For Immediate Release: May 4, 2009
Media Contacts: Emma Filar, Marketing & Communications Associate
Visit the Press Room
National Building Museum Wins Prestigious Media and Technology Award
WASHINGTON, D.C.— The National Building Museum is pleased to announce it is a recipient of a 2009 MUSE Award for Interpretive Interactive Installations. Now in its 20th year, the MUSE awards competition recognizes outstanding achievement in museum media. The competition is an activity of the Media and Technology Standing Professional Committee of the American Association of Museums (AAM).
The interactive elements in Green Community were created by Potion Design to engage audiences and communicate the messages of sustainability and interconnectedness to all audiences. On the way to the exhibition entrance, a hallway interactive projects information on the floor outside of the galleries. Visitors can choose a mode of transportation from bicycle, car, or bus and learn about their effects on the health of the individual, community, and planet as they travel down the hall. Once inside the galleries, the entrance wall interactive allows visitors to see the communities in the exhibition on a globe and draw connections between them. On the way out of the galleries, a touch screen interactive encourages visitors to act locally by changing a fictitious community called "Grayville" into "Greenville" by planting trees or voting to improve light rail service.
The suite of interactive elements in Green Community won a Gold award in the Interpretive Interactive Installations category. The judges said, "This suite of exhibition activities was an artful combination of content and interaction that seemed to this jury both innovative and fun! The activities built upon each other in a way that was both compelling and coherent."
The MUSE Awards competition received nearly 250 applications from a wide variety of museums in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Entries included audio, cell phone, and interactive handheld tours, interactive kiosks and multimedia installations, podcasts, blogs, games, websites, online collection and image databases, videos, and e-mail marketing campaigns. This year MUSE Award winners were named from 11 distinct categories.
Sixty-six judges—museum and media professionals from across the county—were involved in the process of selecting the winners. Winning entries demonstrated outstanding achievement in content quality; interface design; functionality; production quality; visual appeal; user's experience; and the extent to which new directions were charted or old challenges resolved through technical innovation. A complete list of judging criteria and MUSE Award winners can be found on the Media and Technology web site.
The National Building Museum was accepted the MUSE Gold Award for Interpretive Interactive Installations during a reception on Thursday, April 30 at the 2009 AAM Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The National Building Museum is America’s leading cultural institution dedicated to advancing the quality of the built environment by educating people about its impact on their lives. Through its exhibitions, educational programs, online content, and publications, the Museum has become a vital forum for the exchange of ideas and information about the world we build for ourselves. Public inquiries: 202.272.2448 or visit www.nbm.org. Connect with us on Twitter: @BuildingMuseum and Facebook.
For more information, please contact the Marketing and Communications Department at 202.272.2448, ext. 3458 or pressoffice@nbm.org.
