Wondering, Wandering, and Wireless

Ethnography of a group of science museum docents and their brief affair with wireless technology

As stated in the title this project is an ethnography; it is the result of six months of qualitative research that took place between October 2004 and March 2005. The research question is a relatively simple one; what would happen if the docents at a hands-on science museum were given a Wi-Fi enabled PDA to use while they work? Would they use it? If they used it, what would they use it for? This is precisely what this project explores, how the front line educators at the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco navigated the introduction of technology into their work at the museum, and what their use tells us about learning, education, technology, and choice.