In 2018 march april issue compressed

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Stagecoach Mary – Story on Page 9.

2 Volume 7, #2 – Mar/April 2018

The international heritage interpretation ee-magazine. magazine.

What’s one of the most critical issues in the interpretive profession?

Being laid off from your job. Many organizations are cutting interpretive staff – and in some cases it’s our fault. We’ve W been very poor at proving the cost benefits of our interpretive ive programs, program services and management activities. We can make $ and a profit too you know!

To help combat this we’ve created a new course for interpreters rs who might be in danger of losing sing your interpretive position and give you some tools to help argue for your costcost benefits. Prove that for every $1.00 you’re paid you give back to the organization $5.00 or more in benefits, income, marketing and community support – tangible and intangible!

JV - National Park Consultation – S. Korea.

An Interpreters Guide for Survival Economics or Proving your economic value and benefits to your agency during funding cuts, and keeping your job. http://www.heritageinterp.com/an_interpreters_guide_for_survival_economics.html tageinterp.com/an_interpreters_guide_for_survival_economics.html Just something to think about for th this new year ear of fiscal challenges. Hope you yo enjoy this packed issue. Visit us on Twitter – www.twitter.com/jvainterp Cheers John V.

In this issue

Page

-Meet our Regional Editors -Hello Hello from Ron Kley (new IN Regional Editor).

-Stagecoach Mary – A legend of the old west. IN Staff -Ambitious Ambitious vs. Realistic: Calls to Action at Museums and Interpretive Sites. Chris Brusatte, -Experiential Experiential Interpretation/Immersive Experiences. Heidi de Maine -Web app v Native app. Dan Boys -Developing a digital experience to help Taronga Zoo save the Sumatran tiger tiger. B. Kade, Kade J. Stevenson -Interpreting Sharecropping - The historical plight of tenant farmers. IN Staff -The Language of Live Interpretation -Making Making Contact Contact. John A. Veverka -News Release – Experimental Interpretive Design.

-Interp Magic: A Word Earworm- “Hole” Rod Burns -Can someone be beyond interpretation? Dan Boys -Revised Digital Preservation Toolkit Canadian Heritage Information Network - “Winter Musings for spring”- Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald -Virtual Reality Devices - Where They Are Now and Where They’re Going John Hawthorne -Pleasure and sin. Food and religious spiritualism in Colonial Mexico. Rocio Carvajal.

-Adapting Adapting the USACE Junior Ranger Program into the 21st Century. Shawna Polen, -The Liberation Route Europe-An An interactive trail of talking monuments Naftalie Hershler -Interpreting Poetry - “Thoughts on Christopher Smart…” Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald -InterpNEWS Market Place – Advertisers, ttraining courses and more.

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InterpNEWS is published six times a year as a FREE John Veverka & Associates publication and published as a service to the interpretive profession. If you would like to be added to our mailing list just send an ee-mail mail to jvainterp@aol.com and we’ll add you to our growing mailing list. Contributions of articles are welcomed. It you would like to have an article published in InterpNEWS let me know what you have in mind mind. Cover photo: Stage Coach Annie – page 6. https://twitter.com/jvainterp www.heritageinterp.com – jvainterp@aol.com – SKYPE: jvainterp https://twitter.com/jvainte

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J. Patrick Barry spent 35 years as an interpreter with the NPS and US Army Corps of Engineers. For 27 years he supervised the Bonneville Lock and Dam Visitor Center on the Columbia River. He was the lead interpretive trainer for the Corps for 14 years. Pat is now the owner of J. Patrick Barry Interpretive Training and Retired Ranger and Associates LLC. He serves on the Board of Directors as Communications Chair for the Corps Foundation. He served as Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region 10, National Association for Interpretation 2016 -2017, member since 1988, and Certified Interpretive Trainer since 2002. He is the author of the newly published book: Bonneville Lock and Dam: A Gift from the People of the Great Depression. You can reach Pat at: jpatbarry@hotmail.com Your photo here. 

Want to join our editorial team?

Ron Kley. Ron’s undergraduate and graduate training was in geology, but he has worked in museums since the 1960s, first as a curatorial/registrarial staff member and, since 1988, as an independent consultant/contractor in collection management/research/interpretation.

He has worked with large governmental institutions on four continents as well as with small all-volunteer organizations from Eastern Canada to Southern Africa and Western Australia. The development of low-cost/no-cost interpretive initiatives has been one of his abiding professional interests. He welcomes the submission (to ronkley@juno.com) of papers for InterpNEWS, or informal exploration of embryonic ideas for such submissions.

Interested in being one of our regional or specialist editors?

InterpNEWS reaches over 300K interpreters, agencies and organizations in over 60 countries. Our mission is a simple one. To find or assemble articles about the best in interpretive research, programs or related activities, and pass it on to others.

InterpNEWS is sent free, as a PDF attachment, so you don’t have to join anything to receive it. Your benefits about being one of our regional or specialist editors: - No pay – just glory. But you also can market yourself through the regional editors listing in each issue of IN. - You can list your “editorship” of IN on your resume and at your web site. You can use your work for IN as a reference as well.

- Your job – write or find at least one new article on any aspect of heritage interpretation for each issue of IN – 6 issues/year.

- You can also use the IN Logo in correspondence or at your web site.

May’June and July/Aug issues.

Let me know if you have any questions at all: jvainterp@aol.com.

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Hello form a new InterpNEWS Editor.

Ron Kley Dear future friends and colleagues – I’ve recently accepted John Veverka’s invitation to serve as an editor dealing with geology and earth science in exchange for his promise of “no $, just glory” and the not-incidental privilege of offering some hopefully pertinent comments of my own in each issue of InterpNEWS. For those of you who take the time to read my offerings, you’ll find that I’m drawing upon 50+ years of professional experience in museums, and with a good deal of front-line teaching experience ranging from the pre-school to university levels. I also draw upon childhood experiences (my own, those of my two sons and those of various other young people I’ve known) in suggesting interpretive approaches oriented more toward evoking wonder and curiosity than toward delivering pre-measured “doses” of information. (Long before learning the true Latin derivation of the term “docent,” I had come to think of docents as people charged with the administration of medicines that were often distasteful.)

Interpretation should be much less like medicine and more like potato chips – i.e., you can’t eat just one. The first taste should not leave anyone feeling “dosed,” but rather motivated to want another bite of whatever informational treat they’ve just experienced.

You’ll find that my interpretive biases lean toward concepts and methods that are simple, low-cost or cost-free, able to be replicated or adapted even by organizations lacking in-depth scientific expertise, and aimed primarily at getting people of any age to see their own natural environment, even if it be an urban landscape, in a new light.

Much of my professional life as been spent as a museum staff member, and subsequently as a consultant or contractor to history museums, farm museums, military museums and even art museums. In each of those environments I’ve felt privileged to point out ways in which their interpretation of their focal subject areas can be enriched by a greater understanding of how geological materials and processes interact with and shape just about every aspect of human life, past and present.

Together, I hope, we’ll share some useful ideas, have fun, and become more effective in our interpretive efforts. We’ll also be reminded that we’re not alone in our respective missions even though we may sometimes feel isolated. InterpNEWS can be a powerful vehicle for sharing our collective knowledge and enthusiasms. I recall an hour or two that I once spent chatting with the director/registrar/curator/conservator/interpreter at a cattle “kraal” museum in the Zulu capital of Ulundi, which was as informative as just about any equivalent time spent with anyone at any institution on this planet. We all have ideas and experience worth sharing!

Of course, my primary function as an editor will not be to blather, but to edit. So…if you have something, or even an idea for something that you’d like to contribute to InterpNEWS in response to John’s generous “no $, just glory” invitation, send it along to me (ronkley@juno.com) and I’ll pass it along with whatever editorial notes may seem appropriate.

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If it’s just an idea that hasn’t yet been committed to physical or digital paper, run it past me and I’ll be happy to offer whatever I can in the realm of constructive comments and suggestions.

With apologies to the world at large I must admit to a widespread American failing. I’m fluent (at least I hope I am) only in English – this despite the fact that my mother spoke perfect German and my father Polish/Russian – so any submissions sent to me will need to be in English. HOWEVER, if English is not your native language, PLEASE don’t let that be a barrier. We can try our best to find a translator, and I can work with you and the translator to produce a paper that sounds as if you were born and raised in London, New York or anyplace else in the English-speaking world.

Best regards, Ron Kley ronkley@juno.com

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Cover Photo – Stagecoach Mary A Legend of the Old West.

Born a slave in Hickman County, Tennessee, around 1832, Fields was freed when American slavery was outlawed in 1865.

She then worked in the home of Judge Edmund Dunne. When Dunne's wife Josephine died in 1883 in San Antonio, Florida,[6] Fields took the family's five children to their aunt, Mother Mary Amadeus, the mother superior of an Ursuline convent in Toledo, Ohio. In 1884, Mother Amadeus was sent to Montana Territory to establish a school for Native American girls at St. Peter's Mission, west of Cascade. Learning that Amadeus was stricken with pneumonia, Fields hurried to Montana to nurse her back to health. Amadeus recovered and Fields stayed at St. Peter's hauling freight, doing laundry, growing vegetables, tending chickens, repairing buildings and eventually becoming the forewoman The Native Americans called Fields "White Crow" because "she acts like a white woman but has black skin."

Local whites did not know what to make of her. One schoolgirl wrote an essay saying: "she drinks whiskey, and she swears, and she is a republican, which makes her a low, foul creature." In 1894, after several complaints and an incident with a disgruntled male subordinate that involved gunplay, the bishop ordered her to leave the convent.

Mother Amadeus helped her open a restaurant in nearby Cascade. Fields would serve food to anyone, whether they could pay or not, and the restaurant went broke in about ten months.

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In 1895, although approximately 60 years old, Fields was hired as a mail carrier because she was the fastest applicant to hitch a team of six horses. This made her the second woman and first African American woman to work for the U.S. Postal Service. She drove the route with horses and a mule named Moses. She never missed a day, and her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach. If the snow was too deep for her horses, Fields delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders.

Fields was a respected public figure in Cascade, and on her birthday each year the town closed its schools to celebrate.[4] When Montana passed a law forbidding women to enter saloons, the mayor of Cascade granted her an exemption.

At seventy-one, Mary Fields retired from star route mail carrier service in 1903. She continued to babysit many Cascade children and owned and operated a laundry service from her home (graphic below).

The subject of several books on “Women of the Old West�, and even a movie, here are books if you want to learn more about her extraordinary life. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_1_16?url=searchalias%3Daps&fieldkeywords=stagecoach+mary&sprefix=Stage+Coach+Mary%2Caps%2C179&crid=3NZONUZ1PLZ73 JV

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Ambitious vs. Realistic: Calls to Action at Museums and Interpretive Sites.

Chris Brusatte, Interpretive Planner at Taylor Studios, Inc.

A call to action at a Killens Pond State Park Nature Center exhibit, created by Taylor Studios. Photo courtesy of Herb N. Byers, Jr. and Taylor Studios, Inc. Over the past two decades, museums and interpretive sites have become places of active education and inspiration. The visitor experience is no longer passive and didactic. Rather, visitors now engage in active learning that engages their physical and intellectual energies – through hands-on, minds-on activities where the visitors themselves participate in the exhibits and programs. An outgrowth of these experiences is the “call to action,” where visitors are asked to do or perform something after they leave the physical boundaries of the site itself.

Calls to action come in many forms. At nature centers, interpreters often challenge visitors to return to their homes and workplaces and start recycling more. At history museums that focus on social justice, exhibits ask visitors to limit bullying and prejudice once they step back into their own neighborhoods. Other exhibits challenge people to write to their local politician or register to vote. STEM sites encourage visitors to tinker, invent, and become “makers” at home and in school.

These examples – and many more – are becoming increasingly common at museums and interpretive sites. But are they successful? The answer depends on both what we ask visitors to do and the expectations that we set for ourselves.

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Realistic or Ambitious?

Whenever a site includes a call to action in an exhibit or a program, they usually choose between two extremes.

Those who are more conservative pick calls to action that are realistic, but perhaps lacking in ambition. Those who are risk-takers choose calls to action that are ambitious, but perhaps not practical. The first group is often afraid of failure, and the second group is usually a bit naïve.

Let’s take a close look at both extremes. Calls to action that are realistic are what gamblers might call the “safe bet.” Simply put, they do not ask visitors to do too much. Here are a couple examples of realistic calls to action:  

A nature center asks its visitors to recycle one thing that day.

A history museum asks visitors to share a hash-tag that promotes social justice.

Visitors are very likely to do these actions because the site has made it easy for them. They have picked something that almost every visitor can do, individually, in a short amount of time. These calls to action do not require a large time commitment, nor help from anyone else.

The major pro to this approach is obvious: a large number of visitors will actually perform the task. But the cons are apparent as well: even though a lot of people will follow through on the call to action, they are not in reality doing much. Sharing a hashtag or recycling a single bottle will not end injustice or save our earth from pollution. Yes, they are positive things – but the footprint is small.

An ambitious call to action asks much more of your visitors. These calls seek to make an actual impact that is both large and lasting. Here are a couple examples:  

A nature center asks its visitors to join a local environmental or conservation group.

A history museum asks visitors to start petitions to challenge forms of injustice.

These actions require a substantial time commitment and cannot be done alone. Members of conservation groups work together to effect real change, and petition drives require the signatures of hundreds of people.

Once again let’s look at pros and cons. Clearly, if our visitors follow through on these ambitious calls to action, we will have brought about significant and real change. But the major con to this approach is quite obvious: how many of our visitors will truly embark upon these calls to action, let alone follow them through to completion? It would be naïve to think that most visitors – who are usually at your site for only a couple of hours on a single day – would take up initiatives that ask for large sacrifices of time, energy, and resources.

A Solution So are calls to action useless? Must they be either realistic – but boring, small, and of little consequence; or so ambitious that they demand too much and will never be followed through? Of course not!

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First of all, I have great confidence in my colleagues in the interpretive field. With all of our experience, I know that we can come up with calls to action that effect actual change, but that are easy enough or incentivized enough for our visitors to do. The answer lies in asking two questions. First, what are the results that we want from their actions? Second, what actions do we honestly see our visitors following through upon?

Using these questions as our guideposts, I am confident that we all have enough intelligence and experience to come up with calls to action that are both realistic and ambitious.

Finally, there is great benefit in a two-tiered approach. Have multiple calls to action at your site, some realistic and some ambitious – yes, even overly ambitious! You can expect most of your visitors to ignore the most ambitious calls to action, but even if a handful of people follow through, just think of what change you can make! Even a single visitor who joins a conservation group, leads an environmental initiative, registers others to vote, or leads a successful petition drive makes an incredible and lasting impact. That one visitor will truly make significant, large-scale change, and it is because of your site’s ambitious call to action. That is remarkable in itself.

Therefore, keep your expectations where they should be. Know that most of your visitors will not undertake time-consuming, resource-intensive calls to action. Provide easy, but still impactful, calls that they can perform individually and in a short amount of time. But also know that a few of your visitors will want something more. They want to share their passion for nature or for social justice. They care so deeply that they will commit the time and effort that is necessary. Your ambitious call to action is just the spark that they need to truly change the world.

Chris Brusatte, Interpretive Planner at Taylor Studios, Inc. cbrusatte@taylorstudios.com

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Experiential Interpretation/Immersive Experiences by Heidi de Maine (Sunfish Consulting)

Visitors have different learning strategies and, exhibits that provide for this, will help to make the experience more immersive and enjoyable. In order to write this article, I decided to look up the official meaning of immersive: it means to actively engage one’s senses and feel completely involved. This is what we were recently tasked with. We were asked to change a research and education centre into a more immersive experience.

The brief that we got from our clients was to make the centre more interesting, immersive and familyfriendly….more of an experience. This meant a complete overhaul…we even changed the colour of the walls!

The original centre had an aquarium tank, many research posters, an art desk for kids, artifacts available for viewing (and touching if a guide took you around), a little shop and a few smaller signs with information on.

The new centre was to have less writing, no research posters, interactive exhibits, colour, bold lettering, things you could touch and play with and information that would start a discussion and relate to the locals.

After many meetings and a workshop with all of the staff that worked in the centre (including non-education staff), we came up with a succinct theme and storyline which suited the new mission statement.

Two years down the line and the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Education Centre is now open to the public and is getting some great feedback. We even managed to get a Red Dot Design Award for one of our interactive exhibits, along with our collaborators, Formula D (an interactive design company). The high tech, multi-sensory exhibit which won the award was a first for museums in South Africa and unique in that it uses four of our five senses. Fig. 1 is how it started.

Fig. 1. Mock-up of Shark Senses

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We discussed, tweaked, designed, tweaked, modeled, tweaked, discussed, tweaked…and after many hours of designing and redesigning, the Shark Senses Exhibit became a reality.

Now, visitors can hear, “smell”, see and feel (through vibrating handles) what a shark does when it is locating prey.

“Environmental and marine education is changing. Today’s generation of school-goers is both computerliterate and game-savvy and can interact intuitively with the exhibits. We need to take advantage of this and make sure that we are offering cutting-edge interactive displays that engage our visitors and also deliver our messaging. Virtual reality offers such a wonderful opportunity for this: there really is no better way to understand something than to experience it for yourself!” - Dr Yeld-Hutchings, Centre Manager What makes interpretation experiential? Studies have revealed that social interaction has an influence on how people use museums. Social interaction makes the exhibit more experiential. As you can see from the photo above, it’s not just the person who has “become the shark” that is involved, but visitors standing around the exhibit can also take part by watching the table indicators and listening to the voice over. Discussion amongst visitors when they have completed the task of finding the prey becomes quite animated… and competitive.

The feedback thus far has been very positive! The only negative of this exhibit is that we have had to put an age limit on the user as Oculus Rift warns against young children using their equipment.

Heidi de Maine (Sunfish Consulting) sunfishconsulting@gmail.com

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Web app v Native app Audio Trails Ltd boast a rich back catalogue of location-aware native apps for heritage sites and tourist attractions. They have now launched a web equivalent. Creative Director Dan Boys explains the pros and cons of both options.

When it comes to software, location-aware apps are what we specialise in. For us, a location-aware app uses location (via a potential combination of GPS, mobile connectivity, wifi and/or Bluetooth beacons) to alert the user to relevant digital content (text, images, audio, video) within the proximity of a device. It will also tell you how far away you are from other content. This content may refer to a place of interest, an event or a walking trail.

For many years we have been building native apps - designed specifically for iOS and Android devices - on behalf of local authorities, charities and communities. Take a look at some examples of our case studies page (audiotrails.co.uk/case-studies/apps). We’ve even built some for other selves (e.g. discover-derbyshire.com and audiotrails.co.uk/wildwales). These apps have been built on a platform we originally called ‘Welcome To’ but have now renamed ‘Places and Trails’ to coincide with the launch of our web equivalent placesandtrails.com.

Neither offer the perfect holistic solution. They both have their pros and cons. So how do you decide which one is the best for your specific needs? Let’s take a look at native and web apps in more detail.

Generally, native app creation means writing apps for a specific operating system. Fortunately, today there are only two major players: iOS and Android, and they account for 99.6% of all smartphone sales (https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/16/14634656/android-ios-market-shareblackberry- 2016). This wasn’t always the case: remember when Blackberry were big players or Nokia had the most popular operating system?

A web app - essentially a website that formats to the screen size of the device you are viewing – is displayed within a browser. Web apps therefore can be viewed on far more devices, including desktops, and will appeal to iOS or Android users who are fussy about installing new apps or don’t have the memory space to download it.

And downloading apps is certainly a barrier to use. Quartz Media report that the majority of smartphone owners download zero apps per month (https://qz.com/253618/most-smartphone-usersdownload- zero-appsper-month/). Even those that do will have a limit. Big Medium designer and developer Josh Clark asks: “Are users really going to download, install and manage an app for every company that they interact with?…The app market may be growing but there’s a growing feeling that users can’t wade through 700 new releases a day and that it might be better for developers to refocus on mobile websites.”

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That will depend on several factors. What is the context, and the intention for the app? For heritage sites and visitor attractions we need to look at why visitors may want a digital guide. Looking at paper equivalents we all know that when we buy a visitor guide in all probability we won’t look at it again (until we take it to the charity shop), but we buy it to enhance our experience on the day.

Therefore, it must inspire the user that the effort of downloading it is worth it. For some types of mobile experiences, a web app would be appropriate and for others, a native solution would be the way to go. Let’s look at the differences.

Connectivity - online or offline A Web app requires a strong 3G/4G signal or WiFi connection to work as it needs to communicate with a server (although some caching of data is possible). Our native apps can work offline, and whilst we use Google Maps (an online service) as a base map we have incorporated offline mapping into many of our apps.

The Ingleborough Archaeological Walks app has offline Ordnance Survey map tiles and our Rufford Abbey app has a lovely illustrative map draped over Google Maps .

A temperamental connection can interrupt an immersive experience. In addition, users will probably have their own data plans but may be wary of downloading/streaming rich content to support a media-rich web app experience with audio and images.

Native app users can download and install before they visit (but only if they know about it!), and be ready to use the app when they arrive – which is important where connectivity is poor or for users who are wary about data charges. The analogy I use for native apps comes back to the paper guidebook. You buy it and it contains all the information you require. You don’t need to go back to get extra pages from the shop. Once all the content is downloaded onto the user’s device the experience is more coherent and seamless.

When it comes to speed then a native app will generally be faster than a web-based alternative, responding more quickly to touches, because it doesn’t need to connect to the web every time the user interacts with it.

GPS updating on a web app is more intermittent than the fluid movement of the blue orb you see on a native app map. You can also do specialized processing on the native side,

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Rufford’s illustrative map layered over Google Maps (l) and Ingleborough’s OS mapping (r). running code which wouldn’t operate in a web-based environment. Our native apps seamlessly link with the device’s camera to enable our ‘Souvenir Selfie’ and ‘SUPERimpose’ functionality, and we have used Bluetooth Beacons as an alternative way of alerting users to content. For Kelham Island Museum the beacons act as an indoor GPS, illustrating on a floorpan what ‘zone’ the user is in. At Rufford Abbey the beacons are used at retail and catering outlets to alert visitors to current offers.

Pricing model In today’s day and age price is a very important factor. To get an iOS and Android app into the relevant stores you will need to development fees upfront. This is not the case for our web apps (see below). Yet both are supported by an intuitive Content Management System (CMS). So what about maintenance and futureproofing?

We never know what the next annual OS release by Apple/Android will do to live apps. Every now and then they introduce a big shake up. Any reputable developer will offer clients a support and maintenance option to cover these eventualities once their app is signed off. Likewise, for clients who use our web app platform (each is assigned their own sub domain e.g. wembleypark.placesandtrails.com) we just charge a monthly fee (which can be paid up to 36 months in advance) to cover hosting, security, maintenance and access to the CMS. Mobile web apps are relatively cheap to maintain and solidly future-proof. Web browsers are conservative about removing features. HTML5 geo-location is now a well accepted feature in browsers and this is how we alert users to nearby content.

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Barriers Web apps also have the great advantage of being able to be seamlessly linked with the client’s existing website.

Take derbyfest.placesandtrails.com for example. Its design mirrors the branding at derbyfeste.com. Users can switch between the two and not realise they have even left the main website. Therefore no signposting to download a native app is required (an oppressive barrier to use). Web apps offer immediate, easy access to the content and experience your users are looking for. No app stores, no installations: just go to a site and the content will be available. As long as you have a connection, it will work.

But of course, the key to success is making sure your visitors know about the app, regardless of whether it is native or web. Make sure your app is clearly signposted on your website and on printed material on site. This way, regardless of which app option you choose, visitors can make their own decision about whether to use it.

The bottom line Both native and web apps have their pros and cons. In summary, a web app is easier to access, cheaper to develop and maintain, and works across a great range of devices. A native app will be limited to iOS and Android – but it can do more, run faster, and deliver an experience offline. Neither is ‘right’ or ‘better’; the choice comes down to context, cost and customer. The right solution at the right price is the best choice, and in that regard, web apps and native apps both havea place.

Further reading To read more visit audiotrails.co.uk/places-and-trails.

Dan Boys BSc, MAHI 40 Strettea Lane, Higham, Derbyshire, DE55 6EJ England 07800 799561 danboys@audiotrails.co.uk

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Developing a digital experience to help Taronga Zoo save the Sumatran tiger.

Beata Kade, Project Director, Art of Multimedia Jason Stevenson, Creative Director, Art of Multimedia

Taronga Conservation Society Australia, more commonly known as Taronga is Sydney’s most loved and respected wildlife conservation organisation. Taronga cares for 4,000 animals from over 350 species, many of which are threatened. It delivers education and training projects to inspire behaviour change and desire to protect global wildlife and its habitats.

One of Taronga’s community conservation campaigns developed as part of its Centenary development program was Taronga’s Palm Oil Campaign, aimed to increase pressure on companies to source and use Certified Sustainable Palm Oil. Delivered as part of the Sumatran Tiger Adventure which features large tiger habitats and a Sumatran themed guest experience, which forms part of the broader advocacy campaign that also includes breeding, fundraising, research and community action to support sustainably produced palm oil.

The Zoo guest experience element of the Sumatran Tiger Adventure consists of an immersive simulated flight where guests are “transported” to Way Kambas village and National Park in Sumatra, Indonesia. Here they see and connect with Taronga’s Sumatran Tigers, learn of the extent of deforestation in Sumatra and its impact to wildlife, hear about the solution – choosing Certified Sustainable Palm Oil and then visit an interactive western style supermarket experience.

The stark juxtaposition between the Way Kambas experience and the supermarket highlights that one doesn’t have to be in Sumatra to conserve tigers, but that our everyday shopping choices closer to home can make a difference, thus empowering visitors. The Sumatran Tiger Adventure differs from other guest experiences at Taronga in that it is unidirectional and pulsed. Guests go through the experience in sequence, starting with the 4 minute plane journey and finishing with the supermarket. The flight drives the visitor pulsing, releasing 60 guests every few minutes.

A themed guest experience was developed to inspire conservation minded behaviour change in zoo guests, by educating them to improve consumer sentiment about sustainable palm oil, thus facilitate action that supports the transition towards a truly responsible palm oil industry, helping to protect and eventually restore the habitat of the 400 endangered Sumatran tigers living in the wild.

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Art of Multimedia worked as part of a larger team, starting with LahzNimmo, the architects who designed the state of the art precinct, Motherworks who designed the visitor experience and the PA People who handled the hardware and others. The Taronga team involved participants across many disciplines who were deeply involved throughout the process starting from the writing of the scripts, to the music composition.

Apart from the physical environment of the Way Kambas Village and the Tiger Trek plane, there were a number of digital components that made the themed experience feel authentic and exciting for visitors of all ages, which we were charged with creating: Animated digital posters With thousands of visitors at the zoo and even more expected with the launch of the new Sumatran Tiger Precinct, queuing was inevitable. Thus, to set the scene and entertain the visitors waiting to board the plane, animated digital posters were created and displayed in the waiting area. Displayed on digital screens, the posters can have the content updated as required.

The Journey A 3D simulated flight that takes visitors on short plane trip to Way Kambas Village in Indonesia to see the tigers was achieved through three fully synchronised videos to create a seamless and multi-sensory flight experience. It involved carefully scripting the message delivered by Wira, the Sumatran National Park Ranger, whose role was to capture the hearts and interest of the visitors by conveying his love of Sumatra and desire to protect the tigers and starting the sustainable palm oil education. It required filming live actors on green screen delivering a compelling and personable narrative, constructing an abridged yet representative view of the traversed landscape through high end 3D animations and then combining motion graphics with persuasive storytelling.

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Certified Sustainable Palm Oil animated video

A three minute looped infographic based on Taronga’s extensive consumer research, which showed that campaigns aimed at stopping the use of palm oil have failed and a better option is to persuade and educate visitors about Certified Sustainable Palm Oil with key facts, thus empowering them to take meaningful action every day that supports habitat preservation. As a key advocacy component, getting those messages right for a short program was essential, but not an easy task considering the complexity of the topic. It involved very close collaboration with the client team, including early version audience feedback loops, to arrive at a thoughtfully scripted message which is beautifully illustrated with original music driving the pace and emotion.

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Taronga and Way Kambas National Park Relationship documentary A two minute looped program highlighting the conservation successes achieved through Taronga’s 16 year relationship with Way Kambas Village and other projects in and around Way Kambas National Park was created from hundreds of photographs taken over the years. The photographs were brought to live through extensive motion graphics which added movement and emotion to otherwise still images. As sound was not feasible in the setting, short keywords convey and quantify the achievements. These include the reduction in poaching with no rhinos poached since the establishment of the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary and visually demonstrate the difference a small number of people working together can make, for the wildlife and the people of Sumatra.

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Soundscapes Sound is a potent element of any real experience, so multiple soundscapes were created to take the visitors on an auditory journey starting with the airport ambience and culminating in the Sumatran jungle and village, including radio chatter in both English and Bahasa. Different soundscapes were created for the various precinct sections and when split amongst many speakers hidden in the environment, the effect is an authentic auditory experience of the Way Kambas Village and surrounding jungle. Close consultation with the Tiger keepers was needed to ensure the audio, particularly tiger sounds were appropriate in placement, nature and volume, not to disturb the stars of the show - the actual Sumatran tigers in residence.

Developing the simulated flight experience In an era of Avatar and other high quality computer generated worlds, it is worth noting that interpretation project budgets never match those of blockbuster films or games, yet we aim to capture and engage the same audiences. Creative and technical solutions are always bound to budgets and timeframes and will therefore vary every project.

Developing immersive digital experiences is a complex process and never without challenges, which will differ from one project to the next. Whilst a good supplier will solve whatever challenges may arise to deliver a great visitor experience, the process and the challenges, shared below by our Creative Director can offer insights for interpreters designing them.

Plane Journey The plane journey was the most exciting as well the most challenging to produce. It had the most moving parts in terms of hardware, digital content and show control and required quite a bit of research and planning. Part of our approach to developing the media for this experience was to give ourselves as much flexibility as possible at the end of the production for fine tuning the show.

Projection versus screens When we first looked at the plans that had been developed for the plane experience, our initial thoughts for the passenger windows would be to project a single image of the flight landscape onto the wall on the far side of the windows.

Passengers would look through the glass to the projected image which would provide a visual parallax to themselves as the position of the outside would move relative to their position in the cabin, adding to the overall authenticity of the effect.

However as space was limited, there wasn’t enough room between the cabin interior and the walls for projectors to throw an image, so LCD screens had been chosen instead to display the landscape outside the plane.

Passenger window Since each passenger portal window was to be a digital screen we rendered out individual viewports of the final sequence, all offset to simulate different viewing perspectives for passengers as they are standing in different ends of the plane.

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Anther consideration while developing the 3D flight sequence was trying to get the horizon line correct, to reveal as much landscape on the ground as possible while still maintaining a sense of height for the duration of the flight.

Part of the problem was to show a level of detail on the ground while still being high enough to display the amazing landscapes and features of Sumatra. Getting the mix of height off the ground and speed the plane was travelling was crucial for the sequencing, as the visuals out the window were tightly timed with what the ranger was explaining.

The cockpit was where the main narrative was being delivered by our ranger Wira.

His performance would dictate most of the experience sequencing, and it needed to be done in one continuous take, so having the most flexible way to modify the visuals was crucial. We opted to film all elements separately and composite them together in post production.

This way if we needed to speed up, or slow down certain sections of the flight we could retime them.

Wira’s performance was to be filmed on agreen screen, so a lot of work was done in pre-production using animatics to work out the necessary timings and cues to prompt and direct Wira.

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A seperate live action shot was filmed for the cockpit in plane simulator. The plane’s windows had a green screen dropped in front to provide a key for us to comp in the landscape. We also rendered out a forward (pilot) camera of the computer generated (CG) landscape which was to be added into the final shot. All the elements were then composited together to create the end result.

Plane banking One of the first issues we ran into was how the plane would turn after takeoff. We only created the sequence for one side – this was then mirrored to the the other side. It created a weird visual bowing effect when the plane’s wings were visible.

So we had to create the entire CG flight sequence with all of the landscape features without actually banking the plane left or right.

The shorter version

When creating the animatics, we were beginning to get a more accurate picture of the final timings for the flight, but Taronga had concerns over the duration. As this was a pulsed visitor experience, the time to load and unload passengers, as well as view the flight was potentially too long for them during heavy visitor periods.It was proposed that we produce a second shorter version that could be played during peak periods to allow for more visitors to move through the exhibit during these times.

A second reduced script was developed and filmed, but as the shorter version came together in post production, the client felt that it was still too long and needed to be reduced even further. This posed some real challenges as Wira's performance was one continuous take, so no editing could be done to reduce the duration.

To speed up the entire show even further we had to do a lot of time-remapping of Wira and all the CG shots.

Speeding him up to the rate we needed generated serious issues with audio, but we were able to re-pitch his voice back to natural sounding levels.

A large portion of the passenger and cockpit CG shots were cut out and re-edited together with the help of some newly generated cloud cover. Making the take off, landing and storm sequences even faster, while still keeping them feeling natural was also quite a challenge.

With a bit more love and hard work, it all came together well in the end. Launched late August 2017, feedback from visitors is very positive, with 30% saying the digital experience was their favourite part and some visitors reporting ‘feeling’ the plane land.

Of course, as a team of digital storytellers fortunate to be working in our favourite field of interpretation, our client's opinion matters as much as our audience’s, so we were delighted when Taronga said “There were a few challenges along the way – numerous stakeholders, changes in scope and challenging timeframes – all of which Art of Multimedia managed nicely. They were a great group of people to work with, highly collaborative when they needed to be and took feedback with limited fuss, all in order to get the best result.

We are thrilled with the end result and highly recommend working with them”

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A video showing the full length flight is available for viewing at http://artofmultimedia.com.au/case-studies/ http://artofmultimedia.com.au/case taronga-zoo-tiger-trek trek and if you’d like to experience it as a 360° video, where you, as a sole passenger can look around the cabin yourself visit https://youtu.be/RfzIsYIYlns, but of course, nothing beats the ‘real’ digital experience, so make sure you visit sit Taronga Zoo and see the Sumatran Tigers when in Sydney.

transforming communication Australian Technology Park Locomotive Workshop, Suite 3015 2 Locomotive Street, Eveleigh NSW 2015 P: 02 9209 4309 W: artofmultimedia.com.au

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Interpreting Sharecropping - The historical plight of tenant farmers.

IN Staff

Sharecropping was common throughout the South well into the twentieth century, and required the work of entire families. In this famous photograph, a six year-old girl picks cotton in Oklahoma. (Photograph by Lewis W. Hine.

After the Civil War, thousands of former slaves and white farmers forced off their land by the bad economy lacked the money to purchase the farmland, seeds, livestock, and equipment they needed to begin farming.

Former planters were so deeply in debt that they could not hire workers. They needed workers who would not have to be paid until they harvested a crop — usually one of the two labor-intensive cash crops that still promised to make money: cotton or tobacco.

Many of these landowners divided their lands into smaller plots and turned to a tenant system. During the Gilded Age many African Americans and whites lacked the money to buy farmland and farm supplies. They became tenant farmers and sharecroppers.

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Share Crop farmer - Mississippi Delta, 1941 Tenant farmers usually paid the landowner rent for farmland and a house. They owned the crops they planted and made their own decisions about them. After harvesting the crop, the tenant sold it and received income from it. From that income, he paid the landowner the amount of rent owed.

Sharecroppers seldom owned anything. Instead, they borrowed practically everything — not only the land and a house but also supplies, draft animals, tools, equipment, and seeds. The sharecropper contributed his, and his family’s, labor. Sharecroppers had no control over which crops were planted or how they were sold. After harvesting the crop, the landowner sold it and applied its income toward settling the sharecropper’s account.

Most tenant farmers and sharecroppers bought everything they needed on credit from local merchants, hoping to make enough money at harvest time to pay their debts.

Over the years, low crop yields and unstable crop prices forced more farmers into tenancy. The crop-lien system kept many in an endless cycle of debt and poverty. Between 1880 and 1900, the number of tenants increased from 53,000 to 93,000. By 1890, one in three white farmers and three of four black farmers were either tenants or sharecroppers.

Cleveland, Mississippi, sharecropper with children. 1930s Farm Security Administration photograph. Courtesy, Mississippi Department of Archives and History

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The Language of Live Interpretation Making Contact John A. Veverka Certified Interpretive Planner/Trainer & The Heritage Interpretation Training Center.

Abstract To be effective in interpretive communication, the interpreter must know as much about visitor psychology and recreational learning principles as they do about the subject matter they are interpreting. Making contact with the visitor requires that the visitor actually understands the message or story that has been "interpreted" to them.

This paper provides some ideas and key questions for interpreting to museum visitors, and considering their learning needs in developing the live interpretive program. A partial interpretive planning strategy is provided on developing interpretive themes, measurable interpretive objectives, and visitor analysis. ___________ Interpreters must speak many languages! Not particularly foreign languages, but rather the language of the everyday person. Depending on the site or resource they are working with they may be called upon to speak: - the language of children, - the language of rural visitors - the language of urban visitors - the language of "experts" - the language of local residents - the language of tourists, and more.

In interpretive terms, this means that they must relate to the everyday lives of everyday people. To help the interpreter do this there are a few general concepts and principles of "recreational learning" that may come in handy. This paper will look at not only how to speak the conceptual "language" of the visitor, but how to make actual "contact" with your message or story.

Making contact during a children’s nature walk at Ickworth Estate, in the UK. The Interpreter worked very hard to keep the children’s (and their parents) attention and did make “contact” at all audience levels.

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Understand your visitors!

To be successful with live interpretation the interpreter should know as much about how visitors learn and remember information presented to them as they do about the resources or artifacts they are interpreting. It has been my experience that most museum interpreters are well trained in the materials of the museum or historic site, but receive little or no training in "visitor communication strategies". Here are a few general learning concepts and principles that may be of use in preparing and delivering your live interpretive program.

Learning Concepts: 1. We all bring our pasts to the present. Try to find out what the knowledge or experience level of the visitors are related to your story or resource. Have they recently been to other museums or historic sites? If so, which ones? Did they have a good experience at those past visits?

2. First impressions are especially important. Make sure that the first impression the visitors have of you and your program are outstanding! This may be your greeting with the visitor at the start of the program, your appearance (are you in costume or uniform?) the visual look of the program starting point or other non-verbal cues.

3. Meanings are in people, not words. If I were to say the work "tree", what tree would come to your mind?

We all have our own "visual dictionary" and personal interpretation of words. When you describe an artifact or other resource in a lecture what does the visitors visualize? Make sure that you have the appropriate visual aides with you to avoid "meaning" differences between you and the visitor. Be aware too that most technical terms are new for visitors. Be sure to define them, don't take it for granted that the visitors know what they mean.

4. Simplicity and organization clarify messages. The chief aim of interpretation is provocation NOT instruction. During an interpretive program your job is not to make the visitor a expert in history, science, art, etc. Your job is to inspire them to want to learn more. Keep the program simple, focused, and fun.

Learning Principles: Here are a few general learning principles that will help with the live interpretation program planning and presentation.

1. People learn better when they're actively involved in the learning process.

2. People learn better when they're using as many senses as appropriate.

3. People prefer to learn that which is of most value to them at the present.

4. That which people discover for themselves generates a special and vital excitement and satisfaction.

5. Learning requires activity on the part of the learner.

6. People learn best from hands -on experience.

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With these concepts and principles in mind, you should also remember the following. Visitors remember: 10% of what they hear, 30% of what they read, 50% of what they see, 90% of what they do.

Planning for Content To help insure success with the live interpretive program, it is helpful if the program is actually planned. Every interpretive program should be planned for success. This would include the following planning steps.

1. WHAT? What is the main theme of the program. A theme is expressed in a complete sentence, such as "The logging history of Northern Minnesota still affects each of us here today". Another theme might be "The early settlers of the Rouge River Valley found creative ways to farm the valley". The interpretive program then "illustrates the theme to the visitor".

2. WHY? Why are you giving the program? What are your objectives for the live interpretation? The following are the three kinds of objectives that are needed for any interpretive program to be "planned", with an example of each.

- Learning Objectives. At the completion of the program 60% of the visitors will be able to describe three innovative farming tools invented by Rouge River Valley farmers.

- Behavioral Objectives. At the completion of the program the majority of the visitors will want to look at the tools in the museum collection.

- Emotional Objectives. By the completion of the program the curiosity and interest level in the visitors will be raised so that they will be motivated to want to look at the museum collections, and attend other live interpretive programs sometime in the future.

Remember, objectives are measurable. They are also tools to help you focus on just what you want your program to accomplish. As you consider the theme or topic for your live presentation, and have written the objectives you want the program to accomplish, there are two very important questions you must ask yourself about your program.

1. Why would a visitor want to know that? This is an important question for you to answer about the information you are planning to present. If you can't think of several reasons why a visitor would want to learn the information in your program, you have a problem! This is where you RELATE to the visitor - give them a reason to attend the program.

2. How do you want the visitor to use the information you are interpreting to them? If you don't want them to use the information, then why are you doing the program? The answer to this question will become your behavioral objectives for your program.

You don't want to spend a lot of time giving answers to questions that no one is asking!

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3. WHO? Who are the visitors coming to the program? What is their age level, knowledge level, interest level, etc. How much time do they have? What do you think some of "their objectives" for attending your program might be? Any special needs of the visitors (visual or hearing problems, handicap visitors, etc.).

Considering the What?, Why?, and Who? parts of your live interpretation planning will help you focus you time and efforts. The answers to the "two questions" will help make sure the program is relevant to the visitor, not just the curators or resource experts.

The Three B's.

Interpreter's are in the BENEFIT business. Your interpretive program should be planned to illustrate to the visitors (and agency managers) three benefits. You should consider how the program will help: - Benefit the site or resource. For example, will the program help reduce damage to historic structures, or help keep visitors on designated trails.

- Benefit the visitor. How will attending your program benefit the visitor? What's in it for them? The answer to this question is what you use to advertise the program.

- How will your program benefit the agency you work for? More memberships? More gift shop sales? Better political "image"?

What is the Product of your Product?

In doing live interpretation it is easy to get caught up in the "interpretation" and forget what our real product is.

By selling "the product of the product" you put the idea of your program in a context that the potential user knows and understands (relates to). For example, in the commercial world: - Are you selling drills, or holes?

- Are you selling cosmetics, or "hope"?

- Are you selling new cars, or status?

What is the product of the product for your live interpretation?

- Are you selling looking at artifacts or valuing the cultures/people that made them?

- Are you selling looking at rooms of furniture or pride in the people that made and used the furniture.

- Are you selling "collections", or the benefits to all people in the saving and conservation of historic materials?

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To make contact...

We know from years of interpretive research that the "live interpreter" is the most powerful of all of our interpretive media and opportunities. The interpreter can instantly "read" an audience, make adjustments in the program to help relate to the different audiences they may encounter. They can look into the eyes of a visitor and grab the visitors imagination and emotions. They can take a boring topic and make it come to life for the visitors. But to be successful, live interpretation requires that the interpreter think about and plan for their success. Being successful with any live interpretive programs requires the interpreter to identify what they mean by success. The successful interpreter will need to understand how their visitors learn and remember information and how to provoke, relate and reveal the story to them. They will have a focused message (theme) and objectives that they are going to strive to accomplish. They never stop trying to improve their program and trying new ways of inspiring the visitors. The reward the interpreter receives from his or her work really cannot be put into words - a deep sense of satisfaction, pride, and more. The reward the visitor receives from the interpreters efforts are equally as powerful. For when a trained, focused, and inspirational interpreter meets with visitors hungry for inspiration, something special happens. They make contact and the journey begins.

References Ham, Sam H. (1992) Environmental Interpretation - A practical Guide for People with Big Ideas and Small Budgets. North American Press, Golden, CO. Lewis, William J. (1988) Interpreting for Park Visitors. Eastern Acorn Press.

Tilden, Freeman (1957). Interpreting Our Heritage. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.

Veverka, John A. (1995) Interpretive Master Planning. Falcon Press, Helena, MT.

John V. leading an interpretive walk during a interpretive training course.

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News Release

News Release This is an invitation to view a new website, www.eidcoaching.com , sign up for a thought provoking blog, and discover how the new field of Interpretive Design could impact what you do. This is a new kind of interpretive service designed experientially to accomplish relevant outcome success in aquariums and zoos, parks and preserves, museums and monuments, nature centres and outdoor learning centres or gardens and galleries.

This visitor X-service (where X= experience) aims to design a holistic journey where our natural and cultural heritage delights people of all ages while serving their unmet and evolving needs.

We want to promote this new profession of Interpretive Design through networking, workshops, coaching, and exchanging ideas. Check out our first post along with the rest of the EID site that outlines our mission, goals and principles.

If you share our interest and role in re-envisioning a new platform for onsite engagement with the world's heritage, then by all means, sign-up for future post notifications at www.eidcoaching.com .

Bill, Lars, Mike

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Interp Magic: A word Earworm“Hole” Rod Burns InterpNEWS Regional Editor For a few weeks now, in thinking of stimulating ideas to put forward in InterpNews, a single word earworm began crawling through the Heritage Interpreter portion of my brain. In this article, staying in realm of Natural History, I gift to you, provoke you, with the earworm -“Hole”. Words, which are synonyms to “hole”, might include burrow, cave, tunnel, shaft, pore, den, lair.

Can a “small hole” become a tunnel and in time become a “large hole”? Could a ground squirrel’s burrow be called a den or lair? Do ants dig tunnels or shafts, in the process of building their ant hill? What are the similarities in process and function between the “holes or pores” in a humans skin to that of the “pores” on leafy plants?

What is the general purpose of a “hole”? Is it to store a substance or is it to get access to a substance? Mason bees in the Spring, find a 5 mm wide “hole with tunnel”, previous chewed out by a wood boring beetle. The old “tunnel” to about 10 cm. deep receives one egg and is then filled with pollen. The egg is dormant thru the heat of summer, then the cold of winter. Warm Spring days triggers the larva to eat the pollen, which has been softened by winter moisture. After pupating, the adult crawls along its’ 10 cm. tunnel, emerging from the mud capped 5 mm hole. If female, she quickly begins to look for pollen laden flowers and a new “hole” to dig into, beginning life anew.

Watch a Woodpecker sitting on a tree, cocking its’ head left then right. It is listening for chewing, grinding sounds, within the selected tree. Months before one of many varieties of Boring Beetles drilled a “small hole” through the bark of the tree, into the Cambium layer and deposited a single egg. Hatching, the growing larva begins chewing through the tree fiber, leaving behind a tunnel filled with sawdust. Hearing the beetle larva grinding, chewing its way through the wood means food for the Woodpecker, and it is only a few inches away!

With rapid whacks into the tree, the Woodpecker chips away the wood. Minutes might pass before the Beetle larva is exposed being consumed on the spot or taken to the birds nest to feed its’ young.

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The Woodpeckers’ chipping away at the tree creates a new, much larger “hole” in the beetle infested tree.

Piliated Woodpecker drilled holes can be 15 cm. deep and 10 cm. wide. The larger “exit hole” chewed by the emerging adult beetle or created by the woodpecker, sets up a new chain of events.

When it rains, the “hole” becomes an “entrance hole” for seasonal rains. The funneled water droplets flow through the tunnels, deep within the tree. Carried on the body of the beetle or the Woodpecker, fungi spores can be taken deep within the tree. Warmth plus moisture enables the fungi to become active and needing their own nutrition. The fungi consume the remaining nutrients in the tree fibers. Needing to propagate its kind, the fruiting body of the fungi, emerges from the tree as a healthy mushroom or Brackett Fungi. Humans sometimes collect the fungi for food, medicinal and spiritual – ceremonial purposes.

Given time, the “Woodpecker hole” might become the nest for a Green Back Swallow. The Swallow is kept busy flying around the trees, swallowing Boring Beetles, either just moving to a host tree or emerging from the same tree. (On my Eat or be Eaten forest hikes, with families, I have selected beetle and woodpecker trees for a multi-sensory activity. A favourite involves my giving one of the children, say being 8 - 10 years of age, my open, 10-cm. lock-blade jack knife. I let them play Woodpecker, using the knife, to try making the wood fly.

After a minute, I have one of the parents take the knife and they act as a determined parent woodpecker, needing to find food for their nestlings. Parents and children go away amazed at how big the Woodpecker “holes” are and the humans’ barely flicked a few bark chips. )

After 20 years of playing on stony beaches and climbing rocky ledges, I’ve developed an interest in geology.

The ear worm “hole” fits into the language of geology, with grotto, cavern, cave, tunnel, grike.

Hundreds of millions of years ago with the dying of radiolarians and similar marine creatures, the calcium in their skeletons under different temperatures and pressures became metamorphic Limestone. Years later, with plate tectonics, seabeds surfaced, dried out and became Limestone zones stretching miles in different directions.

When subjected to a constant flow of fresh water from rains or streams limestone is easily dissolved. The limestone “holes” are known as grikes, karst and cave formations. Other “holes” are called grottos. Limestone tunnels or shafts run tens of kilometers. Where there are sandstone formations, stones or pebbles of the much harder Igneous rocks, when washed downstream can lodge between eroded sandstone layers. Hundreds of years of swirling and grinding, the igneous rocks become somewhat rounded and polished. At the same time, the ground away sandstone shows up as a “hole”, known as a “pothole”. Extra large “Potholes” can become deep enough for people to jump from the upper rim, safely landing in one of many great “swimming holes.” What examples of “hole” take up some aspect of your life as a Naturalist Interpreter?

Take a few minutes and put on the hat of a Cultural Interpreter. Where does the word worm “hole” or is it “whole” form event chains? Is there a “word worm” that you have caught in your brain? Share it with InterpNews. Send a copy to me at bpc@connected.bc.ca. Use word worm in the subject line.

Photo Credits - Rod Burns, wood, holy tree, Oyster Mushroom fungi, Unknown: Cliff Jumpers: from the Sooke Potholes photos website, Unknown: from the Oyster River, British Columbia photos website

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Can someone be beyond interpretation?

Dan Boys, Creative Director, audiotrails.co.uk & InterpNEWS Regional Editor

This month I decided to re-read Freeman Tilden’s seminal work “Interpreting Our Heritage”. All these years later it still underpins how we approach heritage interpretation. Yet, something occurred to me whilst I was reading the book, and it relates to audiences; more specifically those who come to a heritage site or museum to build on their extensive knowledge.

As interpreters we are encouraged to think of our target audiences as ‘window shoppers’ who are receptive to ‘learning’ if it captures their imagination. Tilden himself states, “To capitalise on this mood, even if it arises from pure curiosity of whim, is a challenge to the interpreter.” He adds, “The visitor is unlikely to respond unless what you have to tell, or show, touched his personal experience, thoughts, hopes, way of life, social position, or whatever else.”

This second quote suggests interpretation can appeal to anyone, but let’s look at two of Tilden’s six principles:

- Interpretation is not information. Interpretation is revelation based upon information.

- The chief aim of interpretation is not instruction, but provocation.

Furthermore, Tilden states that the visitor, “has not come to be educated. He has come to see, to sample, to try something new.”

With this in mind, and taken in it’s purest form, is it actually possible to interpret to a specialist audience who are interested primarily in specialist information? Because this visitor has already been stimulated to learn more, are they not seekers of pure information, rather than imagination? Does the informal, non technical but authoritative approach we are called upon to provide as interpreters add a veil over what they want?

When Tilden refers to specialists in his book, he generally talks about the people that provide the ammunition for the interpreter to weave their magic. But for these very people, does their yearning to know more and their love of their work not spill over into their leisure time? Of course it does. The question is, can we truly cater for these people in our interpretative schemes at heritage sites? Being clear who you are interpreting to is obviously a key step in interpretive planning, but heritage sites are generally billed as an attraction for a wide range of visitors. Can we really target primary (physical) interpretation at experts? Layering content allows the flexibility for visitors to drill down for more detail, but layering suggests more specialist information is buried deeper down in the interpretive hierarchy, and therefore not immediately available.

If the chief aim of interpretation is not instruction, but provocation, then is there a cut off when we say that a person is too specialist (in a particular subject) for us to be able to truly interpret to? Can someone be beyond interpretation? What do you think? Perhaps you will feel impelled to write your own response for the next edition of InterpNews. Please send to interpnews@audiotrails.co.uk.

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Canadian Heritage Information Network

Réseau canadien

Revised Digital Preservation Toolkit d'information sur le patrimoine

CHIN’s Digital Preservation Toolkit helps cultural heritage organizations of all sizes develop policies, plans and procedures to ensure long-term access to their digital content. The revised toolkit, with updated tools and new resources, will make your preservation activities easier. Check out the new workflow on the implementation of digital preservation policies and plans. Use the simplified decision tree, which takes into account all relevant factors when deciding if a resource should be preserved, and explore the updated preservation plan template. And don’t forget to review the three case studies for concrete examples of how Canadian museums of various sizes implemented the resources in the kit.

The revised toolkit can be found online at: https://www.canada.ca/en/heritage-informationnetwork/services/digital-preservation/toolkit.html __________________________________________________________________ La Boîte à outils de la préservation numérique du RCIP aide les organismes du patrimoine culturel de toute taille à concevoir des politiques, des plans et des procédures pour assurer l’accès à long terme à leur contenu numérique. La boîte à outils révisée, qui comprend des outils mis à jour et de nouvelles ressources, facilitera vos activités de préservation. Découvrez le nouveau flux de travail pour la mise en œuvre de politiques et de plans de préservation numérique. Utilisez l’arbre décisionnel simplifié, qui prend en compte tous les facteurs pertinents pour déterminer si une ressource doit être conservée, et explorez le modèle de plan de préservation mis à jour. Et n’oubliez pas de passer en revue les trois études de cas pour obtenir des exemples concrets de la façon dont les musées canadiens de taille différente ont mis en œuvre les ressources de la boîte à outils.

Vous pouvez consultez la boîte à outils révisée en ligne à : https://www.canada.ca/fr/reseau-informationpatrimoine/services/preservation-numerique/boite-outils.html

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“Winter Musings for spring” by Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald InterpNEWS Regional Editor

“Now is the winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer by these Sons of York,” from William Shakespeare I call these musings because I recently reviewed some children’s historical tales that I wrote nearly forty years ago when my children were growing up on a farm near Williamsburg, Virginia, where their father and I had restored an old house and when I was teaching at the College of William and Mary and wondered if I might make changes. I think every writer muses in this way.

One of my earliest books was a fictional tale called Down the Duke of Gloucester. In this story, several children enjoy a tour along the Duke of Gloucester Street given by “Miss Nellie,” as they call her. By tapping or ringing something, the children use their imaginations and are able to visit someone from the eighteenth or nineteenth century, learn a bit of history, and sample a biscuit or a piece of pie or cake.

One of the people they enjoy visiting is Lucy Ludwell Paradise, a very eccentric character and a descendant of Colonel Philip Ludwell (1638-1726) who sailed from London to Virginia where he lived. For about eighteen months, he served as governor of the Carolinas. Lucy’s father who was his grandson became a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, as did Lucy and her two sisters.

A rather poor widow when she returned to Williamsburg sometime after her husband, John Paradise had died, Lucy lived in the family’s beautiful brick home on the Duke of Gloucester Street. Known for her unusual ways at home and at Bruton Parish Church, she later ended up in the first publick hospital in the Colonies for the insane (replica stands today on Francis Street in Williamsburg). One of her customs was to entertain guests from a carriage in the back hall of her home. The coach was horseless, of course, and was manipulated by a servant. I wanted to portray this custom in the story. Included are two pages on the following pages.

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Musing over the story and Lucy’s history, I wondered what changes I might make to the book. Although I am not exactly sure, I might show more of Lucy Ludwell Paradise’s background. Perhaps she would talk about her ancestry, her visits to London, her conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church, and the refreshments she is offering. Perhaps we might see her in the insane asylum, and yet some of these details might be too much for a children’s tale. I might adapt the story for adults. This book was published and illustrated by a friend, Emily Whaley, of Westmoreland County, Virginia.

Another children’s book entitled Castle by the Sea was a project which my mother and I did together for the family. In fact, it was a gift to my father, the late Dr. Roderick Macdonald, who loved South Carolina and always told us stories about his native state, our family, and more.

My mother did the illustrations, and I wrote the text, sort of a story in verse. I wanted to portray the love of Theodosia Burr Alston for her son, Aaron Burr Alston, who died of malaria at the age of ten in 1812, shortly after his father was made governor of South Carolina. I reference herbs, the child’s dreams, and the mother’s grief. Included are some pages.

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What changes might I make? When I wrote this story in verse, I was also working on another book, BoyPainter of Brookgreen, released by Copple House in 1982. This novel portrayed the childhood of Washington Allston, poet/novelist/painter, as I imagined it, at Brookgreen Plantation before he moved to Newport, Rhode Island, with his step-father, Dr. Flagg, whom his mother married after her first husband was lost at sea during the American Revolution. The curious thing about the Alston/Allston family is that some scholars show that the ancestor of Aaron Burr Alston eliminated the second l in the surname to avoid confusion in the family tree.

Little Aaron spent time at the family plantation, known as The Oaks. Like Brookgreen, now a famous site with sculpture, gardens, verses of poetry, and ongoing programs, The Oaks was located on the King’s Highway (presently Highway 17).

I would focus on why I had shown the child’s mother questioning the use of quinine, and I would portray her grief as she leaves on The Patriot for New York to see her beloved father, Aaron Burr. Of course, although there are many theories about what happened to Theodosia Burr Alston, no one will ever truly know.

The story about the painting of her that was supposedly found along the Outer Banks is engaging, and the story of the doctor discovering it hanging on the wall of an impoverished woman who required his assistance is equally fascinating. That in itself would be a delightful challenge.

Now in my wildest imagination, wouldn’t it be amazing to create a ghost story of Theodosia and Washington Allston’s father, both lost at sea. But I don’t think the dates would work. Of course, stranger things have happened through the power of the imagination and the pen of a writer. Although I have read many books on the Alstons/Allstons, the most compelling interview happened only recently. Jim Doyle, a native of South Carolina living in his family’s historic home in Georgetown, South Carolina, and a fine historian himself, said, “Theodosia Burr Alston supposedly sailed from the dock at the foot of Cannon Street in Georgetown.”

The final musing is a note in passing about the cabin (picture herein) in historic Jonesborough, Tennessee, the capital of the Free State of Franklin in the late eighteenth century and home to the beloved International Storytelling Festival.

This cabin, moved a few miles to its present location, is the place where guests register for the annual October event. The cabin is currently undergoing renovations. A little nugget intrigues me.

Two sons of the Carolinas spent the night in that cabin, of course, on different occasions. These are James K. Polk and Andrew Jackson. After leaving the Carolinas, they moved to Tennessee, and you might enjoy their stories.

Both the James Polk birthplace in nearby Pineville, North Carolina, and Andrew Jackson State Park in nearby Lancaster County, South Carolina, offer wonderful programs and activities throughout the year. Every March 15th, the park celebrates Andrew’s birthday.

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Were I am interpreter at the Ludwell-Paradise Home in Williamsburg, Virginia, or at the dock in Georgetown, South Carolina, I would, of course, provoke my audience with a “catcher” to engage their attention, and I would try to make the stories of these two fascinating, intelligent women, Lucy Ludwell Paradise and Theodosia Burr Alston, relevant. Despite Lucy’s madness and suffering, she was a bright woman, and despite her grief as a mother and her fragility, Theodosia was an educated woman who missed her father who was living in New York and desperately yearned to be near him, thinking he would comfort her in the loss of her child. Some believe that her son died at sea with her. Joseph Alston could not travel with his wife because her departure took place during the War of 1812, in which he was a participant. I would encourage my audience to “reach out” and relate to these women and to understand that many women experience----and have experienced----emotions of pain, grief, sometimes madness, loss, and much, much more and should never be shunned. I might even impersonate these historical figures.

Dr. Martha Macdonald

College English instructor, published author, and performer. doctorbenn@gmail.com

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Virtual Reality Devices Where They Are Now and Where They’re Going John Hawthorne

Meta: You’ve heard of virtual reality devices, but are they worth purchasing? What can they do? What are the drawbacks? We give you the down low.

H1: Virtual Reality Devices - Where They Are Now and Where They’re Going The idea of virtual reality has been around for years. Sci-fi nerds have dreamed of being able to step onto virtual planets and meet with alien beings. But until recently, virtual reality technology has been extremely limited, both in availability and quality.

But things are changing. Here is another consumer technology - like automated cars and artificial intelligence that has suddenly shifted from the realm of science fiction to the real world.

The questions now are: ● ● ● ●

What are the actual VR devices available ?

Are they reasonably priced?

What do they do?

What are they going to do?

We try to answer those questions.

VR Headsets Prices are Dropping For years, high end video game systems have cost a lot of money. The Neo Geo was famously released for the comically high price of $649.99 (well more than $1,000 in today’s dollars), which is far more than even the most advanced systems cost today. But really, major video game system have always had price points launch around geared toward affordability.

For years, VR technology cost well over $1,000 if any regular consumer wanted to get their hands on it. In 2016, when Oculus VR (a Facebook subsidiary) launched the Oculus Rift - one of the first VR headsets aimed at an actual mainstream distribution - it was priced at $599.

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But David Nield of Smarter Living now reports that the price has now dropped to $499, and in the summer of 2017 there were even sales that knocked that down another $100 bucks.

VR headset pricing is slowly but surely approaching costs similar to major game system launches, which will make them significantly more attractive for the average consumer, not to mention game developers.

And with more companies getting into the VR field, the prices will probably keep falling.

Where Are the VR Games?

The continued success of the VR headset as a mainstream consumer electronic device will likely live or die with the functionality of the headsets. One of the primary offerings is gaming, and that means the need for interest and cooperation from game developers.

Adi Robertson reported in The Verge that estimates of VR headset sales in 2017 ranged in the multi-millions.

This includes devices like the aforementioned Oculus Rift, the Gear VR, Google’s Daydream, and the HTC Vive. This reality could make it more likely that we will have more VR games in the future.

But for now? It’s still an open question.

Yes, major developers are releasing VR games like Star Trek: Bridge Crew, Invisible Hours, and building off established game series with the offering of Rock Band: VR. Developers do note that while they are excited to work on these titles, they are definitely still considered an investment.

The reality is that sales numbers for these games are unclear, or at least certainly nowhere near the multimillion sales numbers that have become commonplace for triple A game titles - those games with high investments and promotion - like Call of Duty, Zelda, Super Smash Brothers, and Grand Theft Auto.

Drawbacks of Buying Now So should you purchase a VR headset now? Maybe.

1. Games are coming, but quality may be a way off. Game developers and other technology companies who aim to deliver products in the field of virtual reality may be excited about the future, but that doesn’t mean those changes will come this year, or anytime soon. In fact, some developers have stated it might take a whole new hardware generation before any of this is mainstream and their are widely available quality games.

2.Integration might be costly and distracting. An amusing drawback of virtual reality is that it is so new and different it might actually distract employees or students if used in corporate settings.

Sam Harris of eLearningIndustry.com reports that integrating VR may be too costly when considering the broad scope of organizational learning. Considering the cost and implementation difficulties, the risk of technology distraction may make companies concerned that their people aren’t learning what they need to.

While these issues may be solved with time and creative planning, we might not be there yet.

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3.The harsh reality of motion sickness Motion sickness is caused when you are out of balance - when one part of your body (the inner ear) senses motion in a different way than what you are visualizing. This can lead to disorientation, sweating, headaches, or even nausea and vomiting.

Experiencing motion in different ways sounds a bit like… virtual reality. And it has been known to cause motion sickness.

For example, the lag between head movement and game reaction can trigger motion sickness. That is to say, your real motions, as in turning your head left or right, are often supposed to be mirrored in the ‘reality’ of the game you are playing, but there's still some lag that occurs between your movements and the reality of the game.

In reality,we experience no such lag.

Not everyone will be susceptible to this, such as those that are fine on roller coasters, but it could create some difficulties in broad distribution of the technology.

What’s Next for Virtual Reality?

While prices have gone down, VR is still a little pricey. And while games are coming, the choices are still miniscule compared to traditional gaming platforms. But it’s important to consider that mainstream attempts at VR offerings are only about a year old.

In this early stage, the big question becomes, “What’s next?”.

1. Integration of non-VR devices with VR users One way to promote the devices and yet not keep VR users away from the mainstream market is to provide options for them to have joint experiences with gamers not using VR devices.

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According to Parker Wilhelm of Techradar, some companies are developing experiences where users of mainstream PCs can join in. Oculus VR is working on a ‘Asynchronous Spacewarp’ technology that allows for the normally heavy tech load needed for VR functioning to now work for users of regular devices.

2. Move away from needing a top-notch PC (or any PC) VR headsets are not usually standalone devices. Typically, they need a powerful PC to run and often need to be physically tethered to one to use properly. This means that the out of pocket costs to buy one would probably go beyond the VR headset itself. But companies are now developing standalone options.

Lisa Eadicicco of Time reports that Intel is working on an experimental VR headset called Project Alloy that houses inside-outside tracking technology internally, ridding it of the need for tethering. Other companies are working on similar technologies, but costs are still unknown and are trending towards the high side.

3. Controllers will be your hands We have seen some use of hand-as-controller technology with experiences like the XBox Kinect and the Playstation Move, but these devices are not particularly immersive and are outside of the VR realm.

Virtual Reality hand technology is moving towards actually using your nervous system for something called haptic-feedback. Lucas Rizzotto of FuturePi writes that a few players, ranging from smaller entrants to Microsoft, are actively working on this technology and some looking for launch as quickly as 2017.

An Quick Overview of 4 VR Headset Options If you’re looking to purchase a VR headset, here are some well-known options.

Oculus Rift Price: $399 (but just for a limited time - pricing goes back up to $499 soon) What it gets you: The Oculus Rift headset as well as the two ‘Touch’ controllers What it does: A nice looking VR device that works for gaming, immersive VR movies, and other VR experiences. Lots of developer support.

HTC Vive Price: $599 (recently marked down from $799) What it gets you: Headset, two wireless controllers, two base stations, link box, earbuds, and some other accessories What it does: Similar to the Oculus Rift, but perhaps with better gaming. Many critics consider this this top mainstream device on the market.

Google Daydream View Price: $99 What it gets you: A headset that needs to connect to a compatible smartphone for use. Also includes small remote.

What it does: Very different from the Rift or Vive, the Daydream is cheaper but with a much smaller focus on games, and a larger focus on video watching by using apps like Netflix, Youtube and Google Play.

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Playstation VR Price: $299 What it gets you: Just the standalone headset What it does: Heavily focused on gaming, this device already has 100 games available. The catch is you must own a Playstation 4 and other equipment to get this up and running.

Decisions, Decisions There are tons of really exciting things going on with virtual reality technology, and lots of it is readily available to the public. However, it is still very early in the mainstream release of this technology, and questions swirl around pricing, game development, and how quickly some of the devices may become obsolete.

The decision is yours, but the idea of integrating VR into your daily life now, or in the near future, is no longer the stuff of sci-fi. Be sure to check out what is coming out this year for new technology!

This article originally appeared here at http://www.iqsdirectory.com/blog/virtual-reality-devices-now-theyregoing/ and has been republished with permission from http://www.iqsdirectory.com --------------------

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InterpNEWS Pleasure and sin.

Food and religious spiritualism in Colonial Mexico.

By Rocio Carvajal.

Portrait of M. Maria Anna Josefa de Sr. Sn. Ignacio.

1795.

For anyone who has visited Mexico one of the first things that you will notice is the abundance of religious architectural heritage, especially in colonial-historical cities like Puebla, Oaxaca, Guadalajara and even Mexico City. It is true, religion was a vastly important aspect of the colonial project namely because Spain’s political and geographical expansion was heavily sponsored by Rome and part of the very clear agreements were to use the colonial project to evangelize the New World and to ensure the success of this noble goal, the clergy had as much political and legal authority as the appointed Viceroys and magistrates themselves. Building a Christian society was fundamental to the success of a state-controlled orderly society and for that purpose, many seminars and nunneries were built by the dozens at the many provinces of New Spain, today known as Mexico.

When visiting many of these historical buildings one might immediately notice the state of deterioration and noticeable lack of historical objects in them, and this is due to many reasons, one of them was the Reform War that took place 47 years after Mexico gained its independence from Spain, during this period the separation between the church and state came hand in hand with a hard-line against the church’s interference in the political life of the nation and saw monasteries and nunneries as the root of indoctrination and subjugation of liberal ideals, democracy and freedom of thought and they were sequentially dismantled, cloistered religious life forbidden and many buildings were turned into schools, public offices or military bases, and while most of the collections of such religious libraries were preserved, many were destroyed, sold, lost or kept by secular patrons and supporters of such religious institutions. The links between the female nunneries and the evolution of what we now recognise as the national Mexican cookbook was of paramount importance for the meticulous and complex culinary experimentation and fusion of ingredients, cooking techniques and culinary traditions form the old and the new world, and of course, with the addition of new, exotic and sensuous ingredients such as chilies and chocolate, the emergence of ecumenical and spiritual discussions around the pleasure-inducing foods was quick to appear, questioning the ethical and religious implications of consuming such voluptuously rich foods.

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While the medieval spice trade and the Columbian exchange of the 16th century both played their part in creating a more global economy, the cultural and sociological impact of such trade took much longer to be fully felt. Indeed, while most of the trade involved the exchange of edible products, and while some fruits, vegetables, and spices were rapidly accepted and introduced to the diets of those who could afford it, there were also those other products which were aroused considerable to suspicion and even fear.

Although it seems incredulous to us in the 21st century, the role of religion cannot be underestimated in shaping our many cultural food preferences and aversions. When New Spain, today’s’ Mexico was founded, colonizers learnt to welcome new ingredients into their diets. The Spanish brought a range of gastronomic traditions that often required a complex food chain in which animal farming was as important as agriculture, and which couldn’t initially be supported in New Spain as result. While these gradual changes were implemented and undoubtedly benefitted the Spanish, it was soon discovered that the indigenous population struggled to digest, let alone accept on a cultural level, the Spanish diet of dairy products, wheat, pork and beef. At the same time, many Spaniards also had difficulties consuming corn and chilies.

This cultural exchange, which happened through a combination of force and necessity, found in the colonial kitchen an unexpected space of negotiation and cooperation, rather than conflict. Combinations that once might have seemed outrageous or exotic became a useful metaphor for the unavoidable cultural integration that was happening in New Spain at the time. The particular case of drinking chocolate is one such example.

Already a well-established cultural institution amongst the ruling classes in Mesoamerica, it rapidly became the drink of choice of the colonial elites.

Chocolatl, or kakau, which were usually heavily spiced and served as a cold drink were subject to major culinary transformations when the drink was appropriated by the Spanish. The most radical change was that it was no longer considered as a cold but as a hot beverage, and although it is unknown who, when it happened, or how cow’s milk replaced water, it couldn’t be denied that it added a creamy and rich texture that was further enhanced by the addition of sugar, which replaced honey and agave syrup, annatto and chilies were left out of the new interpretations of the traditional recipes and cinnamon and vanilla were used instead.

Still Life with chocolate service.

Public Domain.

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It wasn’t just cocoa, but chocolate, and drinking chocolate specifically, that became one of the first transcontinental food obsessions based on a single product from the Americas. As the obsession developed, the drink found its way on to every table of New Spains’ colonial and social structure, including a large sector of cloistered catholic orders. Cocoa became such a popular drink that it captured the imagination, and taste palates, of nuns, friars, and monks of every order, inspiring extensive philosophical and medical debates in the process. In 1693, Antonio de Leon Pinelo, a prominent historian of Spanish heritage wrote a book called “Whether chocolate breaks ecclesiastical fast: a moral question”, probably the first book dedicated entirely to a debate about the ethical and philosophical considerations of drinking chocolate. One of the more prominent conclusions of this particular masterpiece is that chocolate is a drink “appropriate to all kinds of stomachs so long as it is not drank in excess”. He extolled its many virtues, and found chocolate to have enormous restorative powers, it stimulated “nocturnal works” and he further highlighted the benefits of drinking it regularly: “in the morning, another cup between nine and ten, a one after eating and a last cup between four and five”.

The fact that colonial society in Mexico was deeply religious had arguably more to do with politics than with an actual spiritual quest. In fact, only 29 years prior to the conquest of Mexico, Catholicism had been a key factor in unifying Spain. Christianity galvanised the country with sufficient religious fervour and radicalism that it fuelled the expulsion of Muslim caliphates from Spain, marking the end of the Muslim occupation, and ushered in the dawn of a new era. Rome soon became Spain’s closest ally and when the time came to expand the kingdom across the Atlantic, the whole structure of Rome and its many congregations served as the political and administrative backbone upon which New Spain operated. Religion itself, together with a fervent evangelization, were integral parts of a well-crafted plan to lay the foundations of a society that would mirror that of Spain.

Keeping religious mandates and regulations was a crucial step in suppressing and eradicating the potential uprising of heretic practices, and in the case of New Spain religious intolerance was exacerbated by the inevitable clash of cultures. Authorities and institutions in the new world were obsessed; they scrutinized the simplest actions of everyday life through a puritanical religious filter, concluding that apparently even innocent things like drinking chocolate could put the salvation of their souls at peril. It’s no surprise, then, that not everyone was a fervent advocate of chocolate, and religious scholars had to be particularly careful about the potential risks of drinking such a dangerous beverage.

Chocolate drinking presented a fundamental contradiction for religious orders who lived under strict principles of poverty, frugality and sacrifice, and who fundamentally opposed the indulgence of those bodily pleasures like the enjoyment of a decadent chocolate treat. This meant that while very few had a strong position against chocolate, most of the religious class were forced to work very hard to justify its consumption.

For instance, nuns from the convent of Our Lady of the Angels in Mexico City went so far as substituting meals with chocolate in order to fit it into their diets, and their daily rations even included a large cup of chocolate with pastries for dinner. In contrast, other orders made their novices take an oath in which they specifically swore to never drink chocolate or incite others to do it. The debates around chocolate reached such heights that even the Pope Innocent IX received a document in 1591 by the famous physician Juan de Cardenas saying that “drinking chocolate absolutely breaks the rules of fasting as it perfectly substitutes any solid meal hence it should be totally prohibited in such occasions of penitence”.

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Moral Question if Chocolate breaks religious fasting 1636. Public Domain. Hot milk chocolate from Mexico. 2017 Rocio Carvajal

The city of Puebla had a particularly large population of cloistered nuns, friars and monks and their right to drink chocolate was fiercely defended by many. An example of this is the nunnery of Santa Rosa that took the necessary precautions to obtain signed orders from its founder to ensure that the religious community should always have the economic means, equipment, and even maids to prepare chocoa final reflection, let’s consider a controversial case that pitted a radicalized religious view with a parishioners’ olate. In bsession, and which highlights chocolate’s ability to divide communities.

Born in 1597, Thomas Gage was an English friar who made extensive travels in several Spanish colonies in the Americas, spending considerable time in New Spain. On his return to Europe he published several books about his journeys, and in one he recounts an anecdote about the Bishop of Chiapas, Bernardo de Salazar, a man who was particularly fastidious in keeping tight discipline amongst his parishioners. De Salazar expressed considerable anger and exasperation that the rich

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ladies attending mass often interrupted their prayers to eat preserved fruits and drink large cups of chocolate that their maids brought to church. These women claimed to feel weak and unable to concentrate without the restoring effects of chocolate. Despite Bishop Salazar’s petitions, warnings and even threats that if their challenging behaviour continued it would result in excommunication for those who dared drink chocolate during services or private prayers at church, the result was that from that day onwards no one turned up to his services. Subsequently, he issued another order of excommunication; this time all those who didn’t attend mass would face excommunication, but still the situation didn’t improve.

According to Gage, this turn of events caused the bishop to fall ill and he subsequently died as a result, and his successor was forced to suppress the prohibitions and punishments and welcome the parishioners back. On this occasion, the congregation’s obsession for chocolate and the horror of not being able to enjoy it at church was greater than the fear of eternal damnation for defying God’s humble servant.

Rocio Carvajal.

Editor of SABOR! This is Mexican Food Producer of Pass the Chipotle Podcast www.passthechipotle.com rocio.carvajal.cortes@gmail.com

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Adapting the USACE Junior Ranger Program into the 21st Century By Shawna Polen, US Army Corps of Engineers, Park Ranger Innovation is a term that has always been ahead of its time, no matter what period you’re speaking of. The new thoughts and different ways of thinking it promotes tends to draw a line, dividing people down the center.

Some love the comfort of doing things the way they’ve always been done, while others like to push the envelope and embrace change. For those of us who work with interpretation, moving forward with the times is mandatory. Each of us must take our areas of expertise and impart our knowledge to the public in a variety of different ways that meets their individual wants and needs.

"Interpretation attempts to communicate in a thought thought-provoking way to an audiencee that’s completely free to 1 ignore it.” (Ham, 2013, p.1) That particular quote reminds us of the harsh reality that if we don’t connect with the public, we will lose them. Keeping up with the changing times helps make that vital connection a little easier.

So what does innovation have to do with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and its Junior Ranger Program?? Like any other government agency, the USACE operates with laws, regulations, and structure to keep everything running smoothly. In that particu particular lar environment, innovation tends to be pushed aside by budget, necessity ecessity and staffing concerns.

I work in the Southwest division, sion, Tulsa District. We have 38 USACE managed lakes and rivers that play host to millions of recreation users each year. To help combat those issues mentioned above, the Tulsa District Innovations Team was created. We are a team of forward thinking people who make time in our schedules to meet a few times a year to bring forth innovative ideas to research, develop, and pilot test them th in the safety of the team.

Figure 1:: 2016 USACE Tulsa District Innovations Team.

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The ideas are accepted from anyone in our District and are then voted on to determine our workload for each Innovation Season. Every year 2-3 innovations are selected, then the team splits into sub groups and attempts to bring those innovations to life. Our end goal is to produce something that will make our jobs easier or to help us serve the public better.

I believe that the most important part of my job is public outreach and education. I am a millennial and have a great appreciation for technology. When I was thinking of an idea to push forward, I thought of the USACE Junior Ranger Program in combination with technology in the form of an application (app).

The USACE Junior Ranger Program has been around a long time, but the boundaries and operation is varied between each Corps managed area. Some places have amazing programs while others, like in my district, no longer have an active program. The premise of the Junior Ranger Program is to be able to pass on knowledge and appreciation of nature, safety and the USACE values to the next generation.

Someone who gains an appreciation for these values early on is more likely to care about those topics when they become active members of society. For example, can you name your favorite tree? A specific one? Many of us can think of a tree that holds those warm fuzzy feelings for us. My favorite tree was this old gnarly silver maple in my grandparent’s backyard. I have many fond memories with the tire swing in its branches and playing in its leaves when they fell in the fall. When the tree was finally cut down this past year, it was a blow to my childhood. We care about things that we hold fond memories of.

The coolest thing about my job is when I get to talk to kids and they tell me that they want to be a Park Ranger when they grow up. Who knows if they will actually become one, but that child will become a tax payer someday who might remember that Park Ranger when voting for topics that deal with parks and recreation or put money back into the system as a regular visitor to those parks.

The saying goes “there’s an app for everything”, so why not jump on the bandwagon. Negative views on using technology while you’re out in nature or questions of accessibility are almost futile. Technology is always advancing, isn’t going anywhere and almost everyone has access to a cell phone or computer device.

Conceptually the app will lead children through pre-programmed interpretive experiences that are specifically built for each individual lake that they are visiting. Along their journey, they will unlock a mini badge that correlates with the program they just finished. Each program will have a comprehension check that the children work through for each mini badge. After all the mini badges have been unlocked, the child will then be directed to a Park Ranger. Once the Park Ranger confirms completion of the app and helped them recite the Junior Ranger Pledge, they will present the child with a REAL Junior Ranger Badge and certificate. Each lake will have its own stylized badge so a child can collect them all!

Figure 2: Unlocked mini badges for each program and a menu screen.

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Implementation of the app has been a journey of its own. First order of business was to research all the in’s and out of not only how to create an app, but to make sure we operate within the regulations of the USACE. Those regulations consisted of checkin checking g all of our guidance on operation of websites, consulting with Office of Council –our our law department department- and having someone from Public Affairs on the sub-team. team. Luckily we were given the green light for this project early on so we could spend more time with the actual creation of the app.

To achieve functionality, we need experience from all educational backgrounds that make up the USACE workforce, from environmental focuses –Parks/Recreation, Parks/Recreation, Forestry, Biology, Animal Ecology, etc.- to Engineering and Business. In concert, our sub-team team also relies heavily on personal talents outside of our technically trained ones. A couple of us work on the artwork while other members have been een working on the coding and technology side of the project.

Figure 3: Concept art for Ranger Eagleton.

The app’s focus is centered on environmental education and understanding who and what the USACE is. The USACE’s main focus has always been water safety and already has a great program with its star mascot in Bobber the Water Safety Dog. A new mascot was needed since we have a different focus. As you can see from the picture to the left, Ranger Eagleton was created. Our team decided that sticking to an animal mascot would be the best choice when thinking of our target age group. The eagle is not only a symbol of the country, but also rides on all of our Park Ranger badges.

From there, we worked on designing the different badge programs for our “test” area, Canton Lake. We want each lake to have a few special programs that are unique to those areas and some that are general that would be good for anywhere. Our current badge collection is; What Makes a Ranger, Dams, Campin’ Around, and A Walleye’s Life. Each program is a mix of games, videos, and voice ce overs that we hope will grab the child’s attention and keep them engaged and learning.

Artwork for the project commenced next and we found ourselves spending hours with pen, paper and programs trying to get the concepts down. Now we have got this good ppile ile of artwork, but hit the wall with animation. Static 2D artwork verses the mobility of animation are leaps and bounds different and way out of our league.

On the technology side, our team had to have a discussion about operating from a mobile site or creating eating a true app. “Mobile sites are browser browser-based based HTML pages that are linked together and accessed over the internet…designed for the smaller handheld display and touch-screen touch interface…Apps are actual applications that are downloaded and installed on your you mobile device, rather than being rendered within a browser.

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The app may pull data from the internet, in similar fashion to a website, or it may download the content so that it can be accessed without an internet connection.”1 (Summerfield, n.d.) Currently the app has been placed on the back of one of our local websites where another member of the team works on imputing code that allows us to click and run through the app menu options. As with the animation area, we’ve hit another wall with how far our sub-team talents can take us.

Figure 4: Myself working on one of the screen options to be placed within the app once finished.

The USACE has a great Partnership Program set up that helps us bridge with other organizations/businesses to have a mutualistic relationship; one in which both parties benefit. Because of the animation of the in-app sequences and the coding work mentioned above, we have begun seeking potential partnerships that can help us reach our goal. Baby steps in that direction has been to make contact with one of our local universities and pitch the possibility of a service learning project within the technology department. The students with those skills we’d need would help work on the project earning college credit and real world job/partnership experience.

In return, we would be able to gain another great partnership and a working tool that can help us connect to the public in a fun new way.

Interested in becoming a partner? Have any advice to share? We are really excited about this project but are a small team with limited resources, if you have any helpful incite or some more ideas about partnership opportunities, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email at mailto:Shawna.m.polen@usace.army.mil Shawna Polen Park Ranger US Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa Dist./ Canton Lake Office HC 65, Box 120 Canton, OK 73724 1 2

Ham, S. H. (2013). Interpretation; Making a Difference on Purpose (p.1). Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing.

Summerfield, J. (n.d.). Mobile Website vs. Mobile App: Which is Best for Your Organization. Retrieved from Human Service Solutions: https://www.hswsolutions.com/services/mobile-web-development/mobile-website-vs-apps/

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The Liberation Route Europe An interactive trail of talking monuments Naftalie Hershler Audioneti The Netherlands Audionetic develops and produces audio points for interpretation. The Audionetic installations are all ‘human powered’; the users themselves generate the necessary electricity. Audio is a great medium for interpretation and education. Audionetic assist parks, museums, cities and other organizations to develop exciting stories. Its strength is the combination of attractive innovative audio devices with powerful educational stories. Audionetic turns information into an interactive experience!

Imagine a walking trail through a city or village, where interesting, entertaining stories offer something extra at different locations. A spoken story with sound effects is so much more fun than a written sign or text panel. An Audionetic makes an impact on visitors, regardless of their age or background.

People do not like a wall filled with text, and only a few visitors will read written panels. Not so with the Audionetic with its interactive audio players – the exciting stories will reach almost all people.

One example of an Audionetic human powered information point.

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In 2015 Audionetic realized a special project: Liberation Route Europe.

Liberation Route Europe is a continuously growing, international remembrance trail connecting important milestones from modern European history.

Liberation Route Europe gives you the chance to discover and experience the route of the Allied Forces during the final phase of the Second World War. It focuses on the liberation of continental Europe from the Nazi occupation, and specifically, the long-lasting consequences of World War II. It forms a link between the main regions along the Western Allied Forces’ advance from southern England, to the beaches of Normandy, the Belgian Ardennes, the South Eastern provinces of the Netherlands including the location of “A Bridge Too Far”, the Hürtgen Forest and on to Berlin. The route then continues to the Polish city of Gdańsk, where a democratic revolution was launched nearly two generations later and started Europe’s unification.

A custom made Audionetic for the Liberation Route Europe

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Liberation Route Europe started development of the Southern route in Sicily during 2016. It reaches across national borders that have divided our continent for far too long. It deals with the individual nation states’ selective memories of the war, and calls for a global perspective, by seeking to examine the complex heritage of the Second World War from multiple historical angles. Liberation Route Europe connects this history with life in modern-day Europe, as well as other parts of the world, underscoring the role of international reconciliation and the promotion of reflection: reflection on the value of our hard-won freedoms.

Liberation Route Europe faced an interesting challenge: how to create an exciting interpretive trail through three different countries: the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Employing human guides posed significant logistical challenges, with a trail through four countries and visitors from many countries, speaking many languages. A solution using a smartphone app and QR codes research was discarded when research indicated that many people do not use QR codes. Visual panels would not reach children who read less and less nowadays.

The Audionetic offers stories in different languages and includes a visual sign panel.

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The Liberation Route Europe solution leverages the true power of storytelling, without any ikiuiuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuyuujsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss logistic hassle and without ongoing costs. Especially for Liberation Route Europe, Audionetic ssshhhhhhhh developed thirty custom made audio points, weather resistant, vandal proof and low maintenance. Through their ‘bunker’ building style, the audio points immediately attracts the passer-by’s attention. When the visitors turn the wheel, they generate energy and one of the exciting stories starts to play.

The visitor will hear ‘oral history’ stories with real memories of the liberation, from allied army soldiers and resistance members, and also several custom-created audio productions. The Audionetic posts make Liberation Route Europe an exciting, interactive attraction!

Are you interested to engage your visitors with an exiting, human-powered audio trail? Visit www.audionetic.com for more information or give us a call at 917 6 7777 45! naftalie@2050publishers.nl

ssssssssssssssssshjshhhsssjhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeuuuuuu

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InterpNEWS Interpreting Poetry…

“Thoughts on Christopher Smart and his Jubilate Agno Written during His Confinement at St. Luke’s Hospital in 18th-Century London” By Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald

Christopher Smart 1722-1771

Years ago, when my identical twin (Mary) sang a solo in the Erskine College Choraleers’ performance of Christopher Smart’s 18th-century poem that Benjamin Britten set to music, I was spellbound not only by her soprano voice, but also by the diction, imagery, figures of speech, allusions, and humor in the poem (quoted below from the eighth edition, volume 1 of The Norton Anthology of English Literature.

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.

For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.

For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.

For is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.

For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.

For he rolls upon prank to work it in.

For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.

For this he performs in ten degrees.

For first he looks upon his fore-paws to see if they are clean.

For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.

For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the fore-paws extended.

For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.

For fifthly he washes himself.

For Sixthly he rolls upon wash.

For Seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.

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For Eighthly he rubs himself against a post.

For Ninthly he looks up for his instructions.

For Tenthly he goes in quest of food.

For having consider’d God and himself he will consider his neighbor.

For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.

For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.

For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.

For when his day’s work is done his business more properly begins.

For he keeps the Lord’s watch in the night against the adversary.

For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin & glaring e yes.

For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.

For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.

For he is the tribe of Tiger.

For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel tiger.

For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.

For he will not do destruction if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.

For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he’s a good Cat. For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.

For every house is incomplete without him & a blessing is lacking in the spirit.

For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.

For every family had one cat at least in the bag.

For the English Cats are the best in Europe.

For he is the cleanest in the use of his fore-paws of any quadrupede.

For the dexterity of his defence is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.

For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.

For he is tenacious of his point.

InterpNEWS For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.

For he knows that God is his Saviour.

For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.

For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.

For he is of the Lord So poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence Perpetually—Poor Jeoffry! Poor Jeffory! The rat has bit thy throat.

For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.

For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in compleat cat.

For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.

For he is docile and can learn certain things.

For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.

For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.

For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.

For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.

For he can jump from an eminence into his master’s bosom.

For he can catch the cork and toss it again.

For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.

For the former is afraid of detection.

For the latter refuses the charge.

For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.

For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.

For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.

For he killed the Icneumon-rat very pernicious by land.

For his ears are so acute that they can sting again.

For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.

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For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.

For I perceived God’s light about him both wax and fire.

For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.

For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.

For, though he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.

For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadrupede.

For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.

For he can swim for life.

A truly brilliant poem, isn’t it? Even if you think brilliant is a poor adjective, what about amazing?

Interested in Christopher Smart (Kit, Kitty), I wrote a couple of papers on him in graduate school. Interested in interpreting him, I studied his life and writings more thoroughly and decided that this poem, in particular, might be engaging to an audience if we could travel back in time to St. Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics in the 18th century. Why? Many of us cherish our cats. Many poets, musicians, and artists have adored their cats. Indeed, many book shops and museum gift shops portray notepaper, calendars, and booklets of cats.

Although scholars are quick to point out that cats did not exist in the Bible, they are portrayed in the Apocrypha, notably the Book of Baruch.

Do you like cats? Do you like poetry? What does poetry mean to you? We have many definitions of poetry: from William Wordsworth’s “spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected in tranquility” to Coleridge’s theories on the imagination to Marianne Moore’s emphasis on the genuine and on “imaginary gardens with real toads in them,” to one of Nikki Giovanni’s comments, that “poetry is controversial” or to Adam Zagajewski’s title/definition, “Poetry searches for radiance, poetry is the kingly road that leads us farthest. We seek radiance in a gray hour, at noon or in the chimneys of the dawn, even on a bus, in November, while an old priest nods beside us,” along with a host of other definitions. Do you agree? What is your definition of poetry? Perhaps a definition doesn’t really matter?

Do you write poetry? Do you read poetry? Perhaps because you may at some time have studied the Gothic (a trend in the arts that has engaged me for years) and also enjoyed those clanking chains, ghosts, dark cellars, and such, let’s look at one aspect of Christopher’s Smart’s life, his confinement at St. Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics (May 6, 1757-January of 1763) where he was treated for manic-depression by Dr. William Battie, son of a rector. Although for the most part, Smart was denied visitors, even other doctors, he was allowed to read books and the news; write and attempt to contribute to journals; keep his beloved cat, Jeoffry; work in the garden where he planted pink flowers and enjoyed sunlight (getting that Vitamin D), he related that he was frequently treated with harping-pins because he was relatively unguarded.

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I can only imagine how horrible his existence must have been. Can you imagine the pain of being suddenly stuck with a sharp pin, and we wonder where those pins were stuck.

Drawing on Dr. John A. Veverka’s “provoke, relate, reveal,” in his volumes on Interpretation, I would like to begin by using Moore’s definition of poetry. “It must be genuine, and it is an imaginary garden with real toads in it.” What is your take on that?

Any poem may be an imaginary garden because, for one, it comes from the poet’s imagination and the garden, like a painting, musical composition, a piece of sculpture, and the poem itself, is a creative project or process. It is original, but it demands a sort of reality, and that is the real toads. Reality may be very ugly. I would imagine that life at St. Luke’s was ugly.

I also like Zagajewski’s notion that we (poets) seek radiance in a gray hour. Perhaps that radiance was what Smart desperately sought by writing about Jeoffry.

So to provoke, I may ask my participants on our imaginary tour of old St. Luke’s Hospital to share their take on poetry as a way of leading into Smart’s poem. I would also ask if they have ever known a lunatic, and which books they would bring to a hospital if they were confined and if they would enjoy having a cat. We would have a short conversation about these topics, and I would invite my audience into the cell where Christopher Smart lived.

This next part would be relating. We would talk about what life in the cell must have been like for Christopher Smart (born April 11, 1722 and died May 21, 1771). There was probably a table, along with a chair, certainly a Bible, few sheets for writing, pen, some pamphlets and books. What about the food? What did Smart and Jeoffry eat? What did they do? We can only imagine---nearly six years! And yet Smart spends so much time writing about Jeoffry that we easily answer the question. Just read the marvelous poem. Smart sees Jeoffry as a blessing from God. Jeoffry is a servant of God. Smart uses action verbs to describe Jeoffry’s glory to God: he wreaths his body; he rolls, checks his paws, washes himself, gets rid of fleas, purrs, catches mice, purrs, eats, honors God. He creates a kind of electricity which, as Smart suggests, is God keeping him warm, sort of, as it were, stroking him. If we were confined for nearly six years, we would probably be grateful for a cat. Smart, by the way, seems to avoid indelicate language when he describes Jeoffry cleaning himself: “He picks up behind to clear away there.” Isn’t that delightful? The action verbs are marvelous.

Why exactly was Smart confined? Considered brilliant and clever (he wrote stories, poems, georgics, plays, essays, and more, and had a weekly journal on literature), he was criticized for kneeling in prayer as he walked on the streets of London Town. And we wonder who made such judgments. Smart may have been extreme and eccentric, but we often wonder if he was really hurting anyone. Who has the right to judge another? Why did Dr. Battie, who, as the son of a priest, was familiar with Christ’s “I was sick and ye visited me, naked, and ye clothed me, in prison, and ye came unto me,” deprive Smart of company? Battie believed that visitors disturbed patients. Dr. Battie’s treatise is interesting. Much as the doctor recommended fresh air, good food, and more, much of that was lacking.

However, there were exceptions. Dr. Samuel Johnson was allowed to visit Smart and commented, albeit satirically, that Smart received some exercise, while gardening: referencing Smart’s own “Let pink, house of pink rejoice with Trigonum, an herb used in garlands.” Ask yourself just how much exercise and fresh air an individual receives while gardening. Where were the gardens? Was gardening an early form of occupational therapy? Perhaps. Smart probably ate thinned gruel or porridge once, perhaps twice a day, and his cat must have thrived on mice and perhaps a bit of leftover gruel.

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The cell must have been very cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Never to know when you might be allowed to work in the garden and shocked when you are stung with a sharp pin, to know you are sometimes watched and to wonder if you will always receive food, if you can wash must have troubled this eccentric man who, according to some, was bi-sexual. Maybe he didn’t think that way. Who knows?

Even though some participants may not be interested in the fact that Jubilate Agno contains several fragments, some very curious fragments, some suggesting insanity, these are engaging because they do, in fact, show a knowledge of gardening, perhaps going back to Smart’s early childhood when he enjoyed the countryside. For example, he mentions that Merois is like lettuce, good for dropsy, that Conduron is an herb with a red flower, good for scurvy, that Acesis is a water sage, that Mew is an herb, like Anise (reduces gas and helps a young mother produce milk) and that Teucrion is like the herb, germander, useful for depression, bad breath, fever, or stomach pain.

He also alludes to the blue daisy in this D Fragment.

(And now to the Reveal). Whatever you imagine mental illness and insanity in the eighteenth century, please realize that the mentally ill and insane were often extremely bright and knowledgeable, but they suffered, as many homeless people do today, from some quirk, and they were misunderstood and mistreated often thrown into an asylum, hospital, or debtors’ prison, victims of a much larger society of judges (until reform took place, the mentally ill, those imprisoned, the insane were often cruelly treated, scorned, mocked).

Jubilate Agno is certainly “controversial,” as Nikki Giovanni suggests, for one definition of poetry. It meets Marianne Moore’s definition of “imaginary gardens with real toads in them,” and, finally, it is a poem in which the poet, desperate as he is, searches for radiance.

Dr. Martha Macdonald College English instructor, published author, and performer. doctorbenn@gmail.com

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Interpretive exhibit evaluation (pre and post testing) – Kirby Science Center.

John Veverka & Associates. jvainterp@aol.com

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March 5, 2018 April 16, 2018 -Evaluating Interpretive Exhibits AASLH Caring for Museum -Materials for Exhibit, Moving, and Storage Collections -Assessing Risk to Cultural Property 1 May 7, 2018 March 25, 2018 Interpretive Planning for AASLH Museum and Education Outreach Historic Homes and Gardens -Storage Techniques April 2, 2018 -Introduction to Integrated Pest Management -Assessing Risk to Cultural Property 2 -Moving Museum Collections

For more information on these and other courses visit the Course Schedule on MuseumStudy.com

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