Book in Progress!
We’re writing an interpretation book on how to maximize social connection among visitors to parks, museums, and heritage sites.
Who’s the book for? Practitioners who create and give interpretive products or interpretive experiences for visitors at parks, museums, and heritage sites. Broadly, that’s interpreters, docents, educators, facilitators, guides, and greeters.
What’s the book about? How to make authentic social connection the core goal of interpretive talks, tours, and experiences. Our people-centered framework shifts the focus: objects, places, and other “tangibles” aren’t catalysts for understanding the object or the place deeper, they’re catalysts for understanding ourselves deeper. This approach uses the incredible natural, historical, and cultural assets of heritage sites (the content) as a bridge to help audiences connect with their companions and the strangers around them. The result is experiences that broaden perspectives, boost well-being, and show everyone they belong in parks, museums, and heritage sites.
When will it be available? Our book will be published in the fall of 2028 by Bloomsbury Academic and the American Alliance of Museums.
Do you need examples? Yes! Please share examples here. We are always on the lookout for samples and case studies. Have you worked on a chat, tour, pop-up exhibit, family guide, audio tour stop, or other piece of interpretation deliberately built with audience connection in mind? Or, have you recently seen something cool at another institution? Please let us know. We’ll be delighted to learn from your work and mention your contribution in the acknowledgments.
Sign up to our Behind the Scenes Book Blog for updates on our progress. Follow along as we interview interpreters, grow our thinking, and offer an inside peek at our book writing process.
InterpWorks 