This major two-volume, 900-page collection of essays distils the exceptional insights and advice of one of the world's leading thinkers in the field of visitor studies, Stephen Bitgood, a pioneer in the field of social design.Spanning both theory and practice, Social Design in Museums is guaranteed to have museum and heritage professionals thinking afresh about the fundamentals of their organisation's interface with the public. Its contents are crucial to an understanding of the learning process within these institutions - and an essential step towards enhancing their effectiveness. Social...

How can museums capture visitors' attention? And how can their attention be sustained? In this important volume, leading visitor researcher and educational psychologist Stephen Bitgood proposes a model--the attention-value model--that will help museum practitioners create more effective museum environments. A major advance beyond earlier efforts, the attention-value model shows how both personal and exhibit design variables influence the capture, focus, and engagement of attention. Bitgood also offers extensive background in the visitor attention literature, details of his extensive testing...

How can museums capture visitors' attention? And how can their attention be sustained? In this important volume, leading visitor researcher and educational psychologist Stephen Bitgood proposes a model--the attention-value model--that will help museum practitioners create more effective museum environments. A major advance beyond earlier efforts, the attention-value model shows how both personal and exhibit design variables influence the capture, focus, and engagement of attention. Bitgood also offers extensive background in the visitor attention literature, details of his extensive testing...

Engaging the Visitor addresses some of the most fundamental issues relating to interpretation, exhibition design and the visitor experience, in a format which is attractive, approachable - and above all actionable. Challenging many preconceptions, this book is firmly rooted in the results of museum-based scientific research. Deep and effective engagement with exhibit content is still the exception in very many museums. When most visitors pass an exhibit with only a glance, it will fail to engage. And until the visitor is engaged no informal learning - or any other satisfying experience - will...