With increasing competition from other forms of entertainment and learning, museums are learning to change. They were once sacred spaces, refuges from the ever-changing blur of technology, but that’s not true anymore. These days, museums—like any …
With increasing competition from other forms of entertainment and learning, museums are learning to change. They were once sacred spaces, refuges from the ever-changing blur of technology, but that’s not true anymore. These days, museums—like any …
Here in the Second Story Lab, we research new and emerging technologies that have the potential to enhance user experiences. As part of this ongoing quest, we are always on the lookout for new ways of sensing people in spaces. When we saw the dept…
For two weeks in April 2012, Second Story creative director David Waingarten and his crew, Jefe Greenheart and Kirsten Southwell, set out on a whirlwind tour of North Carolina. Their mission: to capture stories of real citizens speaking about issu…
In December of 2011, I traveled to Atlanta to help install 12 interactives for the new Vault of the Secret Formula at the World of Coca-Cola. I was deeply involved in this project for about eight months, and watched it grow from feverish conceptua…
If you haven’t seen the 1952 movie Singin’ in the Rain, well, I envy you, because you can only see it for the first time once. Aside from being one of my favorite films, I’ve found that to be a great look at the collaborative creative process, esp…
Recently, my colleague Scott Smith posted some thoughts on authorship and narrative control, in the context of our work. Stories and their trajectories are a big part of exhibit design, but a visitor brings unpredictable perspectives and patterns …
Citizen Kane, dir. Orson Welles, 1941 Here at Second Story, we consider ourselves storytellers. But not so fast: Let’s look at that term, storyteller. When I tell my daughter a story, I’m controlling a narrative that has a beginning, a middle, and…
This past weekend I attended the grand opening of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes in Los Angeles. Considering Los Angeles’ rich Mexican-American history, it is surprising that this is the first Mexican-American cultural center in this city. And becaus…
