Tag: interpretation

Awards for Interpretation: Are We Sending the Right Signal?

The Association for Heritage Interpretation (AHI) in the UK has recently announced the re-launch of their awards scheme for interpretation. AHI have yet to publish their rationale and criteria for the awards, so the following are my thoughts on their published information to date. The Ambition AHI want their awards to be a ‘prestigious badge … Continue reading Awards for Interpretation: Are We Sending the Right Signal? →

The uses and limitations of target audiences and segmentation

Target audiences are meant to do two things: guide our practice as we become more visitor focused, and increase visitor numbers. I’ve come to believe that in both areas, target audiences actually do more harm than good – at least the way we’re currently using them. In general, audiences are segmented by the following: age, … Continue reading The uses and limitations of target audiences and segmentation →

Commemorating the First World War: A delicate balancing act

Last week the media and Twitter were full of news about the impending centenary of the start of the First World War - including images of exhibits and, yes, ‘reenactors’. When I saw what I believed to be ‘yet another WWI image’ I was just about to switch off mentally, when with a start I … Continue reading Commemorating the First World War: A delicate balancing act →

The moral obligation of interpretation

In Britain, we’re experiencing interesting social and political times at the moment [1], which raises the question again what role museums, heritage sites and by extension, interpretation should play in response to this [2] – if any. I’ve argued previously that it is a dangerous myth to think especially of museums as apolitical spaces – … Continue reading The moral obligation of interpretation →

Richard III Revisited, or: Is this the heritage industry?

Last week, three high court judges dismissed an application for judicial review and thus paved the way for Richard III’s remains to be buried at Leicester Cathedral. There are three key things that strike me about this whole process. The Authorized Heritage Discourse at work The basis for the applicant’s claim (that they are relatives … Continue reading Richard III Revisited, or: Is this the heritage industry? →

Interpreting Country Estates: Somewhere between heritage and aesthetic

I outed myself at work this week when I declared that I actually don’t want any interpretation at a lot of the National Trust-style country estates. We were talking about places that have no other story than one family’s wealth and privilege. The new-ish trend has been for a few years now to explore the … Continue reading Interpreting Country Estates: Somewhere between heritage and aesthetic →

Interpretation and Journeys Into the Past

According to my visitor interviews to date [1], the key benefits visitors get from visiting a heritage site are ‘being in the place where history happened’, ‘imagining what it was like’, and ‘[expressing] national or personal identity’[2]. This made me think of the title of David Lowenthal’s book: The Past is a Foreign Country [3]. … Continue reading Interpretation and Journeys Into the Past →

Why We Need Good Interpretive Planning Processes

Two things recently have made me think again about what should be included in a ‘good’ interpretive planning process.  One was hearing at a meeting that first should come the decisions about the content, and then we’ll ‘add on’ the interpretation, suggesting an understanding of interpretation as, well, an add-on, a media solution. The other … Continue reading Why We Need Good Interpretive Planning Processes →