Normally I shy away from reading self-guiding heritage district interpretive leaflets having been turned away too many times due to their normally dry text, lack of images and plethora of descriptive terms about carpentry and architectural features like dormers, and pediments. All the while, the writers usually assume you are aware of the diverse assemblage of terms already and that you can pick out the many defining characteristics by yourself, if presented the house. On occasion, the writers may have included a back page explanatory list or glossary of terms resembling a scholarly text. The end result for the viewer often becomes a constant wondering – “are THOSE examples of cornices??”
None of these approaches provide a fun entry to exploring the streets of a heritage district. What is actually encouraging you to discover on your own and pick out hidden details of homes that illustrate a pride of workmanship, setting them apart from our modern often stark, cookie-cutter homes of today? Is the goal of the walk to be a learning adventure as part of a delightful stroll? Well then how to go about it?
Well, finally we stumbled on an example that used a game approach – a form of scavenger hunt. We picked up an, “On the Hunt for Heritage“ brochure, from the MacNaught History Centre and Archives in Summerside, PEI, Canada. As the brochure remarks, “…the neighbourhood is a living testament to the tastes and skills of previous residents.” In the brochure introduction, they referred to the amble among the streets as an “invitation” to accept a “challenge” to feature find (my use of bolding and creative coupling).
Image courtesy Bill Reynolds Photos used in Culture Summerside published brochure by John Clevett
Upon accepting the challenge, you then open up the rest of the brochure to expose 8 colourful pages of 12 photographs per page, illustrating six examples for every term (two per page) as in pediment and oculus (see image). The writers’ wise choice was to eliminate cluttering up the page with word definitions to accomplish a successful visual search guide and thereby exemplifying the old phrase – a picture is worth a thousand words. If the human stroller was intrigued enough to want to find out the exact parameters behind what makes a cupula – a cupula- then our friend google will no doubt suffice.
At the base of each visual image example there is a line where, as part of the challenge, you are asked to enter the street address where you ON YOUR OWN, have found the feature being shown in the photograph. Is this not what interpretation aims at accomplishing -DOING and DISCOVERING? This is the engaging alternative to SHOWING AND TELLING that often happens on the too common guided walk or self-guiding brochure, where the building is pointed out to you and the text (or person) explains what (one hopes) you are seeing.
There is a map of the heritage district as a middle fold out portion of the brochure so you know the boundaries of where your search should be conducted. They ask you to return to the archives or the cultural centre to find out how well you did and to “compare your score with those of other observant and curious people.” They have made this a game which definitely will improve the enticement level for the younger audience. However, I find this a simple yet effective way to build up “observant and curious” skills in our client base -people of all ages. Will this help to make future walks for these amblers more interesting, by expanding their searching eyes? Will this help to engender a desire for preservation of diverse architectural styles?
This short blog post is an example of an alternative approach for us – we have been toying with the idea of doing shorter but more regular posts. Versus our longer posts on a monthly basis. Please provide us with feedback on your preference.