AI for science museums —
what we can actually build
Not a slideshow about AI. Working tools that do real museum work — built for understaffed teams, accessibility mandates, public engagement, and your own advocacy. Every one runs in a browser; click in and try it. Built to spark ideas for your February panel.
The Backlog Killer
One catalog record → a publishable label, three reading levels, WCAG alt-text, a social post, and a hook. Seconds, not weeks.
Ask the Collection
Ask a dataset in plain English — "natural history museums in the Midwest" — and get a live map, breakdown, and matching records.
Advocacy & Grant Builder
Your museum + an ask → a tailored legislator leave-behind or grant narrative, on-message and ready to edit.
Grounded Docent
Public-facing Q&A that answers only from cited sources — and refuses when the answer isn't there. Every reply shows its source.
Interactive Specimen — the real ISM mastodon scan
A genuine laser-scanned molar from the Illinois State Museum, spinning in a plain web page — no plug-in, no app. Any object you've digitized can become a web exhibit visitors anywhere can handle.
Ancient Illinois — a journey through deep time
Type in your town and travel back: the Ice Age, the equatorial coal swamps of 300 million years ago, an ancient tropical sea — all the worlds that came before, on the exact ground you stand on. A model for turning collections and earth science into a story visitors feel.
AI Policy Compass
The real museum-AI landscape, the four major frameworks side by side, and a one-click first-draft AI policy for any institution.
Panel Prep Kit
A 15-minute NotebookLM workspace setup — six cited sources and five ready-made questions to pull talking points straight from the evidence.
Panel Deck — a ready-to-present talk
A full-screen, keyboard-driven presentation that weaves the live demos into one flowing story for an AI-in-museums panel — with built-in speaker notes (press N) and offline fallbacks (press B). Lead with workload relief, close on the mastodon. Editable, yours to drive.