The digital publication of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC)
The ASTC Dimensions Resource Library provides peer-reviewed guides, articles, and insights written by science engagement colleagues about topics relevant to science centers and museums and other organizations committed to engaging the public in science and technology. Interested in contributing to the resource library? Learn more about our quarterly submission cycle and our submission guidelines.
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The organizational and contributor characteristics reflect the ways that ASTC classifies member organizations and individuals in our data collection and reflect categorization at the time the article was originally published.
This is an extended discussion of the question that appeared in the Viewpoints department of the September/October 2012 issue of Dimensions magazine. The central focus for science centers is serving the communities in their region. Many of the science festivals popping up in the United States are led by museums,
IN THIS ISSUE July/August 2012 As a key part of our commitment to our members, ASTC is dedicated to providing vision and direction by anticipating trends and helping our member institutions to prepare for new opportunities and challenges. In this issue, we look at a selection of current and future
By Julie Bowen From Dimensions July/August 2012 I have been wondering for a while why recent ASTC annual conferences have had fewer sessions about exhibits than they did five or 10 years ago. Have exhibits reached a point of perfection and become a craft needing only minor tweaking around the
This is an extended discussion of the question that appeared in the Viewpoints department of the July/August 2012 issue of Dimensions magazine. Groupon and LivingSocial are neither good nor bad for museums. However, they are a tool that must be used with great care. As museum professionals, we must ask:
By Michael John Gorman From Dimensions March/April 2012 The explosive cocktail of art and science has been with us for millennia. We have long had individual practitioners—from Pythagoras to Steve Jobs—who defied disciplinary boundaries, but I personally think there is something very exciting going on now that makes art-science in
I begin this column with a confession of sorts. I am not a science fiction (SF) reader. And yet, I am intrigued by the recent commentary of renowned SF writer Neal Stephenson in World Policy Journal. Stephenson laments the loss today of the “techno-optimism” of science fiction’s Golden Age—from Tom
This is an extended version of an article that appeared in the March/April 2012 issue of Dimensions magazine. Science center and museum professionals, artists, and educators from around the world share their projects, programs, exhibitions, and initiatives that combine science and art. In our new Art of Science Gallery, the
This discussion was originally published in the Viewpoints department of the March/April 2012 of Dimensions magazine. Along with traditional measures of financial performance and customer satisfaction, a successful science center needs to show how it achieves its mission of engaging the public in science and technology. An innovative approach would be
IN THIS ISSUE January/February 2012 Exhibitions are perhaps the most quintessential and exciting element of science centers’ work. In this issue of Dimensions, we examine the exhibition philosophies of various institutions, as well as the design principles that lead to great exhibition experiences. In addition, we explore the advantages of
By Paul Orselli From Dimensions January/February 2012 When I think about the most enjoyable and memorable places—truly great museums—that I’ve visited over a lifetime of avid museum-going, the ones that bubble to the top include the City Museum, St. Louis; the Exploratorium, San Francisco; the Minnesota History Center, St. Paul;