Melissa Alexander
Project Director
Exploratorium
RLsp
3601 Lyon Street
San Francisco CA
94123
USA
http://www.exploratorium.edu/
Melissa Alexander is a Project Director for the Public Understanding of Scientific Research. She is the Co-Principal Investigator for Evidence: How do We Know What We Know a web resource designed to help online users engage with the processes of science. Prior to that she directed Origins an award-winning project using the Internet and the web to link on-line and local museum audiences with current scientific research efforts at 6 International observatories and laboratories around the world investigating the origins of matter, the universe and life. Prior to developing web resources for the museum, Alexander served for several years as the Exploratorium Manager of Public Programs and was Project Manager for numerous temporary exhibitions developed or hosted by the museum, including Turbulent Landscapes an exhibition of 30 artworks by 18 artists exploring complexity in natural systems, and she directed the development of "Revealing Bodies" an experimental exhibition addressing the social, cultural and political implications of scientific, anatomical and biomedical representations of the human body. The exhibition received an award for excellence in 2000 from the American Association of Museums and was seen by over 300,000 people.
Melissa will present From Guerilla Methods to Structured Evaluations: Examples of formative web design from the Exploratorium's Evidence and Mind projects. [Paper]
