Are We Disconnected?

Tonight my roommate Ginny and I were sitting having dinner, and we got into a really great discussions about the current situation of museums in the world. She told me about a video she had run across on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaFbmuEUdwI, which is a very slow moving but interesting commentary on one opinion about the museum world. While satirical, it gives a good jolt to those of us being educated as the next group of museum professionals. Though I would argue strongly against the need to put a museum into a box, it is true that we guide visitors by choosing certain objects to display, writing and desiging exhibits and plaques for individual objects. I am curious as to what others feel about this. Is it the job of a museum curator or educator to guide a visitor? Should exhibits be set up with only the most basic framework, allowing visitors to travel through and interpret without guidance? And are museum professionals, as college educated and beyond, unable to identify with the general public, most of whom do not have masters degrees?

Ginny and I were also discussing the difficulties of living history museums and the application of this question. In living history, there is a very strong interpretation of the history being presented. That is why those people who wear period clothing and talk to visitors are called "interpreters". Is this the right way of presenting history to the public? Or are we cutting ourselves off to other possibilities by giving interpreters or docents a set script to work off of?

I don't have a good answer to this one. If anyone does, I'd love to hear it. Our first year class is getting geared up to help the Oneonta World of Learning discuss their plans for a building for their museum, and this is one of the issues we as a class are trying to tackle. What do you think?