A little skeptical....

While reading in Nina Simon's book today I found the chapter on Visitors as Contributors interesting but I am also a little skeptical of some of the ideas. First of all I think it is a great idea to allow visitors to contribute to both the exhibits and projects as well as contribute their ideas. We have read so many things this semester that say how much more visitors enjoy themselves when they are able to take an active role in something. A lot of times if you just walk through an exhibit it may be memorable to you but if you go through the exhibit and do an activity you will remember it a little more. And then if you go through an exhibit that you had a little part in and may have a piece of art or something in there, you will always remember it because it is something you had on display. Simon gives an example in her book of the museum that had people but memories such as smells or letters or anything they wanted into bottles to put on display. It was called Bottle It Up! I believe. She mentions the little boy who put multiple bottles in the display and went back every day to rearrange them and encourage the visitors to play with them. He will very likely have this memory for a long time. I also have a personal example of this. A friend of mine is a photographer and told me the other day that a few years ago the Akron Art Museum was doing an exhibit on a famous photographer and asked students and other photographers to take similar photos and they will display them as well. She had two photos in the exhibit. This is something she will remember for a very long time. So I feel that having visitors contribute to projects a great idea. The part that I am skeptical of is completely relying on visitors for the project. She calls this necessary contribution. I feel this is a risky move. People are not always very reliable and you run the risk of the project not getting done in time or at all. If you have plenty of willing people it is not as risky but I feel as though your asking a lot of people to be completely relying on them, especially if it is on their own time. Most of Simon's ideas I like and agree with, I'm just a little skeptical on some.