{"id":95,"date":"2026-10-24T23:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T23:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/?p=95"},"modified":"2026-10-24T23:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T23:11:14","slug":"reflection-on-hyperlinked-environments-harnessing-the-power-of-the-senses-in-the-hyperlinked-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/2026\/10\/24\/reflection-on-hyperlinked-environments-harnessing-the-power-of-the-senses-in-the-hyperlinked-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection on Hyperlinked Environments: Harnessing the Power of the Senses in the Hyperlinked Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Credit: StockSnap @ https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/man-painting-paint-museum-artist-2590655\/<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In her TedX talk, titled <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Opening Up the Museum<\/span><\/i>,\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/span> Nina Simon gives numerous examples of the way museums have invited visitors to be active participants (TEDx Talks, 2012). She also gives staggering statistics on how employing a participatory museum model in the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, more than doubled the number of visitors in one year (TEDx Talks, 2012, 8:02). If you are looking to work in museums, I highly recommend watching her TedX talk. I also think some of the ideas could be employed in libraries as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nina Simon provides examples of how visitors can become active participants through the creation of art (TEDxTalks, 2012). However, the articles in the hyperlinked museums module also demonstrated how active participation is encouraged through the use of multiple senses. We are probably most familiar with using our sense of sight in a museum. We typically are only allowed to look at artifacts and artworks. The sense of touch may be another common sense employed in museums. In my experience, interactive exhibits involving touch are most common in science museums. How are museums incorporating the other three senses into their exhibits? I wanted to explore how sound, taste, and smell are being utilized in museums to create engaging exhibits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sound\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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The Cutty Sark. Credit: jeffwallis @ https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/cutty-sark-ship-london-historic-1369026\/<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This idea of sound in museums appeals to me because I love to listen to ambient playlists, like <\/span>this one<\/span><\/a><\/span>,<\/span> while I study because it transports me to another world. Similarly, the Royal Museums Greenwich used the power of sound to transport visitors when they boarded the historical ship, the Cutty Sark (Charr, 2024). Visitors can experience \u201cthe sounds of the ship\u2019s golden age, including weather conditions, the creaking of wooden decks, and the loading of tea chests\u201d (Charr, 2024, para. 2). Sounds pretty cool to me (no pun intended).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Taste\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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Credit: adege @ https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/mushrooms-forest-nature-moss-10481720\/<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Would you eat soil? I can\u2019t say I would but if your answer is yes, then the <\/span>Museum of Edible Earth<\/span><\/a><\/span> has got you covered. Eating soil is \u201can ancient global practice\u201d called geophagy and is defined as \u201cthe intentional custom of eating earth, which includes soil and earth-like substances such as clay and chalk\u201d (The Museum of Edible Earth, n.d.-a, para. 3). Before I describe the museum in more depth, I\u2019d like to pass along the museum\u2019s disclaimer that \u201ceating earth is not recommended by food authorities. Proceed at your own risk\u201d (The Museum of Edible Earth, n.d.-a, para. 8).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The museum describes themselves as “participatory” (The Museum of Edible Earth, n.d.-a, para. 6 and 7) and that is evident by the fact that they allow you to taste the soils. However, they take this a step further by inviting visitors to contribute to the soil database by describing what they think the soil tasted like (The Museum of Edible Earth, n.d.-a). For example, if you navigate to the soil called <\/span>\u201cGreen Clay Chunks,\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/span> in the catalogue, you will find a review section with people sharing their thoughts and some even sharing taste testing videos of themselves (The Museum of Edible Earth, n.d.-b).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Smell<\/b><\/p>\n

I highly recommend the article <\/span>Exhale Through the Gift Shop<\/span><\/a><\/span> by Becky Ferreira. The article gives examples of museums utilizing scents in their exhibits (both pleasant and unpleasant ones) (Ferreira, 2024). The <\/span>SS Great Britain Experience<\/span><\/a><\/span> is one example given (Ferreira, 2024). The exhibit allows you to experience the \u201csights, smells and sounds of Victorian life at sea\u201d (Bristol Dockyards, n.d., \u201cStep Aboard the Ship\u201d section). Some of these smells include urine and vomit (gross but accurate) (Ferreira, 2024).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I realized as I wrote this blog post that I only gave examples of unpleasant tasting experiences (soil) and unpleasant smelling experiences (vomit).\u00a0 Nonetheless, I hope I was able to illustrate how museums are engaging multiple senses to create a participatory museum environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

References\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Bristol Dockyards. (n.d.). <\/span>SS Great Britain Experience<\/span><\/i>. SS Great Britain Trust. <\/span>https:\/\/www.bristoldockyards.org\/ss-great-britain-experience<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Charr, M. (2024, December 16). <\/span>How Cutty Sark built a location-aware soundscape<\/span><\/i>. MuseumNext. <\/span>https:\/\/www.museumnext.com\/article\/immersive-soundscapes-on-the-cutty-sark-blending-technology-and-heritage\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ferreira, B. (2024, November 3). <\/span>Exhale through the gift shop<\/span><\/i>. The New York Times. <\/span>https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/11\/02\/science\/scent-exhibits-museum.html<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Museum of Edible Earth. (n.d.-a). <\/span>About<\/span><\/i> [The \u201cAbout\u201d page for the Museum of Edible Earth]. <\/span>https:\/\/museumofedible.earth\/about\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Museum of Edible Earth. (n.d.-b). <\/span>Green Clay Chunks <\/span><\/i>[Soil in catalogue]. <\/span>https:\/\/museumofedible.earth\/product\/french-green-clay\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

TEDx Talks. (2012, November 7). <\/span>Opening up the museum: Nina Simon @ TEDxSantaCruz <\/span><\/i>[Video]. YouTube. <\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aIcwIH1vZ9w<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  In her TedX talk, titled \u201cOpening Up the Museum,\u201d Nina Simon gives numerous examples of the way museums have invited visitors to be active participants (TEDx Talks, 2012). She also gives staggering statistics on how employing a participatory museum model in the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, more than doubled the number … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Reflection on Hyperlinked Environments: Harnessing the Power of the Senses in the Hyperlinked Museum”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":897,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/897"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/theconnectedcorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}