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Kenneth Plank

Framework and Exhibit Review

Geneva’s Story at the Geneva History Museum draws you in with a splash of color

contrasting the white halls. The light green that surrounds the text introducing the exhibit is

pleasing and drew me toward that exhibit (Dean 33-34).

Past the threshold, an open space is to the left, while multiple walls with text explaining

the history of Geneva, IL offer a more narrow path. This asymmetrical balance offers roughly

two different paths for the visitor to take, without explicitly stating as such. The open space to

the left leads to displays relating to the present and future of Geneva, while the walls to the right

create a line leading the visitor down the linear past of the city.

I opted to go left. A display of the uniforms of the local sports teams present a pleasantly

familiar anchor for the local visitor. I walked a short distance before noticing a wall of sticky

notes. A label encouraged locals to share their own experiences with the city. This method of

crowdsourcing, while providing a meaningful social object, was the highlight of the exhibit. The

one thing that may have topped it was the wall opposite of the sticky notes. A picture and

message promised the eventual implementation of story booths, providing a longer lasting and

more sophisticated version of the sticky note display.

As I walked further, I came across tablets that offered more testimonials from locals. The

tablets also included trivia and guessing games relating to Geneva. Between these tablets and an

“I Spy” activity I found later in the exhibit, this exhibit is doing an excellent job of engaging an

audience of various ages. For the above reasons, Gevena Story scores highly in terms of

engagement.

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I then noticed that the pathways made by the walls and exhibits were a rough recreation

of the streets of Geneva, using small street signs that had the local street names. Exhibits were

inside what looked like store windows and apartment windows. This playful display was the

highlight of the comfort aspect of the exhibit.

However, this is also where I began to notice some flaws that made the exhibit less

comfortable. Some of the labels in this area had what text on a black field. I found that this

strained my eyes much more than the black text on which, which the other labels had. Also, as I

looked ahead and saw the rest of the exhibit, I noticed that the only benches inside the exhibit

were all on the left side, where I had started. This would mean that those who went in the

direction I went would have to either turn back, or rush through the rest of the exhibit if they

wanted to sit down. Alternatively, they could sit on a rather small stool made for sitting while

listening to the tablets. However, as far as I saw, there was only one such stool. For these

reasons, while I would not call the exhibit uncomfortable overall, the comfort level is not as high

as it could be.

I passed through the next area somewhat quickly, since I presumed it was supposed to be

approached from the right of the threshold. Information was provided on rather large labels in a

format that was easy to understand. However, as I walked along the wall the my right, I realized

that the display were wall built to be read from left the right. I, however, was walking from right

to left.

At first I thought this was an odd choice on the part of the designers, but in retrospect I

realize that I failed to mention that there was a third path one could walk, between the left and

the right at the threshold. I failed to mention this path because I failed to notice it when I went to

the exhibit. When I did finally take notice of the rather narrow looking path, I presumed it was a

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shortcut to the exit. Only as I write this do I realize that the intention may have been for me to

walk down that middle path, then take a right to look read the displays in the proper right-to-left

fashion as I walked. However, I found that the line was ineffective in leading me down that path

(Dean, 37). The tendency for people to follow the right wall does not appear to have been taken

into account in this exhibit (Dean, 51).

Thankfully, this confusion was not enough to keep me from learning new and interesting

things about Geneva. The information was presented in a way that was easy to understand, and

between labels, tablets, and games, and video, there was a wide variety of ways to reinforce the

information. Thus Geneva Story still manages to score high on reinforcement, even with some

minor flaws.

Meaningfulness was a trickier criteria to judge. The target audience for the museum is

likely the people of Geneva. The museum appeals to those people well enough, but I didn’t

notice anything that let the exhibit reach outside of that demographic. I am also concerned that

the exhibit may appeal to only part of that demographic.

When I circled back around to the beginning of the exhibit, I noticed a brief label

explaining what happened to the Native Americans who lived on the land that would become

Geneva. It felt like the Native Americans were being glossed over. This had me thinking about

race in relation to the exhibit. The exhibit is largely representing Caucasians. While this is

somewhat inevitable given Geneva’s demographics--Geneva is over 90% white according to the

2010 Census--I would still like to see a little more diversity represented in the exhibit. For these

reasons meaningfulness was Geneva’s Story’s lowest rated attibute.

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Overall, Geneva’s Story is a well made exhibit that engages with the audience in a variety

of ways. The exhibit’s use of technology, games, and crowdsourcing make this exhibit easy for

locals to get sucked into. However, those from outside the city may not be as interested.