Dominique's Message

What is interpretation?

One definition:

Interpretation Canada (1976):
Any communication process designed to reveal meanings and relationships of cultural and natural heritage to the public, through first-hand involvement with an object, artifact, landscape or site.

What does an interpretive planner at the CMC?

Role of an interpretive planner:
To consider the visitor experience through the exhibition development process

In order to get a successful exhibition:
We need to know to whom we are communicating;
What we want to say and why;
How we should communicate it so the visitor is interested, understands and get a meaningful and memorable experience

The tasks of an interpretive planner:
(In close collaboration with all members of the exhibition team)
Clarify the exhibition objectives and the outcomes
Identify the target audience
Conceive an interpretive or communication approach. This is the basic plan for the exhibition, for its structure. It details the thematic framework, the messaging and the tools we are going to use to communicate the messages.
Identify the interpretation tools needed to reach our goals
Texts
Artifacts
A.V.
Interactive
Visual components (photos, graphics)
Computer kiosk, website
Audio-guide
Printed brochure
Learning space
Live interpretation with animators, volunteers, or Dramamuse (theatre troup)
Making sure to vary the tools and the strategies to reach different kinds of audience and different learning styles.
Cognitive
Emotive
Sensitive
Auditive = sounds, a.v.
Visual = graphics, photos
Tactile = interactivity, to touch stuff
Participate in the writing process (writing, editing, translation, etc.)
Collaborate to the design phases
Participate to the animators or volunteers training when require

The vision for the visitor experience for the permanent exhibition for the new Post and Communication Museum

Guidelines for the visitor experience
i. To consider the visitor as the starting point of the experience
ii. To put the human and social aspect at the forefront
iii. To call on the intellectual and emotional visitor background
iv. To privilege a dynamic and inviting experience
v. To be accessible both physically and intellectually
vi. To call on the different senses (hear, touch, view, smell)
vii. To put the visitor in an active mode
viii. To privilege a multiple levels content approach
ix. To present the content to reflect a modern and contemporary approach for both the exhibition mediums and the communication world.
Goal
i. Propose an experience where the visitor, as an active member of the society and a witness to its history, will be invited to enter in a cycle of communication. Therefore, he will not only be asked to receive and understand some information, but he will also be asked to become an agent of communication.
Objectifs
i. To touch directly the visitor by communicating the spirit if the event that we are showcasing. We want the visitor to perceive or recall a coherent emotion with what the people felt at the time of the event.
ii. Create a personal connection with the visitor by encouraging him to use his own references.
iii. Encourage communication between visitors. We want visitors to communicate to each other, to share their stories, to question themselves together.
iv. Invite the visitor to share his own experiences.

- Examples of some of the possible interpretive tools:
· Interviews
· Music
· Songs
· Quotes
· Images
· Videos
· Objects or props
· Recreations
· Soudscapes