The Explainers are the floor staff at the Exploratorium, San Francisco’s Museum of Science, Art, and Human Perception. This is a space for us to share our experiences, thoughts, and accidents with each other and the rest of the world.
The Exploratorium is a big place, and about to get even bigger. Explainers are in charge of orienting kids on school field trips, doing all the demonstrations the museum offers (like the famous cow’s eye dissection), and manning the floor, trying to engage the public and trigger curiosity and exploration. In the course of all that, we interact with literally hundreds of people every day. All too often, we spend the better part of our work days scattered throughout this big black box, and each of us has experiences, interactions, thoughts, and sees things that no one else will. This blog originated from a desire to share all that, from the mundane (probably something about lunch bins being gross), to the funny, to the grandiose, and in the meantime provide a slice into life at the Exploratorium.
The Exploratorium is located at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, CA, and it is open Tue-Sun, 10am – 5pm.
Hi,
Nice to read about you guys, sort of living the same life as me. Although you are a huge staff and we are only four, at my tiny science center close to the North Pole, I do believe we share some of the same experiences in our meetings with the public. I will keep a track on what you write, and maybe I’ll see you at a conference soon.
Hey everybody!
So I did a search in my email inbox for emails sent by Ryan and have none (sorry, Ryan, maybe you have the wrong email address?)
I now have an account with WordPress, and I feel like I’m getting warmer, but not quite, ha ha ha…
How do I start blogging in The Blog Formerly Known as the Exploratorium Explainers?
Have an awesome Sunday,
R
Haha. Check out this link from a French museum blog site.
http://www.buzzeum.com/2007/11/29/les-musees-et-leurs-blogs/
Where’s Orianne when you need her?
Sweet!
So I checked out the aforementioned French museum blog site. I agree it’s pretty sweet Diane included us on this list she has compiled of international musées et leur(s) blog(s).
Although my french skillz aren’t quite up to par with Orianne’s, I was able to read through her description of our blog and it seems right on. Her analysis of it, however, was that it was “rich in articles, but very poor in commentary”.
Weak commentary? Ouch. Her commentary comment inspired me to leave this comment.
Perhaps her linking to us will get others reading/commenting on our blog as well, (which i don’t think lacks anything in the comment department, for the record) thereby debunking her own claim. There’s no such thing as bad publicity…
woah! you take field trips! this is awesome!
um hi. i found this blog because on the bus every day i pass the san bruno water treatment facility and have never known exactly what those unmarked silos are. so i jump on google earth, see what look like some reservoirs from the satellite view, punch in “san bruno water facility”, and end up on a flickr slideshow of a field trip to the waste treatment plant in sf, which i would totally be excited to go do if i weren’t a discovery channel junkie in the gym and just experienced such a virtual visit last week sometime, without the olfactory enhancements. :)
aaaanyway, then i saw the tag “explainers” and i was like dude this is totally up my alley, and that led me to your blog. weehaw. i’m always been a bit afraid of the exploratorium because of the little chilluns screaming and running around, but clearly i need to come back and check it out. the only time i’ve been there was one time a few years back to hear simon singh talk about his new big bang book on west coast live, which, funnily enough, got me all into west coast live for years to come.
anyway. hi. dig your digs, hooray for nerds…