I recently read about someone saying that heritage managers and interpreters were ‘selling’ experiences. I’ve already written in a recent blog post how ‘experience’ seems to have been a popular concept for a while now. In fact, even I was raving when the National Trust first changed all interpretation and visitor related job titles, along … Continue reading Selling Experiences?
Tag: heritage values
Involving stakeholders in interpretation, Or: policy aspiration and practice challenges
Next week sees the For Them and By Them: Involving Stakeholders and Communities in Interpretation conference take place, which I initiated. I am no longer able to be at the conference myself, so I thought I’d share here what I was going to talk about there [1]. It is really quite astonishing to see just … Continue reading Involving stakeholders in interpretation, Or: policy aspiration and practice challenges
Target audiences and access in interpretation practice: Emma Waterton’s critique
I’ve recently read Emma Waterton’s excellent book Politics, Policy and the Discourses of Heritage in Britain. Waterton is not an interpreter, but much of her writing applies directly to interpretation also. As in her other writings, Waterton raises excellent and critical questions in this book. Some of these are of immediate relevance to interpreters: … Continue reading Target audiences and access in interpretation practice: Emma Waterton’s critique
Interpretation is… a facilitated process
I have just recently submitted an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project primarily (but not exclusively) aimed at young people at my current site. Last week, HLF asked me to clarify how creating a young people’s area in our historic park was intended to help young people to understand the heritage of … Continue reading Interpretation is… a facilitated process
Target audiences in interpretation
In a recent conversation, an interpretation colleague asked me how I addressed target audiences in my interpretive practice. They didn’t elaborate; it was quite obvious that they considered target audiences to be such an obvious part of interpretation that no further qualification of the concept was required. Something about this unquestioned assertion sat uncomfortably with … Continue reading Target audiences in interpretation
Where is heritage in heritage interpretation?
As part of my current research I have been reviewing the literature on heritage studies. My opinions, gained from working at heritage sites, had already been that heritage is immensely personal: made up of different aspects for different individuals. When I worked at Culloden Battlefield in Scotland, I also realised that heritage was contested, and … Continue reading Where is heritage in heritage interpretation?
Diverse Heritage Values – Feedback from Interpret Europe’s First International Conference
Today I guided a workshop at the first international conference of Interpret Europe in Freiburg, Germany. I built on a paper I presented last November at NAI’s National Workshop in Las Vegas. I was really keen to explore further with other professionals what to do about diverse, and particularly conflicting heritage values. The conversation we … Continue reading Diverse Heritage Values – Feedback from Interpret Europe’s First International Conference
Interpretation…doesn’t trust visitors to have their own thoughts?
I am indebted to the Association for Heritage Interpretation (UK) for publishing a news item that highlighted the National Trust’s ‘Bench mate’ scheme and a commentary on it in a national newspaper. The latter is particularly refreshing as the voice of someone whose profession is not interpretation. The commentator, a comedian, I’m told, makes a … Continue reading Interpretation…doesn’t trust visitors to have their own thoughts?
Dirt and all? Or: That’s what good interpretation is for
As far as J. Geraint Jenkins is concerned, the Welsh efforts to present the nation’s industrial heritage (!) are mostly doomed. The reason is that sites, and coalmines in particular, are just not grimy enough. He also points out that much fabric has been lost, leaving the remaining structures without the all-important context. In presenting … Continue reading Dirt and all? Or: That’s what good interpretation is for
Do we interpret heritage because we’re disconnected from it?
During my readings I have come across this interesting quote by West and McKellar [1]: ‘By definition, interpretation as a heritage practice is a western discourse that has become necessary because official heritage has become disconnected from everyday understandings.’ It is a statement worth thinking about in greater depth. Most interpreters would readily agree that … Continue reading Do we interpret heritage because we’re disconnected from it?
Nicole Deufel's Blog 