Calling all JMM visitors – we need your help!
As you probably know by now, our staff is gearing up to open a new original exhibition, Beyond Chicken Soup: Jews and Medicine in America. The exhibit, scheduled to open March 13, 2016, explores the intersection of religion and science through the lens of Jewish involvement in medicine.
JMM staff members are hard at work reviewing design schematics from our designers at Steve Feldman, Inc, writing text panels and developing a companion website and educational curriculum as well as editing chapters for the accompanying catalog. After much discussion about how to make the exhibit relevant for audiences of diverse backgrounds in addition to our interest in tackling contemporary topics, we decided to integrate a media component that will provide an extra element of interactivity. The resulting activity, developed by Amuze Interactives (for examples of similar project that they have developed for museums, check out amuze-interactive.com/DialogSystem.html), consists of three touch screen kiosks that will be stationed in the exhibit and will provide opportunities for visitors to give feedback to questions relating to medical ethics on such topics as genetic screening and medical authority. Each question is followed by a series of multiple choice responses; some answers result in a follow up questions. After questions are answered, visitors will see a results page where they can see how their response compares to others who have answered the same question.
Here’s where you come in. In a similar fashion to how we conducted visitor surveys in our initial phase of exhibit development to determine what specifically about Jews and medicine resonated with you, our visitors, we are now asking you to help test this interactive media feature and let us know how/if you think it can be improved. We have installed a touch screen monitor in our lobby where we plan on displaying questions similar to what will be asked on monitors in the exhibit. By taking a few minutes to answer questions and complete a brief survey about whether or not you think the questions are clear of if they need additional clarification, you will help us develop a dynamic tool that will engage visitors in thinking about important issues related to health.
