Sexy Browsing

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

When sexy browsing, you casually navigate educational image, text or video information at your leisure, with no particular goal in mind.

Your reward for doing this is … more information.

Like anything, it’s appealing if it’s well done. But often the appeal is the hardware wow factor, because it’s media 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 media experiences in museums — perhaps most? — are sexy browsing.

It’s not a bad thing. It’s often great. It’s just not the only thing.

Examples that are sexy browsing:

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

Examples that are not sexy browsing:

> Make a political poster you take home
> Operate the slightly disturbing military-grade robot dog
> Dance to power an interactive exhibit about dance

Here’s the thing:
Sexy browsing is not a bad thing. It’s often great. It’s just not the only thing.

Warmly,
Jonathan