Today Wu Dan and I went to check out the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Since our last visit, not only has the AV Paradise been closed, but the Children’s Playground has been revamped and taken up what was its space. Xin Ge told us a while ago that probably they would sell off the old exhibits, but that some might stay in the Museum. Today we wanted to check all that out before we go to see Xin Ge tomorrow. After basically going to the train station and Wujiaochang and feeling that I didn’t really need to bother, it was good to go somewhere it felt worthwhile!

On the way over on the subway, I noticed that the LED countdown clocks are all still going, even though the World Expo is already running. Now they’ve been changed to record the number of days the Expo has been going! I guess, having installed the equipment all over town, they are loathe to get rid of it. Maybe they could turn the blue condom mascot into the official symbol of the city. Then they could just leave all of those where they are, too! I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but a huge LED has been put round the Post Office Tower in London, with a countdown to the Olympics on it.

Inside the SSTM, we found a much enlarged Children’s Playground. The theme is the rainbow. It is designed for 3-10 year olds, but they let the rest of us in, too. All the exhibits are at a height suitable for someone of that age (which made for quite a lot of ducking and weaving for us!). Although there are not many interactive touch-screens, a lot of interactive exhibits are based on computerized technology and incorporate screens in them in various ways. For example, there’s a floor of about a dozen screens which plays a video game where monsters appear out of the ground and it’s your job to stomp on them and make them disappear. I had a good time with that one, imagining myself dealing with all my least favourite bureaucrats! Others were interactive but did not involve screens at all. For example, there is a wall with holes in it. You stick your hand in, feel around and try to imagine what animal’s skin you are feeling. Then you can push the button and a picture of the animal lights up. (Both Dan and I found this a bit creepy, especially as a kiddie had already pulled the head off the stuffed rabbit!)

One of the exhibits appeared to be inspired by what used to be in the AV Paradise. There used to be an exhibit that mimicked a TV studio. The kid went inside and did a skit of some sort while his/her parents sat outside and watched their darling’s 15 minutes of fame on the screen outside. The kid could see themselves on screens inside. This now appears as “Be your own actor”, an exhibit in which kids run around inside against a blue screen and appear on screens outside as though they were on the beach or on the moon. The other exhibit seemed to be trying to teach the visitor something about cameras and performance etc. This one requires no actual manipulation of technology, but I guess it is aimed at a very young generation, so it could not. Given our interest in visitor “experience” and the whole question of what “interactivity” really means, it will be interesting to see what Xin Ge has to say about this.

We also noticed that some exhibits are engaged with history and pre-history. There are 3 zoetropes (although they are not actually labelled as such), for example. However, all the original AV Paradise exhibits have gone. I wonder where to?

Overall, I would say that while there is every effort to make every exhibit here and elsewhere in the museum interactive, almost none are touch-screen and most involve physical interaction, often involving more than one person. For example, we saw a new exhibit in the Light of Wisdom gallery where two people sat facing each other, a band with sensors was put round their foreheads, and they tried to push a ball towards their opponent using their brainwaves, so to speak. I presume the sensors pick up sweat on your forehead or increased pulse rates? This drew quite a crowd and was very popular! There are no screens giving lots of layers of background information, so all this is quite a contrast to the London Science Museum. Maybe I will ask Xin Ge more about this tomorrow.

As ever, I noticed lots of uninhibited kids running around the museum having a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, Dan is having mixed results with our efforts to talk to advertisers and other organisations behind various screens and their contents. But we do have one lined up for Monday.

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