Black Holes exhibit for Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
"The use of innovative network technology proved to be the highlight of the BHEG (Black Hole Experiment Gallery)."
"The network technology used at the BHEG helped optimize the exhibit experience for the visitors." Goodman Research Group, Summative Evaluation
The BHEG or 'Black Holes, Space Warps & Time Twists' is a network interconnected, personalized exhibit developed by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Jeff Kennedy Assoc and XhibitNet. The exhibit traveled to more than a dozen locations around the US and has been seen by more than 400,000 visitors.
The technology and user experience design was created by Dana Hutchins and his firm XhibitNet with grants from the NSF Small Business Innovation Research program. See Orlando Science Ctr post FMI
Exhibit visitors explore the peculiar properties of black holes at 12 stations, many of them interconnected to a central black hole data repository and personal web journal. As visitors proceed from one station to the next their discoveries are automatically saved and collected to be securely and privately accessed and shared with friends and family online.
The web site is part personal diary, part observer’s log including visitor observations, conclusions, questions, notes and photos of their group and activities, all in the context of the latest research findings from astrophysicists around the world.
Interactive components such as touch-screens and simulators, give visitors an in-depth experience of how black holes behave, shape our universe and influence our lives.
"The network technology also proved to be an extremely useful evaluation tool,
providing an opportunity for the embedded assessment of visitor outcomes at the
exhibit...This can prove to be a rich contribution to the
professional field of visitor studies in a variety of museum types." Goodman Research Group, Summative Evaluation
Examples of visitor interaction data from XhibitNet system
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