by Andrew J. Pekarik

The ways that museums measure the success of their exhibitions reveal their attitudes and values. Are they striving to control visitors so that people will experience what the museum wants? Or are they working to support visitors, who seek to find their own path? The type of approach known as ‘‘outcome-based evaluation’’ weighs in on the side of control. These outcomes are sometimes codified and limited to some half-dozen or so ‘‘learning objectives’’ or ‘‘impact categories.’’ In essence, those who follow this approach are committed to creating exhibitions that will tell visitors what they must experience. Yet people come to museums to construct something new and personally meaningful (and perhaps unexpected or unpredictable) for themselves. They come for their own reasons, see the world through their own frameworks, and may resist (and even resent) attempts to shape their experience. How can museums design and evaluate exhibitions that seek to support visitors rather than control them? How can museum professionals cultivate ‘‘not knowing’’ as a motivation for improving what they do?

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• Andrew J. Pekarik (pekarika@si.edu) is Program Analyst in the Office of Policy and Analysis, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.