What makes a good museum?

We have been looking at and reading about museums and thinking about what makes a good exhibit? What elements should we find in an exhibit. We had some good conversation in Bristol about the exhibits that are there now along with the director's critique. Here are some of the ideas that I walked away with:
1. Exhibits should bring the past and present together and lead to action
2. Exhibits should include the full diversity of the community in its exhibits.
3. Visitors should be able to relate their own experiences to what they see in the exhibit.
4. Exhibits should be about the particular local history and not just a generalized American past.
5. Visitors should be able to learn something new about their community not just reaffirm their assumptions
6. Exhibits should tell as story not just display stuff, the stuff should be interpreted and explained.
7. The interpretation should leave space for the visitor to decide what they think but also guide them
8. Exhibits should not be crowded and cluttered but leave space for the larger effect
9. Signs should be big enough to read and photos big enough to look at carefully.
10. Exhibits should be engaging, participatory, experiential and interactive, especially for children.
What else? What is on your top ten list? 

Then being introduced to Simone's Museum 2.0 Blog pulls some of these things together. In particular students noted the blogs on:
1. Participatory Design in Museums
2. Designing Participatory Questions
3. White Privilege in the Museum 
 So what would a participatory museum look like? How do we work at incorporating a wide range of community stories beyond those of white privilege? How do we get people involved when they come to the museum? What do they walk away with?

This is a conversation I hope we continue to have throughout the semester and especially with the final projects.