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Ask Slashdot: What Should a Children's Computer Museum Look Like? (yourobserver.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: If you're a wealthy techie looking for a way to establish your legacy, the City of Sarasota has a 117,000-square-foot children's science museum that's vacant and could use a little TLC. Housed on prime Bayfront property, the building that once housed the Gulf Coast Wonder and Imagination Zone might make a fine children's computer museum.
So in case any of those CEOs who stress the importance of getting children interested in CS are reading and want to put their money where their mouth is, any suggestions about what a kids' version of the Computer History Museum should look like? Something like an Apple Store? Microsoft Store? Something else?
There's often criticism about the ways computer science gets taught in schools -- so leave your suggestions in the comments. What would a good children's computer museum look like?
So in case any of those CEOs who stress the importance of getting children interested in CS are reading and want to put their money where their mouth is, any suggestions about what a kids' version of the Computer History Museum should look like? Something like an Apple Store? Microsoft Store? Something else?
There's often criticism about the ways computer science gets taught in schools -- so leave your suggestions in the comments. What would a good children's computer museum look like?
And with lots of pastels and cartoon images.
Are we so removed from reality that a goddam children's computer museum needs to look like a fucking Apple or Microsoft store?
Here's an idea.
Fill it up with computers. I don't mean new computers, I mean old computers (it's a goddam history museum after all). Toss in a few working IBM mainframes with some punch card readers and tape drives. Maybe a couple of DEC PDPs with some disk packs. Make sure everything works, that there's lots of blinking lights and switches to play around with, and then teach the little buggers how to run the hardware. Sit them down in front of an IBM 2741 and show them how to use it. Let them toggle in the boot program on a PDP. Doesn't matter as long as it's interactive and they get to see the result of their efforts.
Those that are interested will come back for more. Those that aren't... Well, you can't force them to be interested in something that they're not. We've got enough of that going on in the education system with all the schools trying to force comp sci on everyone.
For the love of god, though, don't open "another computer museum" where people can look but not touch. I'm fine with that sort of things, but kids aren't. Little Johnny isn't going to point at the IBM 701 and say "Mommy, mommy, what's that big thing do?" unless he gets to see the tape drives spinning and the lights blinking.
We have one in Cambridge, UK. It is pretty fun, my son loved it. Basically couples retro gaming with a suite of Raspberry Pis and other "learning" computers from the last few decades.
http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/
It should be designed in such a way that kids can actually make the exhibits work, not just tell them how it works. All other considerations are secondary. However, dramatic comparisons like an IBM 350 disk unit displayed alongside a modern mSATA drive will also make an impression.
Just take a few big strokes from other computer museums and make most displays as interactive as possible. Obviously talk about video games too. Throw in some robot programming workshops with mini robots doing stuff in an arena for a few minutes. Offer free apps for kids to take away some concepts and continue at home.
The ENIAC Demo Competition
That sounds like a huge waste of money. And for a really stupid cause. So you want kids to be interested in computers? Why? So they'll do your job for minimum wage in 18 years?
Computers aren't this magic thing that you have to be raised with or you'll "just never get it." You can learn at any age.
I think they should put the money into the actual education system instead of trying to trick kids with a knockoff edu-tainment "museum."
To play devil's advocate here, the idea of children's computer museums and science museums is nice and all, but realistically there's a reason why these things close down, and it usually comes down to not making enough money to keep the lights on. Perhaps a nice interactive science website with VR would be a better way to spend the money, rather than restoring a building whose design results in high upkeep costs, plus the cost of staffing and renting exhibits and so on.
I mean, the city of Sarasota was spending something like $150k+ in maintenance every year just to keep the building from deteriorating further. At ten bucks a head, it takes 15,000 visitors every year (almost 10% of their total during the final years) just to pay for the absolute minimum level of upkeep. I'd imagine the real numbers to keep the building in good shape were at least double that. A good target for a business is closer to 5%. Basically, that building is a money pit.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Children have absolutely no interest in looking at old computers, make it something hands on where the children can touch, interact and experiment.
A bit hidden on the site is one room (I almost missed it) with a small but very good set of hands on activities to learn about computers. A simple thing like coding your age in binary and boards to explain an experiment with AND & OR principles. Some games were also available
It shows also the evolution of computers. From an analog computer build in meccanno, an IBM 360 and so fort. I was particle impressed by the automatic analog switching telephone unit still functioning with rotary telephones. You can literally see the switching arms turn in function of the number dialled on the rotary disk. A rare treasure to illustrate to youth how technology evolved towards computers.
Maybe some programmable robots that can move objects from one bin to another based on some high level commands. (perhaps small and under a little bubble)
robot 1 (worker bot): goto A, pickup, goto B, drop, repeat
robot 2 (maid bot): find ball, pickup, goto A, drop, repeat
robot 3 (messy bot): goto B, pickup, random walk, drop, repeat
so with 7 possible commands there is a fair amount of programming of behaviors. might be overkill to try and also allow branching and conditionals.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
If you want to get children interested in computers and computer science, especially as a prelude to increasing their education in the same... I can't think of a more back-asswards way to go about it than sentencing them to a computer history museum. As interesting as the topic is to the geek and nerd, it's dull and boring and almost completely irrelevant to the call-to-action you linked to.
Don't confuse what you want to see with what is actually needed. A computer education center, which is what you're looking for, will have perforce have a historical component - but it's overall focus with quite different.
All that being said, I'd run not walk from that building... it's forty odd years old, located in a stressful climate (humidity, rain, and near salt water) - and reading between the lines of the news articles, suffering from failed systems as well as probably at least a decade of deferred maintenance.
A common mistake people do when making stuff for children is assuming that kids are dumb so let's make it simple for them.
Kids are not dumb and a good children's museum teaches the adults too. The only real difference is the "Adult" museums are more or less teach like the Victorian times quite expecting you to stay attentive with learning to be done via audio and visual learning.
A "Children's" museum offers the tactile learning as well and fully engages all the senses for proper learning.
I would make physical and manipulable exhibits such as not gates and gates and or gates either out of blocks or plumbing with color water. Then getting so far to make a 4 bit adder.
After you get that far then you can switch to electricity. Perhaps with a large quartz transistor and circuits. Where they can turn a dials and press buttons pull leavers to get the point.
The goal is to demistify computers to children and adults before you get to the other suggestions with robots writing code. But for the most part target towards teaching adults the concepts using as many stimula as possible.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Replicas of ancient computers, like the solar system models, rope robots of the greek and romans, probably even ancient steam engines (even if that does not compute), maya calendar, babylonian number system.
Everything that is fascinating and/or math/science related. Variations of "abacus" . Inka number system and thread woven messages.
Various simple encryption methods, like the greek staff with wrapped paper around it, the grid based encoding schemes: chicken code and pig code.
Water clock of the romans ...
Regardless of "computing" everything that has to do with measuring and simple calculations with a trick, e.g. the measuring of the earth circumference by Eratosthenes. Or what a parsec is, measured via parallax.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
As as child in the 1960s, I went to the Science Museum in London. There were lots of handles to crank and buttons to push, and the science tended flow out of that. Taking my own son in the early 1980s, it was somewhat the same and rather enjoyable, crank something and see what happens.
Also (one of) MONIAC, the Philips Hydraulic Computer was there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... and currently there's a reconstructed Difference Engine (also in Mountain View, I think?). These objects make computing very 'visible' and kids (quite wisely) are not very abstract. Besides they can now get all the coding lessons etc. in school, so a musueum shouldn't be more of the same.
On y va, qui mal y pense!
The most important consideration, above all else is that it be a fun, engaging experience. Who cares whether they walk away knowing important names and dates? If they walk away thinking "computers are fun" that will do more for the future of computer science than any amount of knowledge you can pack into their little heads in that time. Here are some ideas:
Mechanical computers: use colorful balls on ramps to perform basic addition and subtraction.Let them tinker with the ramps.
Blinkenlights. A big panel from one of the old supercomputers where they can push and pull and switch all the different things to make output on a punch paper. And they get to keep the punch paper.
A basic movement programming environment implemented with physical puzzle blocks. When they assemble a workable program they get to see a robotic turtle move the way it was told. Add obstacles and dots they can pick up for bonus points.
Tin cans on a string, but with a simple, observable interface that lets them push 1 and 0 and see letters and numbers come up for the ASCII they entered.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
... and a pile of resistors for the kids to use.
Oh, and electrons.
Lots of computers. Keep the nipples and cursing to a minimum. No dong sand no vag. Maybe toss in some Dora the Explorer to show that Hispanic chicks love programming.
full of children learning how to make computers do fun stuff https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Something like an Apple Store? Microsoft Store? Something else?
So you're really just asking what it should *look* like? As in, what should the aesthetic design be?
Sure. Make it look like an Apple Store.
It seems like the bigger question should be, what should be in it? What should the exhibits be, and how should it work? Whatever the aesthetics, what are kids going to learn from the experience?
And I don't know what the goal is or what resources are available, but just to throw an idea out there, the first thing that popped into my head was (perhaps obviously) to have interactive exhibits showing the progress computers have made. As much as possible, have old computers or replicas so that kids can see what the actual physical machine looked like. Maybe show them a Babbage Difference Engine, and see if you can break down how it works. Maybe things like the early IBM PCs, an Apple II, and the first Mac. Let them have access to some emulators that show what the different old operating systems were like-- DOS, early versions of MacOS and Windows. Provide some sort of interactive method for illustrating how long it would take for operation would happen on a computer from 1985, 1995, 2005, and 2015. Maybe have an exhibit where they can play different video games from different eras.
Maybe it's just me, but that's what I think of if you say the words, "Children's Computer Museum"-- some collection of interactive exhibits arranged chronologically to show kids the development of computers, focusing on the development of personal computing (starting circa 1980), but with a couple of things early on to talk about how things developed from an abacus through mainframes, leading up to the PC.
These kids are what people believe are safe and non-fraudlent voting machines.
See how easy it is to flip the vote from Voltimort to Darth Vader?
You should always use these machines, because not only is the code for the machine hidden away in our secret vaults, but we use real kittens to keep it warm during election season.
Look no paper trail, think of all the trees we saved in Venezuela, where this particular model got its start under the great and powerful Chavez!
That's what it should look like: nothing. Only neckbeards and assorted losers still believe computers are interesting. They are not, they're disposable appliances. We're not in the '60, '70s or '80s anymore. Stop trying to recapture the magic. It's gone the moment people understood them, and that behind the façade there was nothing but stupid machines that ran stupid programs. No HAL, no MultiVAC, nothing. Just transistors and data.
Keep children away from them. Getting them interested in computers is not only pointless but dangerous. Seriously, ask yourself if you would like your kids to grow up antisocial losers slaving off for a pittance and waiting for that inevitable day where they get outsourced or their job automated, all the while burning their lives away on constant technical updates to a base of knowledge that becomes irrelevant in a few months.
What about getting interested in REAL careers, hunh?
YouTube: "How Computers Work: A Journey Into the Walk-Through Computer is an educational video produced by The Computer Museum and hosted by David Neil of PBS's Newton's Apple. Join David Neil and his four young companions on an entertaining and illuminating trek through The Computer Museum's one-of-a-kind, two-story working model of a desktop computer." Exhibit flyer (pdf). Press kit (pdf).
Ideas are welcome as to how to get it there. It is cruel to condemn yet another generation to x86, and the inherent insecurity of software built for such a flawed architecture. Attempting to create a secure system on x86 is like building on sand, and the instruction set itself is also a nightmare for system and language developers.
A hands-on demonstration of boolean logic: starting with two switches in series to show A AND B, then two switches in parallel to show A OR B. A more advanced portion of it might have a large plugboard (like from the old Ma Bell days), and a collection of gates and switches, with flashcards showing how to build up common circuits - a 1-bit adder, XOR, a 1-bit flip-flop, etc.
First off, while I'm sure it's important to get corporate sponsorships, the logos need to be only on the outside of the building and not inside. The purpose of the museum cannot be for companies to establish brand awareness and preferences - it must be to interest and excite kids about technology and where the future lies.
Don't focus on teaching kids how to use technology, focus on introducing the basic concepts which computing technology is based on. That means avoid rows of PCs letting kids design their own web pages or games in Scratch; create hands-on activities in which the kids can see how data is stored (flip flops), makes decisions (logic), input and outputs as well as communications with the culminating piece being how they work together to become a "computer" and how devices are built from them.
The visitors are the ones building technology's future; don't set expectations with a focus on sponsor's products and existing applications, show them the basics and let them imagine where they want the future to go.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Give children something to do.
Things to poke, prod and make stuff happen. Don't show them a CPU, let them build logic gates that light shit up, make noises etc.
Give them control of a complex lock system on a constrained (miniature) canal setup where a barge represents a data and the routes dictate processing.
Show them to history of 'speak and spell', calculators, robotic fucking barney, other toys to see how computers have enhanced play.
Build a proper difference engine and let them program it.
Shit, they're kids. They want to learn, they want to play, they want to see and do fun stuff. Is this really that hard?
Apple store? Really? What sort of cunt thinks that's a museum?
Am I the only one that had to look up the acronym TLC? Is it really necessary to use it when it's really not that common? I say this as a native English speaker that spends more time on the internet than on the outernet.
Museum are about the past and are passive learning, how about something like Do Space in Omaha, NE? http://www.dospace.org/
Think of it like a high tech library
Computers available for the use of all
3D printers/laser cutter available http://www.dospace.org/technol...
Tech activity kits for checkout: http://www.dospace.org/technol...
Regular/Special Events (Girls Who Code, Cyber Seniors, software classes, etc.
http://www.dospace.org/events/... , http://www.dospace.org/events/...
Make it a school and museum. Use corp. sponsors to build exhibits. Google sponsors code. ATT or Verizon makes a giant cell phone. Lenovo builds a giant PC. Army has war games. Air Force flight sims. Boston Dynamics has a robot. Microsoft provides all the windows ;). Hope the idea makes sense. Would love to brain storm with you, seriously.
The SFBay Area has three to emulate/draw ideas from:
The Exploratorium: Practically grew up here as a kid. More of a STEM orientated, the key thing was it was all HANDS ON.
The Lawrence Hall of Science @ Berkeley. Another childhood hangout.
The Tech Museum in San Jose. Just took my 13 year old here, he is hard to please. Just turned him loose and he had a great time. 3d Printing, robotics, network simulations, build-a-plane flight mechanics. I enjoyed it too!
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
Learn about the Ontario Science Centre during the mid-1970s. That place was super cool. Tons of interactive tech, huge lasers, giant Tesla coils and Van de Graaf generators, and of course, the Philips Coffee Machine (I'm still searching for the schematic, btw). "Coffee! Coffee. Coffee?" Oh, and none of this global warming boring-as-all-hell environmentalist crap.
Schanley, the city’s asset manager, regularly conducts walkthroughs of the former GWIZ building.
Am I the only one who read this as Schannel? I thought maybe this guy was a huge fan of Microsoft crypto...
Static museums work for the visual arts, they are kind of a failure for anything else.
Have a display where kids can play videogames as they have been over the years, have another one in which they can update their bank account, another one in which they can use databases to track down a suspected criminals, another one in which they can create their own bit coin operated recreational herbs commercial web site.
A bank of 8 toggle switches with a light above each to show when they are turned on. Next to that, a 3-digit 8 segment display to show the 8-bit number corresponding to which switches are flipped. Maybe another one to show the ASCII letter corresponding to the number, when there is one.
You don't actually have to understand it to get something out of it. But you could also label each "bit" and its value as well as put up an ASCII chart for the older kids.
Here's the actual video of a marble adder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcDshWmhF4A
Why would you link to a shoddy video-of-a-video with only 28 views, when the original is right there, has millions of views and thousands of likes, and is more directly about the marble adder?
Getting kids to museums is hard enough but I feel like making them look at old technology (when the smartphone they're inevitably carrying in their pocket probably has more computing power than all of them combined) is a pretty special challenge.
On the other hand if you could tie it into video games at least they'd be able to do something interesting and entertaining while they're looking at all these old crusty machines. The evolution of video games, from Pong/Space Invaders to World of Warcraft/Call of Duty might be an interesting enough tale to tell visually and interactively to grab someone's attention.
I was here a few weeks ago and it was very neat. Lots of cool old stuff that you're allowed to use hands-on, like an 8088 PC, various Apple IIs, C64, I think there was a TRS-80, plus a bunch of older stuff I didn't recognize, and several mainframes. They had a decent amount of software available to use on the machines.
Of course I think the answer you're going to get is going to involve game consoles more than old computers. Remember, computers didn't used to be game machines or home machines, they were business machines, doing boring, adult, business-y things. Sure, there were games written for text-only computers, but that's going to be boring, boring, boring to the average modern kid, who is used to HD graphics and 6-channel surround sound.
Something else to consider in this particular case is the mention of this being on 'prime Bayfront property'. Most county governments want more revenue, and zoning that property for business use brings in more money to the county. Something as specialized as a 'childrens computer museum' is going to be more of a money pit than anything profitable.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
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If there isn't an ASR-33 they can bang on you are doing it wrong.
QBASIC video games
As a parent that has been to many children's museums, the most popular things are climbing, sliding, plastic balls, soft cushions, and hiding places. If you build a playground where kids can climb inside a giant computer, watch plastic balls roll around tubes, and slide down, that will be the most popular thing. Maybe even a climbing rope net that looks like iron core memory. Parents will also appreciate their kids burning off some extra energy.
There should a model of the Antikythera Mechanism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism), a display about the Jacquard Loom, about the Babbage engine and Ada Lovelace, etc. And there should be a large section on Turing and the Colossus computer at Bletchley Park.
Try reading what I wrote moron. I didn't say it was necessary to get all kids interested, nor did I say anything about mainstream appeal.
And yes, this is Slashdot, where reading comprehension is a must. Go away until you've acquired some.
It should include things like this: Interactive Art using FlipBits. Full Disclosure: Yes, it may be a shameless plug. But you asked for my opinion.
Bull. Fucking. Shit.
Children are raised on obfuscations and prevailing trends conduced to simplified abstracts such as how an Apple is productive fruition of good care while a Serpent is a international servile union that holds accountable to every word commit through boundaries passed.
That museum should be full of clustered Speak'n'Spell consoles and vsync networked multi-user 2600 consoles accessing a sole Vic-20 webserver thus proving...britney spears can hit my baby back behind.