We live in Fort Collins, Colorado, a very nice city of 100,000 or so people located at the edge of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Money Magazine recently named it the best place in America to live. Through the years it has earned a great deal of praise as a lifestyle city. And itContinue reading “Interpret Your Town or City: What Makes It Special”
Category Archives: Communication
Where Do I Come From?
Interpretation of natural and cultural heritage often makes us wonder, “Where do I come from?” Especially for Americans, Canadians, Australians and the many other countries that have been cultural melting pots, history beyond the past generation or two can seem very distant. Now, helping people learn about their deepest roots has never been so easy.Continue reading “Where Do I Come From?”
When Being Third Place Is a Good Thing
When my dad was still living, I would visit him in my hometown, Vandalia, Illinois. I was amazed at how McDonalds by Interstate 70 had become the hangout for him and his buddies in the morning. I enjoyed going there with him for coffee and seeing his old friends of 70 years or more. CoffeeContinue reading “When Being Third Place Is a Good Thing”
An Art Museum and So Much More
On a recent trip to Japan, we had the great fortune to visit the Itchiku Kubota Art Museum in the Yamanashi region near Mount Fuji. We had been out for a drive to enjoy the fall colors but when we turned up the road toward the museum parking area, everyone in the car gasped atContinue reading “An Art Museum and So Much More”
Fall Festival at the Foot of Mount Fuji
We recently returned from speaking engagements in Korea and a visit with Masa Shintani and his family in Fujinomiya, Japan. Our friends lived in the town of Shibakawa until 2010 when it was incorporated into Fujinomiya, a city of about 130,000. Since 1942 this city has grown from the merging of several very old smallContinue reading “Fall Festival at the Foot of Mount Fuji”
Enjoyable or Engaging?
One of the most commonly quoted characteristics of interpretation is “enjoyable.” Sam Ham was one of the first to mention this term as a trait of what he calls the “interpretive approach to communication.” This makes sense to me – after all, if people are in a leisure setting and have chosen to be there,Continue reading “Enjoyable or Engaging?”
Worrying About the Wow
New museums, interpretive centers, nature centers, zoos, and other interpretive sites often worry about having a “wow” factor – something big and splashy and attention-getting that will cause visitors to stop in their tracks and later say to their friends, “that place had a sensational (fill in the blank here – could be building, exhibit,Continue reading “Worrying About the Wow”
The Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda
George Bernard Shaw wrote “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” Museums of social conscience around the world remind us of tragic human errors in hopes we will remember and behave differently in the future. We just returned from eighteen days working in RwandaContinue reading “The Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda”
In a Word – Ubuntu
Our words define us in many ways. As I write this, we are in Kigali, Rwanda, doing work and being inspired by the people and the wildlife we’ve seen on our travels around the country. This evening, I noticed a Facebook post by Michael Barth regarding the word, “Ubuntu.” I went to Wikipedia andContinue reading “In a Word – Ubuntu”
Advance Organizers
Much of what we do in life, travel and tourism is about expectations. About twenty years ago, I was leading an ecotour in Belize. I had two very unhappy ladies at a four-star resort, who could not believe there was no bathmat in their room. The food was great, the rooms were beautiful, the bedsContinue reading “Advance Organizers”
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