What\u27s past is prologue : our legacy - our future, 1990 National Interpreters Workshop

... the topics of the papers presented at the 1990 National Interpreters Workshop reflect a dynamic NAI membership. While firmly rooted to principles which have been developed in over a millennium, presenters show a healthy use of past knowledge as prologue to an active, vital present ...https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ebooks/1005/thumbnail.jp

An Analytical Approach to Programs as Data Objects

This essay accompanies a selection of 32 articles (referred to in bold face in the text and marginally marked in the bibliographic references) submitted to Aarhus University towards a Doctor Scientiarum degree in Computer Science.The author's previous academic degree, beyond a doctoral degree in June 1986, is an "Habilitation à diriger les recherches" from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI) in France; the corresponding material was submitted in September 1992 and the degree was obtained in January 1993.The present 32 articles have all been written since 1993 and while at DAIMI.Except for one other PhD student, all co-authors are or have been the author's students here in Aarhus

Live interpretation: an asset, or an indulgence? In the fields of education and entertainment, how valuable is live interpretation as an effective tool of communication?

This thesis aims to assess the value of live interpretation as a tool of communication, by treating it as a form of design, and by comparing examples of practice in the field with other contemporary design techniques. Chapter two lists a selection of active practitioners across the field of informal and formal education, and entertainment within the area of Britain's cultural heritage. It provides a taste of the professional industry, and includes information like how many interpreters are employed, what techniques they favour, and what educational programmes they run. Likewise in the voluntary /hobbyist sector, the chapter notes membership numbers, public activities, and training facilities. Chapter three establishes the communication model against which the technique can be assessed. Chapter four concentrates on the practical value of the technique as a tool of communication, assessing its ability to adapt to visitor needs, to establish a communication channel, remain focused, to develop and to cope with visitor orientation. It also questions its practical and mental durability. Chapter five looks at motivation and links the public popularity, both as consumers and practitioners, of live interpretation with the growth of the movement towards 'bottom up' history, which the author phrases as, 'history for the people, about the people, by the people.' One of the main problems governing the quality of practice in the field stems from the uneasy relationship of the two parents of live interpretation: education and entertainment. Both of these areas run as themes throughout the work. Chapter six raises the question of the power invested in interpreters, what it means, where it comes from, and how its subsequent responsibilities are being met. The conclusion asks why should improvements be made, and what sectors are in greatest need of improvement. It includes a suggested agenda for a code of practice for the future

Report of the President, Bowdoin College 1988-1989

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/presidents-reports/1097/thumbnail.jp

Annual Report of the University, 1994-1995, Volumes 1-4

DEMONSTRATING THE STRENGTH OF DIVERSITY A walk around the UNM campus as students change classes demonstrates UNM\\u27s commitment to diversity. Students and professors from a variety of ethnic backgrounds crowd the sidewalks and fill classrooms. Over the past year UNM moved forward with existing and new programs to interest more minority students, faculty and staff in the University and to aid in their success while here. Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education recently recognized the University\\u27s endeavors, ranking UNM as one of the best colleges in the nation at graduating Hispanic students. Provost Mary Sue Coleman says diversity contributes to a stimulating environment where faculty and students have different points of view and experiences. The campus becomes a more intellectually alive place, she says. The efforts to build a diverse campus go hand in hand with the University\\u27s goals of achieving academic excellence and attracting the best and brightest. MINORITY ENROLLMENT In the fall of 1994 a total of 32 percent of the student body came from underrepresented groups. The UNM School of Law had the largest number of Native Americans enrolled in any law school in the country

"This deathless field" :the role of on-site interpretation in negotiating heritage values of historic battlefields

PhD ThesisThe focus of this research deals with on-site interpretation at historic battlefields and how it contributes to the heritage values of these sites. This research comes at a time of increased debate about what values historic battlefields possess in the United Kingdom, predominantly as they are expressed through non-statutory legislation in England and Scotland. However, apart from cursory mention of their cultural value in these documents, the potential for archaeological discoveries and the military importance of these sites have been the exclusive factors given to justify their significance. This research has sought to verify if this is the case with visitors to historic battlefields, and if not, which elements they value. In contrast to more recent conflicts, historic battlefields rarely leave any physical traces in the landscape, or ‘heritagescape’. Whilst there are occasionally markers from after the event, such as memorials or plaques, the importance of their placement and meaning is not always sufficiently presented to modern visitors. Without other forms of on-site interpretation – such as interpretative panels, live interpretation or visitor centres – it is difficult, or impossible, to locate where a battle occurred, and communicate what is known about the event. Interpreting battlefields through these media allows visitors the opportunity to connect with and understand the actions which transpired within a bounded area. As this research has found, the methods in which information about battlefields have been presented, and the narrative of interpreting events, are crucial in how visitors perceive these sites; providing the performative space for negotiating heritage values. These are key themes for this thesis, and form the basis of the research aims and objectives. The data which was collected and analysed came from three battlefield case studies in the United Kingdom with distinctive, but comparable circumstances: Culloden, Bosworth and Flodden. At the heart of these sites were the issues of how interpretation narrates the known historical facts of the battles, and at Bosworth, how this is done at a distance from the actual site. In order to ascertain how visitors interact and react to the interpretation, semi-structured interviews and participant observations were employed to engage with visitors and staff in determining how interpretation influences understanding of those spaces as ‘heritagescapes’. The key theoretical basis of the data analysis was through semiotics and communication theories. These theories were essential in establishing how recognised ‘signs’, conveyed through on-site interpretation, create meaning which visitors are capable of decoding. iii Through these investigations it is concluded that the heritage values of historic battlefields are more nuanced and less tangible than has been identified previously by academics in archaeology, history and tourism, as well as by regional and national authorities. In contrast to present paradigms, it is contended in this thesis that the value of historic battlefields for visitors, and why some have been interpreted, has little to do with the event itself or remaining tangible artefacts, nor the minutiae of exact historic reality. Instead the most significant factors were what occurred in the aftermath of the event, and the political ramifications resulting from it, and their perceived importance to the individual visitor today; regardless of their historical veracity. Despite numerous previous studies into battlefield archaeology, history and tourism, what constitutes ‘battlefield heritage’ has been explicitly under-researched. The objective of this thesis has been to rectify that gap and provide a basis for further research. This intention has not only included what heritage values visitors place on these fields today, but also why certain sites have been interpreted over others. These investigations provide a unique contribution to heritage and interpretation studies on historic battlefields and analogous ‘heritagescapes’

"History is bunk": historical memories at Henry Ford's Greenfield Village

textIn 1929, Henry Ford opened Greenfield Village, his outdoor history museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Fourteen years earlier, Ford announced that written history was bunk. The museum was designed to reshape the historical project by celebrating farmers and inventors in lieu of military heroes and politicians. Included among the structures were Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park Laboratory, Noah Webster’s home, and Ford’s Quadricycle shop. Ford used architecture and material culture to connect American progress to self-made manhood, middle-class domesticity, and the inventive spirit. Despite signs that the struggling automotive industry is responsible for Michigan’s economic decline, the site is popular--since 1976 over one million visitors have attended each year. This project examines this phenomenon, which exemplifies how publics often fail to link past and present in the same way that scholars do. The Village’s largely unexplored archives documenting its internal history are mined, along with primary and secondary sources on the histories of public history and the Detroit metropolitan-area. Chapter one studies the site’s construction and audiences during Ford’s presidency arguing that the populist public images of Ford and Edison mediated encounters with the Village. Chapter two links the site to the racial politics of the Detroit metro-area, which marked the Village as an alternative public space for whites. Chapter three draws on visitor surveys, to show how patrons’ worldviews were shaped by the politics of populistconservativism. Chapter four explains how the appointment of an academic as president ensured the addition of progressive historical narratives, but the site’s location in Dearborn impeded efforts to draw a larger African American audience. In the mid-1990s, the fifth chapter contends, administrators successfully sought new patrons by blending progressive history and entertainment. This project argues that the Village is popular because it articulates both visitors’ longing for an imagined past, and desires for alternative futures. It also proposes that representations of the past are understood not only through a study of their internal histories, but by placing them in the broader contexts of the economy, politics, and social relationships of the geographic area in which they are located.American Studie

Meaning and Meaning-Making: An exploration into the importance of creative viewer response for art practice

Empirical research suggests that gallery and museum audiences have a strong propensity to make sense of artworks by understanding what the artist ‘means to say’, or what the ‘encoded message’ of a work might be. Conversely, many contemporary artists subscribe to the idea that observers may (or even should) endow their work with their own meaning. In response to this situation, this thesis asks: How can one facilitate a more individual engagement by viewers in the meaning making process? To approach this task, the concepts of meaning and meaning-making are re-assessed and new definitions suggested that endeavour to relate these terms to discussions of art appreciation. A great deal of attention has been given to processes of meaning-making as a collective, social process. In this work the main emphasis will be placed upon the individual viewer’s encounter of a work of art. To develop the concept of meaning-making, arguments from post-structuralist discourses, literature theory, pragmatist aesthetics, and the psychology of art apprehension will be considered. The relation between meaning, verbalisation, and emotion, as well as between the viewer’s constructive activity and the artist’s intentions are discussed. This work also considers how the construction of meaning is influenced by contextual elements such as biological and social factors, the latter including the influence of the gallery environment. Existing theories, viewer testimonials, artists’ statements, and both contemporary and art historical examples are examined in order to determine various approaches that facilitate meaning-making processes. It will be argued that this interdisciplinary approach successfully brings together diverse and otherwise divided perspectives on the concept of meaning making and the meaning-making process. This research is ultimately aimed at developing a better understanding of the artist-audience relationship. It is anticipated this will proffer a resource for art educators and for other visual artists