Microsystems Public Access to Personal Computing: A New Role for Science Museums

From an educational standpoint, science museums and computers have shared a common characteristic: both have tended to be static and passive, offering little opportunity for participation in or access to technology. A museum visit, always a culturally respectable way to spend a Saturday afternoon, generally involves a lot of walking, looking, and listening, but little touching or participating. Likewise, public access to computers has generally been vicarious, or limited to computer output only. We watch the airline ticket agent make a reservation at the terminal, we receive computer-generated form letters and bills in the mail, and we peer through the glass portal at the computerized San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Control Room.