The development and evaluation of Chinese digital science and technology museum

There has been a considerable increase in the needs for implementation of multimedia representation technology into the museum field to develop online exhibitions and enhance museum educational functions. China Digital Science and Technology Museum (CDSTM) is such an emerging effort in this field. The purpose of CDSTM is to provide solutions to issues of unbalanced museum distribution, exhibition space limitation in China and seeking more ways to offer diverse and multimedia-rich exhibitions. This paper addresses the application of incorporating innovative and rapid digital technology in digital science and technology oriented museum development in China. Three modes of online exhibitions have been developed to emphasize user experiences through extensive application of animation and virtual reality technologies. CDSTM's e-learning functionality in promotion of scientific literacy in the public and enhancement of formal school science curriculum is also discussed. In addition, evaluation on users’ expectation and satisfaction is conducted to identify perception based on questionnaire and web logs. The feedbacks indicate that CDSTM has positive impacts on mitigating traditional science and technology museum challenges, and has the potential to promote science education and science literacy in public as well.