Learning by Doing and from Peers

Although this work does not intend to tackle all the possibilities that commu- nity-created content offers for visitors in terms of learning, it is necessary to touch briefly on some relevant points about learning. These digital comments offer two main advantages in terms of collaborative learning at the museum or exhibition venues: the possibility of learning from peers by sharing digital comments, and learning by doing through editing one’s own contribution.

Regarding both issues Bill Watson (2007) in his article “Writing to Learn in Museums” affirms that “writing to learn can be as important to learning in informal environments as it is to learning in formal environments. There is time for reflection during and after experiences with exhibitions at muse- ums. When that reflection is done in writing, the opportunities for learning expand not only through the act of writing, but also through the collabora- tion that recording ideas and reflections affords” (Watson, 2007, p. 154).

I consider that the following is a clear example of reflection done in the writing of the comment, because of the difficulty of describing the perform- ance of an object, summarising in a short comment, and communicating with others who have not had the experience of using it.

This thing is very good, says an open-sea fisherman. It’s amazing how the designer has got the idea of letting water pass through the head of the fish, thus making it wobble in a nice way that the big fish can’t resist.

Comment left at The Secret Life of Objects The following comment is the one by the designer.

I have used the prototype that is shining black for fishing. The name comes from the black challenger, Muhammed Ali, so Big Mouth. (…). A rainbow trout took the first prototype that I made for this product. If someone finds it, he can return it, because it has a telephone number in the base. It was a long time ago. (…). You can buy it in sports shops, in Stockmann10_{, in the museum}

shop, they also sell them in eBay11_{, the collectors of the first}

series, they are more expensive than in the shops. Do you know that these are traditional objects that people collect? It has its own sub-culture; they are really passionate about them.

Comment made by Tani Muhonen, the designer of the product during an interview as part of The Secret Life of Objects.

Fig. 24: The Secret Life of Objects. Design work in the exhibition. Tani Muhonen. Big Mouse.

96 Chapter 4. Analysis of Community-Created Content Chapter 4. Analysis of Community-Created Content 97 12 Original in Finnish. 13 Original in Finnish. 14 Original in Finnish. As described by John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking (2000, p. 141), experts in

museum education, museums create unique milieus for collaborative learn- ing in which peers create social bonds through shared experience and knowl- edge. In this context, these interactive pieces enhance collaborative learning by proposing new designs for exchanging community-created comments. Palmyre Pierroux (2005) sees museum learning as a situated social activity where objects and texts are mediating tools in constructing meaning. Based on these understandings about museum learning I can add that the com- munity-created content in museums can provide people with a way to find common interests with others and to relate to the material exhibited. Both finding common interests and relating to the objects are ways that support meaning construction.

According to Falk and Dierking visitors “come to the museum with a wealth of previously acquired knowledge, interests, skills, beliefs, attitudes, and experiences, all of which combine to affect no only what and how they interact with educational experiences but also what meaning, if any, they make of such experiences” (2000, p. 87). The special characteristics of these interactive pieces that allow visitors to create and share open-ended com- ments is appropriate for embracing the expectations and needs of different people. The different types of contributions give enough evidence that people with several viewpoints and understanding on the exhibition material could share their comments through the interactive pieces.

After analysing learning in museums, Graham Black (2005) made several suggestions, including the notion that “exhibition contents should not be ‘closed.’ They should reflect different viewpoints and provide opportunity for visitors to question content” (p. 150). Likewise, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Kim Hermanson (2004) state, “Information that is presented as true without alternative perspectives discourages the motivation to explore and learn more” (p. 155). Whether displayed at the exhibition or online, these digital comments created by visitors provide new viewpoints and a clear invi- tation to question content. Some of the personal statements made by visitors are a provocation for others to comment.

Pastiili

I always wonder who sits in here? It is such a nice form but really uncomfortable

Comment left at The Secret Life of Objects.

Other visitors had a different opinion on the same chair and were prompted to tell it:

Pastilli trial

What a nice easy chair, a neat design and it swings nicely 12

Pastilli is the best

Our pastiili is in our living room and the children like to take turns spinning around and adults (and children) watch television on it. It is the favourite item in the living room and a piece of furniture we fight over!13

Kevin Walker (2008) pays attention to one way of structuring visitors’ ac- tivity: personalised learning trails. These trails are efficient mental models when they involve a narrow focus, a manageable amount of data. They are built on a narrative or conversational model and emphasise the process of construction, not mere data capturing. In other words, making a trail for someone else to follow helps to build visitors’ knowledge (Walker, 2008). With these interactive pieces, visitors construct a comment for someone else to see. In doing so, they pay attention to creating a synthetic narrative, and they learn in the process. One visitor put it in these words:

I am frightened by the responsibility of leaving a comment, but of course each of us sees the world in a different way and everybody has her own perspective about what she likes or dislikes.14

Comment recorded for Sound Trace.

Marshall McLuhan (1959/2003) advises educators that teaching must in- creasingly put the students in co-teacher roles. This statement could be ex- tended to the museum field, in which visitors’ learning is enhanced once visitors act as co-commentator on the exhibition. Visitors took the role of being the co-teachers in the exhibitions, producing examples of content that have valuable information in parallel to their own personal perspective. In the following example, there are personal memories mixed with material from the context of use of the design objects in the exhibition:

Beer and mead!

Jerry containers by Rislakki have been involved in many situations. When I was a kid, they were often used for mead or other soft drinks, later for beer, and perhaps one red Rislakki jerry was used even for an occasional dose of sugar wine (kilju). One Midsummer, we collected a dozen empty containers and constructed a floating ferry for a bonfire. Otherwise good, but the bonfire sank and it was quite a massive

98 Chapter 4. Analysis of Community-Created Content Chapter 4. Analysis of Community-Created Content 99 17 Only the title

was originally in Finnish: “purkutalo” 15 Original in Finnish. 16 Original in Finnish. operation to collect un-burnt junk back to the beach. Typically, the tiny

air-hole cap had a bad habit of disappearing and then one had to tweak a stick or something for a cap. Excellent product indeed!15

Comment left in The Secret Life of Objects.

Though an in-depth analysis of the possibilities of community-created con- tent for learning did not take place within this research project, one could consider that this practice supports conditions for learning.