The PAKI Reasearch Project

Our purpose is to describe and better understand how interpretation is offered at natural and cultural heritage sites and, in collaboration with practitioners at those sites, to develop a planning model for guided tours and exhibitions with a focus on meaning making by visitors.

Interpretation (in the form of guided tours and exhibits about natural and cultural heritage) can play an important role in visitors’ perceptions of their history and cultural heritage, as well as to the personal connections they make to past, present, and future landscapes. Interpretation can potentially provide not only a context for these perceptions, it can also start a conversation about identity and community values. But without a policy and planning approaches that focus on providing this context, there is a risk that interpretation will achieve little more than providing entertaining facts to pleasure seeking audiences.

In "PAKI," we are examining issues that are relevant for site managers to ask when deciding how to interpret the natural and cultural heritage for visitors. Our action-research approach ensures that our work is carried out in collaboration with heritage site managers and the people who work professionally with guide services, interpretive program development and exhibition planning for visitors.

The project aims to develop, implement, evaluate, and describe a model for the planning of heritage interpretation, focusing on the meanings that visitors to heritage sites actually make and the contexts they attach to such places as a result of interpretation.

In step 1, we document and analyze how the current interpretation situations work: What actually occurs when heritage site visitors engage with an exhibition or when a guide interacts with participants during a guided tour? To answer such questions, we are conducting interviews with visitors and asking them to describe their thoughts and experiences with interpretation. In addition, we are filming the interaction between guides and participants and documenting both the content of exhibits at several heritage sites and the ways in which visitors interact with them.

In step 2, we will explore with site managers, guides and planners their reactions to our findings in step 1. That is, "If this is what is actually occurring in the interpretation process at your site, what questions do we need to ask ourselves when we plan interpretation and when we make decisions about the form and content of the interpretive services we are going to offer to visitors?"

The methods we use to document and analyze the interpretation situation at each heritage site are designed to focus mainly on "meaning making by visitors," "communication," "interaction," and "system boundaries" (e.g., functional areas at a site that are dedicated to different types of interpretation). These aspects of interpretation are often overlooked in traditional planning processes, which typically focus exclusively on the sender's needs and objectives rather than taking into account the recipient's situation. In the PAKI project, we hope to propose a planning method that challenges a transmitter-only approach in the planning of interpretation and underscores the value of imbuing the sender’s mission with an understanding of the visitor’s reality.

With three-year (2014-2016) funding from the National Heritage Board, the PAKI project is a collaboration between the Environmental Communication Unit and the Center for Nature Interpretation, both in the Department of Urban and Rural Development, SLU. Our team members include Hanna Bergeå, Elvira Caselunghe, David Forsander, Lars Hallgren, Eva Sandberg and Elin Ångman.

The heritage sites participating in the project are Läckö Castle and Visitor Centre Vänerskärgården Victoria Hall (Foundation Läckö Castle), Visitor Centre Hornborgasjön (County Administrative Board of Västergötland), Visitor Centre Huseby and Huseby Bruk (Huseby Bruk AB).

Read the full report on the Swedish version of this website.

Contacts.
Lars Hallgren, lars.hallgren@slu.se
Eva Sandberg, eva.k.sandberg@slu.se