Many science centers are struggling to innovate in the broad realm of digital media, recognizing that their institution’s future depends on connecting with their audiences in new ways. How do we balance quality hands-on experiences with an increasingly digitally conversant (and expectant) audience? How can science centers create digitally based experiences while maintaining the heart of what makes our museums great? Do we even want to create such experiences, or are they divergent from the kind of engagement we hold dear – even as we try to attract younger audiences?

From QR codes on exhibit signage, to cell phone museum tours, to tablet computers in exhibits dedicated to early learners or in hands-off floor staff, several museums are testing many different applications of technology with their audiences on the museum floor. Others are using digital technologies as ways to build their audiences and further their commitment to community engagement, outside the museum experience. The central questions are: What approach makes the most sense for our audiences and mission? Should we be concerned about losing sight of our object-based persona?

This session will engage participants from all areas of the museum field in conversation about the seemingly dissonant intersection between digital media and interactive museums. If science centers and children’s museums are based on engaging experiences with “real” objects or experiments, are digital media a departure from that legacy? Or are there instances where technology can serve as an amplifier of experience, rather than as a distraction?

Using examples from three museums as a starting point, this session will be a lively exchange exploring the implications of our choices on our youngest audiences and their caregivers. What applications of technology make sense in learning environments for the very young, and which do not? Using current research, we’ll discuss what we may be giving up as we embrace new technologies and what we may gain. How can museums and science centers carefully employ digital technologies to broaden visitor reach and deepen impact while not losing the very heart of what we do best? All of these questions will be points of discussion.

This session is not intended to present a set of answers, but rather to engage peers in discussion around these questions. Participants will leave the session with new thoughts and ideas, and hopefully the impetus to continue the conversation back at their home institutions. This session will be very interactive in nature, with museum professionals from hands-on science and children’s museums in the United States presenting a range of topics to consider. Presenters are all 2012 Noyce Leadership Institute Fellows and first time Ecsite presenters.