Sexy Browsing

Sexy browsing is when an interactive experience is the equivalent of an analog book, diagram or filing cabinet, but done with appealing technology.

When sexy browsing, you navigate educational image, text or video information. And your reward is more information. Like anything, it’s appealing if it’s well done. But partly the appeal is because it’s on a glowing touchscreen the size of your bed. Or a huge wall that’s asking your friends to wave their hands a lot.

Many interactive spatial experiences — perhaps most — are sexy browsing. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just not the only thing.

Examples that are actually sexy browsing:

> Touch the diagram on screen to explore squid anatomy
> Gesture at the media wall to see related silverware
> Tap in the code to hear from the curator

Examples that are not sexy browsing:

> Make a political poster you take home
> Operate the next-gen moon rover
> Dance to power the exhibits about dance

Here’s the thing:
Sexy browsing isn’t a bad thing.

But it’s not the only thing.

Warmly,
Jonathan