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National Park Service HFCU.S. Department of the Interior onMEDIA May / June | 2008 Issue 23 Yellowstone National Park’s In This Issue “Roving Ranger” videocasts enable visitors to download interpretive content from Interpretive the Web to their own digital Techniques in device, and then play back 2 New Media the content during their park visit. New technology like this gives our audiences greater control over when, What New where, and how they receive Media Products interpretive information. 5 are Parks Using Learn more about new me- Today? dia products like this starting on page 5. (NPS Photo) New Employees and Staff News 6 at Harpers Ferry From HFC’s Director Center New media—digital and often web-based—off er the interpretation and education pro- HFC Products fessional many opportunities to deliver information to our many audiences. More than 11 Receive Awards ever before, these tools allow us to target our messages to very specifi c demographics and create a whole new palette of experiences for visitors. New Film Pre- Each of the “new media” technologies has its own content requirements, operational mieres at Home- regimes, and investment and life cycle costs. As a result, some are more successful in park 14 stead National environments than others. In this issue, we take a look at a few of the new technologies Monument that have been used in our parks and hear from experienced park professionals about the challenges, successes, and lessons learned as they have implemented new media products in their park. New Graphic 15 Identity Website Even though many of these exciting new media solutions are by design “user generated” Launched at the park site, Harpers Ferry Center looks forward to helping parks prepare their con- tent and create standards that benefi t the NPS system-wide. —Don Kodak onMEDIA National Park Service 1 Interpretation in the Digital Age HFC onMEDIA is produced and published by Harpers Ferry Interpretive Techniques in New Media Center. Statements of facts and views are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily We’re in the opening innings of a whole new ballgame: afford- refl ect an opinion or an endorse- ment by the National Park able, do-it-yourself, mass communication. Launch a podcast, Service. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not post an e-hike, or create a wiki, and you can interpret your necessarily constitute recommen- park’s resource for a wider potential audience than ever before. dation for use by the National Park Service. But using the latest technology doesn’t park. But there are members of your online Send questions and comments to ensure that you’ll reach people successfully. audience whom you might never see. David T. Gilbert either by email at [email protected] or call After you’ve learned about digital record- 304 535 6102. ing, editing, and uploading, you still want to How do these statistics match your as- use the medium so that people come to care sumptions about the potential audience for Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne about your park. Luckily, NPS guidelines new media online? for creating eff ective (traditional) interpre- Director, National Park Service tive media are just as relevant in the new • 72% of Americans aged 50-64 use the 1 Mary A. Bomar ballgame. Internet. Associate Director, • 93% of college graduates use the Internet, Partnerships and Visitor The Interpretive Development Program compared to 67% of people with only a Experience (IDP) lays out the Service’s approach to high-school degree, and 38% of people Chris Jarvi 1 interpretation. Whether or not you use it for who didn’t complete high school. Director, training and certifi cation, you’ll fi nd that it’s • Only 18% of Americans have listened to at Harpers Ferry Center 2 full of great strategies for creating publica- least one podcast. Don Kodak tions, exhibits, waysides, and other media. • Among those who have listened to a Editor Let’s see how the IDP guidelines—especial- podcast, 20% come from each of these age David T. Gilbert ly in modules 101 and 311—can help you ranges: 25-34, 35-44, 45-54; only 13% are Art Director 2 create a captivating digital or online product. 18-24 years old. Robert Clark, • Nearly half (48%) have visited a video- Offi ce of NPS Identity 3 Audience sharing site, such as YouTube. Contributors First, have a look at the “Knowledge of the • Around half (51%) of Internet users have Merrith Baughman Audience” component of the Interpretive taken virtual tours of another location Jennifer Clark 4 Claire Comer Equation (see below). Perhaps you’ve al- online. Chuck Dunkerly ready met some of the audience who would Todd Edgar subscribe to a podcast or rent a GPS-trig- Before you invest a lot in posting content Melissa English-Rias gered device—they’re already visiting your on your website, see what you can fi nd out Wendy Janssen Pam Koenig Caitlin McQuade The Interpretive Equation Greta Miller Barbara Pollarine Knowledge of +x=Knowledge of Appropriate Interpretive Virginia Reems ()the Resource the Audience Techniques Opportunities Phil Zichterman HFC Website www.nps.gov/hfc 1. Survey of Americans 18 and older, Febru- 3. Survey of Americans 18 and older, January ary 2008, Pew Internet and American Life 2008, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Project, www.pewinternet.org/trends/User_ www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/232/report_dis- The National Park Service cares Demo_2.15.08.htm play.asp for special places saved by the 2 4 . Survey of Americans 12 and older, March . Survey of Americans 18 and older, Novem- American people so that all may 2008, Edison Media Research, www.edison- ber 2006, Pew Internet and American Life experience our heritage. research.com/home/archives/2008/04/the_pod- Project, www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Vir- cast_con_1.php tual_Tours_2006.pdf EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA™ onMEDIA May / June 2008 National Park Service 2 about the people who visit the site. Does the content and cognitive level of your programs match the audiences most likely to see it? Think about the range of interest level among your visitors—there will be similar ranges among your “virtual” audi- ence. Are you providing for both the casual and the committed? Of course, your virtual audience isn’t neces- sarily sitting at a computer keyboard. One of the most important factors in reaching your audience is knowing the context in which they experience your interpretation. The power of a wayside exhibit is that the resource, the audience, and the interpreta- tion are all in the same place, at the same The narrator immediately gives you an Visitor listens to an audio tour time. This will certainly be true of a GPS- activity and asks a question: Compare the on his iPod while following a map at Richmond National triggered device, but it’s not necessarily true apparent distance to the opposite rim and Battlefi eld Park, Virginia. (NPS of a cell-phone program or a podcast. Many to the river below. Is the rim further away? Photo) podcast listeners appreciate having content Even if you’re at home, the question gives available while they’re commuting to work you a tool for imagining yourself at the or working out at the gym. Also, whether overlook, and the video furnishes a (dimin- your audience can look at images or listen ished) view. to narrative—or both—should make a big diff erence to the content of your interpre- The video shows a diagram, a cross-section tive media. of canyon labeled with distances, as the narrator explains how the canyon’s depth Appropriate Techniques and width diff er in places. The view and When using something called “new media” the diagram introduce tangible qualities of Dozens of techniques or “emerging technology,” we’re usually the canyon. Video and audio then move in and examples are de- delivering our interpretive product—made clearly linked steps toward an explanation scribed in Handles: A of images, words, and sounds—through of the canyon’s intangible signifi cances. Survey of Interpretive a digital device. The technology gives our Depth and width vary because some Techniques, at www. audiences greater control over when, where, rocks—especially granite—are harder than nps.gov/idp/interp/ and how they attend to the interpreta- others and more resistant to erosion by handlesupdate.pdf tion. Although the means of delivery may water. Near Chasm View, “the river had to be diff erent, we’re still using those familiar really focus its energy to narrowly cutting elements: images, words, and sounds. So down through granite.” These evocative we can rely on some proven interpretive words accompany the rushing sound of techniques for using those elements. water and a close-up on river pounding against rock. Here’s an example from a parkcast at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Several “old” interpretive techniques—ac- The “Chasm View Geology” episode is part tivity, question, illustration, word choice— of a series, a ‘tour’ of canyon overlooks. You appear in this “new” medium. Other tech- can watch it on your computer or carry it niques that work well in a video are: visual right out to the Chasm View overlook on an before and after comparisons; chronologi- iPod, Blackberry, or other similar gadget. cal events; rhythm (created as you cut from onMEDIA May / June 2008 National Park Service 3 one scene to the next); and quotations The IDP has a rubric for evaluating good Find descriptions of (either re-enacted or from interviews). interpretive media. We’ve reviewed the media strengths and fi rst measure—exploiting the strengths of weaknesses at www.nps.