Visiting the Smithsonian On Vacation

I’m on vacation this week and next!   We’re visiting family at the Jersey Shore, but stopping in DC to take the kids to the Smithsonian and other DC highlights.     You might see a few blog posts or tweets but don’t expect a fast reply via email.     Playing tourist in DC,  it is interesting to see how much your online digital life impacts your offline life.
The Smithsonian is one of the Networked Nonprofits we feature in the book.  My kids, who had been introduced to the Smithsonian through the popular movie “Night at the Smithsonian” were excited too.   There were a number of online/offline participatory visitor experiences.

We spent most of the day at the Smithsonian.   At the Natural History Museum, we visited the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins,  an immersive, interactive journey through the origins of human beings and the dramatic stories of survival and extinction in the midst of earth’s history of climate change.
There was one exhibit that the kids just loved.   It was a photo booth that took your photo and transformed you in an early human.   That’s me as a Homo floresiensis,.   It’s what I would have looked like if I lived  95,000 to 17,000 years ago on an island in what is now Southeast Asia.
You had the option of emailing the photo to yourself and it came with a description as well as a mention of what to purchase in the gift shop or where to donate.

At the Museum of American History, we visited the First Ladies Exhibit.  Outside the exhibit I noticed this sign and shared it on Twitter.  I wondered whether or not the information was of any value and asked?

Next stop, the Jersey Shore!