Open Forum

I'm curious about other museums that have digital or physical guest or sign books for visitors. The 9/11 Museum has what we call the "Signing Steel" where visitors can sign their name, leave a message, or sometimes draw something like the image below. Along with some very beautiful messages we also get the occasional inappropriate drawings (I'll leave that to you to figure out what they might be) or message.

Are people more likely to write something meaningful and appropriate when it's less ephemeral? Are there patterns in what people write when they want to say something but don't know what to write beyond the typical saying that goes along with a museum's message or mission? For us it's a lot of "Never forget" or "Never again" or a heart. What do other institutions see on a regular basis?



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Alisa Zeljeznjak
Production Assistant
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
New York NY
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Alisa, I was just at the 9/11 Museum last week for the first time, what a stunning exhibition.  

We had a "share your story" video recording booth for an LGBT exhibit a while back. Going through the videos was amusing - 15% people babbling or poking at the camera; 20% saying/doing something risqué or vulgar; 10% of the machine triggering itself and recording a blank wall; 40% of people telling their experience or a story that was vaguely related to the exhibit but probably not usable for anything; and 15% telling a really moving story or experience that we later incorporated into the exhibit or used elsewhere.

For what it's worth, I saved all of them, it's a part of history now.  If you told me you'd found video or audio of people attending an exhibit 100 years ago and telling their experiences, but you'd deleted all the crude sketches of the male anatomy, I'd be devastated -  sociologically I am probably more interested in people in the early 1900s goofing around than I am about the subject matter they spoke of.

Keeping it digital sure makes the curating, reviewing, and archiving more accessible.  That's what I'd do.

------------------------------
Mike Watson
San Diego History Center
San Diego CA
------------------------------

Hi Alisa,

Our museum has used a traditional physical guest book for years. It's a binder with landscape oriented fields. Name, where are you from, first visit (YN), how did you hear about us, comments. The comments box is very small. 90% of the time we see brief positive "Beautiful Museum," "Great History," "I came with family." Other popular ones are "There should be a cafe," or the dreaded "not much has changed."
It gives us good info, but it's very brief. We also collect zip codes at registration. 

We used to have a pin board with the United States and World Map, and would clear it off at the end of each year. We transformed that into what we call our Community Board. Guests are given notecards and a pen to write their answer to rotating questions. Right now the question is "How do you prepare for a disaster?" Next month will be día de los muertos focused "Who do you honor for DDLM?"
We transcribe these in a docx, and submit the physical notecards to institutional archives and have a sign with a notice that answers will be documented. We do have to regularly screen answers for profanities, but they are few. Kids love it. Among us drawings were popular earlier this year and we saw a lot of "Friends don't lie." 

We dream of an oral history booth or digital feedback kiosk. Events are where we have our best data when we have staff or volunteers conduct in person surveys. We also send post event digital survey links, which do get some hits.

Data is important, and another hat to wear in museums. Hope to visit your museum one day. Buena suerte!

------------------------------
René Ballesteros
Community Engagement Officer
Museum of South Texas History
Edinburg, TX
------------------------------

We moved to a digital book last November.   We capture the zip code/country, are you a first-time visitor, how they heard and if they want to subscribe to our newsletter, name & email address.  If they go for the newsletter, they will receive a thank you email with a discounted membership offer.  Now with the zip codes, we can see where the visitors are from.

------------------------------
James McCormick
Chairman
The Aviation Museum of Kentucky
Lexington KY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-26-2022 09:26 AM
From: Rene Ballesteros
Subject: Digital vs Physical Guestbooks

Hi Alisa,

Our museum has used a traditional physical guest book for years. It's a binder with landscape oriented fields. Name, where are you from, first visit (YN), how did you hear about us, comments. The comments box is very small. 90% of the time we see brief positive "Beautiful Museum," "Great History," "I came with family." Other popular ones are "There should be a cafe," or the dreaded "not much has changed."
It gives us good info, but it's very brief. We also collect zip codes at registration. 

We used to have a pin board with the United States and World Map, and would clear it off at the end of each year. We transformed that into what we call our Community Board. Guests are given notecards and a pen to write their answer to rotating questions. Right now the question is "How do you prepare for a disaster?" Next month will be día de los muertos focused "Who do you honor for DDLM?"
We transcribe these in a docx, and submit the physical notecards to institutional archives and have a sign with a notice that answers will be documented. We do have to regularly screen answers for profanities, but they are few. Kids love it. Among us drawings were popular earlier this year and we saw a lot of "Friends don't lie." 

We dream of an oral history booth or digital feedback kiosk. Events are where we have our best data when we have staff or volunteers conduct in person surveys. We also send post event digital survey links, which do get some hits.

Data is important, and another hat to wear in museums. Hope to visit your museum one day. Buena suerte!

------------------------------
René Ballesteros
Community Engagement Officer
Museum of South Texas History
Edinburg, TX
------------------------------

For those of you using digital guestbooks, what points of entry do you have for it? QR code, device on a stand in the gallery, link on the website, etc?

Many thanks.

------------------------------
Meredith Peruzzi
National Deaf Life Museum
Gallaudet University
Washington DC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-27-2022 07:48 AM
From: James McCormick
Subject: Digital vs Physical Guestbooks

We moved to a digital book last November.   We capture the zip code/country, are you a first-time visitor, how they heard and if they want to subscribe to our newsletter, name & email address.  If they go for the newsletter, they will receive a thank you email with a discounted membership offer.  Now with the zip codes, we can see where the visitors are from.

------------------------------
James McCormick
Chairman
The Aviation Museum of Kentucky
Lexington KY
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 09-26-2022 09:26 AM
From: Rene Ballesteros
Subject: Digital vs Physical Guestbooks

Hi Alisa,

Our museum has used a traditional physical guest book for years. It's a binder with landscape oriented fields. Name, where are you from, first visit (YN), how did you hear about us, comments. The comments box is very small. 90% of the time we see brief positive "Beautiful Museum," "Great History," "I came with family." Other popular ones are "There should be a cafe," or the dreaded "not much has changed."
It gives us good info, but it's very brief. We also collect zip codes at registration. 

We used to have a pin board with the United States and World Map, and would clear it off at the end of each year. We transformed that into what we call our Community Board. Guests are given notecards and a pen to write their answer to rotating questions. Right now the question is "How do you prepare for a disaster?" Next month will be día de los muertos focused "Who do you honor for DDLM?"
We transcribe these in a docx, and submit the physical notecards to institutional archives and have a sign with a notice that answers will be documented. We do have to regularly screen answers for profanities, but they are few. Kids love it. Among us drawings were popular earlier this year and we saw a lot of "Friends don't lie." 

We dream of an oral history booth or digital feedback kiosk. Events are where we have our best data when we have staff or volunteers conduct in person surveys. We also send post event digital survey links, which do get some hits.

Data is important, and another hat to wear in museums. Hope to visit your museum one day. Buena suerte!

------------------------------
René Ballesteros
Community Engagement Officer
Museum of South Texas History
Edinburg, TX

We have four monitors with stylus pens or you can use your finger in one of our larger areas in the Museum. Visitors can put their home city and email address if they want, after they've written their message it is projected onto a world map they can see along with both live messages and curated ones.

------------------------------
Alisa Zeljeznjak
Assistant Manager for Exhibition Media
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
New York NY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-28-2022 08:21 AM
From: Meredith Peruzzi
Subject: Digital vs Physical Guestbooks

For those of you using digital guestbooks, what points of entry do you have for it? QR code, device on a stand in the gallery, link on the website, etc?

Many thanks.

------------------------------
Meredith Peruzzi
National Deaf Life Museum
Gallaudet University
Washington DC
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 09-27-2022 07:48 AM
From: James McCormick
Subject: Digital vs Physical Guestbooks

We moved to a digital book last November.   We capture the zip code/country, are you a first-time visitor, how they heard and if they want to subscribe to our newsletter, name & email address.  If they go for the newsletter, they will receive a thank you email with a discounted membership offer.  Now with the zip codes, we can see where the visitors are from.

------------------------------
James McCormick
Chairman
The Aviation Museum of Kentucky
Lexington KY


Original Message:
Sent: 09-26-2022 09:26 AM
From: Rene Ballesteros
Subject: Digital vs Physical Guestbooks

Hi Alisa,

Our museum has used a traditional physical guest book for years. It's a binder with landscape oriented fields. Name, where are you from, first visit (YN), how did you hear about us, comments. The comments box is very small. 90% of the time we see brief positive "Beautiful Museum," "Great History," "I came with family." Other popular ones are "There should be a cafe," or the dreaded "not much has changed."
It gives us good info, but it's very brief. We also collect zip codes at registration. 

We used to have a pin board with the United States and World Map, and would clear it off at the end of each year. We transformed that into what we call our Community Board. Guests are given notecards and a pen to write their answer to rotating questions. Right now the question is "How do you prepare for a disaster?" Next month will be día de los muertos focused "Who do you honor for DDLM?"
We transcribe these in a docx, and submit the physical notecards to institutional archives and have a sign with a notice that answers will be documented. We do have to regularly screen answers for profanities, but they are few. Kids love it. Among us drawings were popular earlier this year and we saw a lot of "Friends don't lie." 

We dream of an oral history booth or digital feedback kiosk. Events are where we have our best data when we have staff or volunteers conduct in person surveys. We also send post event digital survey links, which do get some hits.

Data is important, and another hat to wear in museums. Hope to visit your museum one day. Buena suerte!

------------------------------
René Ballesteros
Community Engagement Officer
Museum of South Texas History
Edinburg, TX

We have a Story Stroll (children's book with the pages put on signs, creating a path of pages for kids and families to follow) on our grounds and want to know how many people are utilizing it, but can't always monitor it.  The first sign has a QR code that links to a short questionnaire (how many in your party, how did you hear about us, where are you from).  Next to the QR code is text asking visitors to please use it to check.  We get a notification every time someone completes the online form.

------------------------------
Holly Burnham
Education Manager
Montpelier Mansion
Laurel MD
Montpelier House Museum
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-28-2022 08:21 AM
From: Meredith Peruzzi
Subject: Digital vs Physical Guestbooks

For those of you using digital guestbooks, what points of entry do you have for it? QR code, device on a stand in the gallery, link on the website, etc?

Many thanks.

------------------------------
Meredith Peruzzi
National Deaf Life Museum
Gallaudet University
Washington DC
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 09-27-2022 07:48 AM
From: James McCormick
Subject: Digital vs Physical Guestbooks

We moved to a digital book last November.   We capture the zip code/country, are you a first-time visitor, how they heard and if they want to subscribe to our newsletter, name & email address.  If they go for the newsletter, they will receive a thank you email with a discounted membership offer.  Now with the zip codes, we can see where the visitors are from.

------------------------------
James McCormick
Chairman
The Aviation Museum of Kentucky
Lexington KY


Original Message:
Sent: 09-26-2022 09:26 AM
From: Rene Ballesteros
Subject: Digital vs Physical Guestbooks

Hi Alisa,

Our museum has used a traditional physical guest book for years. It's a binder with landscape oriented fields. Name, where are you from, first visit (YN), how did you hear about us, comments. The comments box is very small. 90% of the time we see brief positive "Beautiful Museum," "Great History," "I came with family." Other popular ones are "There should be a cafe," or the dreaded "not much has changed."
It gives us good info, but it's very brief. We also collect zip codes at registration. 

We used to have a pin board with the United States and World Map, and would clear it off at the end of each year. We transformed that into what we call our Community Board. Guests are given notecards and a pen to write their answer to rotating questions. Right now the question is "How do you prepare for a disaster?" Next month will be día de los muertos focused "Who do you honor for DDLM?"
We transcribe these in a docx, and submit the physical notecards to institutional archives and have a sign with a notice that answers will be documented. We do have to regularly screen answers for profanities, but they are few. Kids love it. Among us drawings were popular earlier this year and we saw a lot of "Friends don't lie." 

We dream of an oral history booth or digital feedback kiosk. Events are where we have our best data when we have staff or volunteers conduct in person surveys. We also send post event digital survey links, which do get some hits.

Data is important, and another hat to wear in museums. Hope to visit your museum one day. Buena suerte!

------------------------------
René Ballesteros
Community Engagement Officer
Museum of South Texas History
Edinburg, TX