Hello all,
As a committee Trustee of the Association of Heritage Interpretation (AHI)
http://www.ahi.org.uk/ in the UK, I felt that we should pitch in here.
AHI is the professional body representing heritage interpreters in the UK. Interpreters or ‘communicators’ might include curators, managers, front-of-house staff, volunteers,
visitor experience officers, rangers etc. In the UK a lot of interpretation goes on, but it might be referred to as outreach, engagement and education (to name but a few terms!).
We use many methods to interpret heritage. Interpretation in the UK does not refer to mainly written
text, or, for that matter, focus on the delivery aspect of interpretation only. Interpreters in the UK operate in a complex field as interpretation involves everything from interpretive planning and research through to design, implementation (project management),
evaluation and running interpretive programmes. It also involves the collaboration and coordination between a number of related fields: business planning, marketing, operations, press, building and architecture etc. The tools an interpreter applies should
come out of this careful planning process, represent site-specific solutions and could entail anything from guided tours and talks, multimedia, costumed interpretation, interactives and yes, written text in a variety of media.
The UK is fortunate enough to have a number of highly talented interpreters in the UK who are respected, and work, internationally.
While we all thrive to deliver to the highest possible standards, there will always be differences in the quality of the end product. This is for a variety of reasons, but not due to the
inherent superiority of one (national) model to the other. Where interpretation is recognised as a discipline, and this is true in the UK as well as the US, all interpreters share very similar principles.
However, AHI recognises that we could do more to raise standards and promote our profession, and we are working hard to do this i.e. through training, advocacy. AHI has
just been subject to a review of activities which will inform its future. Applying for ‘Full membership’ status of the AHI
http://www.ahi.org.uk/www/join/categories/ is one way for interpreters to gain accreditation. As a result of the review we are looking at trying to support more members to achieve this status through
the training we provide. We recently asked our Linkedin group
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Association-Heritage-Interpretation-4078892 for training suggestions and we would welcome suggestions from the GEM group too. In light of this conversation would a 'Guided walks, roving and informal interpretation- how to
get the most from your site, collection, staff and volunteers' training course be of interest? All suggestions welcome!
Lisa Keys
AHI Committee Trustee and e-News editor
> -----Original Message-----
> From: List for discussion of issues in museum education in the UK. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of GEM automatic digest system
> Sent: 16 March 2014 00:01
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: GEM Digest - 14 Mar 2014 to 15 Mar 2014 (#2014-90)
>
> There is 1 message totaling 77 lines in this issue.
>
> Topics of the day:
>
> 1. A Friday kind of question: advice for managing front line staff being
> chatted up by visitors
>
>
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>
> Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 11:51:57 +0000
> From: Crispian Emberson <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: A Friday kind of question: advice for managing front line staff being chatted up by visitors
>
> Kathy - I don't think you are off base at all - As the MD of heritage interpretation companies on both side of the Atlantic (HDC Americas Inc and HDC Ltd) I get to see both sides of the coin. The biggest difference I feel is that in the US heritage interpretation
is a highly respected profession - i.e. It takes training, qualification and accreditation to be a heritage interpreter. In the UK anyone can wake up one morning and call themselves a "professional" heritage interpreter and get away with it. So in this respect
I would say that the US is far, far ahead of the UK.
>
> Cris
>
>
> On 14/03/2014 21:09, "Kathy Jones" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > I've hesitated to reply to this because I don't have any helpful
> > advice, and because what I do have to say threatens to take the subject on a side track.
> > But I was struck again by the old "two nations divided by a common language"
> > thing when I read this question and the attendant answers.
> >
> > I joined this GEM discussion group because I'm an American heritage
> > interpreter looking for work in the field in Britain (that is, in
> > heritage museum work/interpretation, not in American heritage in
> > Britain....oh, you get the point), and had heard GEM was a great
> > organization to help me get up to speed with what's going on in your
> > country. The thing is, all the job descriptions for interpreters that
> > I've seen in Britain have limited interpretation to written texts,
> > mostly signage. Here, my job with the National Park Service centers
> > around interpersonal interactions exactly like the ones you talked
> > about...minus getting chatted up, of course, but because we're in
> > uniform and such conversations are recognized by so much of the public
> > as a standard part of the job, there's not much danger of that. My
> > job--what I get paid for, in many ways--is engaging visitors in
> > conversation about history. In fact, I just finished a four-session
> > training course entitled "Facilitated Dialogue" designed to enhance
> > such conversations. We call it "informal interpretation." The more
> > official lecture-type talks that I do at the top of the hour, and the walking tours, and the living history touch-tables, and that type of thing, fall under the "formal interpretation"
> > rubric. Signage...well, that's interpretation, too, but not a major
> > part of what most of us do.
> >
> > Am I totally off base? Do British and American museum professionals
> > use the terms the same way and I've just lucked into some very
> > specific ads and web discussion posts? Is such informal interpretation
> > common in British museums and heritage sites? If not, that could be
> > part of the issue with your amorous visitors--they're not trained to
> > expect it. I could (easily!) be wrong and you do informal
> > interpretation all the time but call it something else, though, to be
> > honest, that hasn't been my experience when I've visited heritage sites in Britain.
> >
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> > GEM list: Contact the list owner for assistance at
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> >
> > For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during
> > a
> > holiday) see the list website at
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> Hi everyone,
> >
> > I manage a group of people whose job is to engage visitors in conversation about objects and related topics, in the museums. Just this week they have told me that on more than one occasion they have been asked for their number / a date by someone following
the conversation. They have politely declined but the whole experience leaves them feeling uncomfortable and like they don’t want to carry on going up to visitors and striking up conversation, particularly they don’t want to approach any more men.
> >
> > I found it hard to know what to say as I had been praising their confidence and skills they have developed in talking with the public but all I could do was sympathise with how they felt in this situation. Any advice please? Should I suggest they take a
break after such an encounter, to get away for a bit? Or that they can end their shift early if they’re feeling so uncomfortable? Or….
> >
> > We joked about them wearing badges that say “Thanks but not thanks” – they do wear badges that say “Museum staff”.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Celine
> >
> >
> > --
> > Celine West
> > Head of Learning and Access
> > UCL Museums & Public Engagement
>
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> End of GEM Digest - 14 Mar 2014 to 15 Mar 2014 (#2014-90)
> *********************************************************