green light on the small individual dance floor, they know to put their left foot there and whenever they see an orange light, they know to put their right foot there. And then they just follow that simple pattern and before you know it, they're dancing.

NOTES:

For dancing feet, CIA people can choose which dance and if they want male female or both.  Could be multiple people on dance floor at a time.

Dancing feet could be in the location of Recollections.  Take video of the dance, issue ticket, which can be redeemed (for money) for a DVD of it.  A dance studio could go to and for creative family, people click to save sponsor and put an ad on the DVD

Dancing feet is a good SCIA, because kids who study music are better at math

OCCO: Music Exhibit