Resources produced by Playful Places in collaboration with Affiliate Museums The Rules for a Playful Museum book project, 2015 and The More Playful Museums programme at Manchester Museum, 2014-2016 Articles & Useful Links The Manchester Museum Playful project in Arts Professional, Play Wales Magazine, and in the International Journal of Play Fantastic resources on play, and […]

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Research shows most of us care deeply about one another and the world around us, valuing things like equality, community and friendship. However, the large majority of us underestimate the extent to which our fellow citizens care about these things – and it seems that this misperception is holding us back both individually and collectively. Cultural organisations […]

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In April 2017 Happy Museum Director, Hilary Jennings, appeared via video at a Canadian Museums Association Panel – Beyond Rhetoric; Beyond Neutrality: Introducing Three Game Changers.   The moderator: was Robert R. Janes, FCMA and the other panelists were: Nika Collison, Haida Gwaii Museum at Kay Llnagaay; Beka Economopoulos, The Natural History Museum, Brooklyn, New York […]

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Valuation DIY A fun, workshop approach reviewing outcomes by prioritising or valuing outcomes. Valuation DIY is an empowering way for participants to discuss not just the extent, but the value of the different outcomes they have experienced through your project. Download (pdf): Valuation_DIY For information about the rest of our resources see this chart showing all our tools and […]

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Observational evaluation An in-gallery approach to predefined indicators of outcomes. Observational evaluation involves researchers observing participants in projects to record their activities, behaviours, emotions, interactions, themes and so on, to get a sense of how people experience your project. It can also be an opportunity to engage the front of house teams. Download: (pdf) Observational_evaluation For information about the […]

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Narrative evaluation A desk work approach to identifying themes including how frequently they recur, by analysing written material. You may gather qualitative written feedback through forms, interviews, visitor comments, embedded evaluations and so on. There are ways to collate this data and include it as evidence in your evaluation and learning processes. Downloads: (pdf) Narrative_evaluation (xls)  NarrativeEvaluationTemplate For information […]

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Embedded evaluation A variety of in-gallery, open approaches which might be fun, embedded in the exhibition or activity to gain a variety of feedback. This is the idea of making evaluation part of the project itself rather than something that takes places outside of the project or at another time. Download:  (pdf) Embedded_evaluation For information about the rest […]

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Where do you stand?  Simple, workshop approach before, after and regularly through an activity to identify individual outcomes Where do you stand? is a simple tool that can gauge participants’ opinions by asking them to stand a line of masking tape to show whether they agree with a statement on a scale of 1-7. It is used […]

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Happy Tracker Very simple, workshop approach before, after, and regularly through a period to identify individual wellbeing outcomes. Happy Tracker is a very simple and easy tool developed by the Story Museum working with the New Economics Foundation (nef) to assess individual wellbeing. Participants simply use their body to indicate their level of wellbeing at points in […]

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