by Craig Rademacher
The other day, I visited a popular coffee shop around the corner from my home in Marquette, Michigan. I ordered a hot beverage and sat down to enjoy a National Park Service multimedia program (i.e., podcast) called Yosemite Nature Notes.
Now there was nothing unusual about that. Many people download National Park Service podcasts and watch or listen to them on a laptop computer. In fact there are many such programs available. Currently there are 28 individual NPS podcasts available in iTunes, produced by 19 different national park areas (see Figure 1). These 28 shows contain more than 400 individual podcast episodes for park visitors to listen to or view. Back to the coffee shop.
Figure 1. List of NPS produced podcasts found in iTunes.
Finding the Yosemite Nature Notes podcast with a laptop computer is an easy search in iTunes (see Figure 2). Once found, simply download Nature Notes to your computer and watch it or sync it (i.e., transfer it) to your iPod. Sounds easy enough. Well, not really.
You see, I didn’t download Yosemite Nature Notes on my computer before I left home. I didn’t even bring my laptop with me. All I had was my iPhone. Like a national park visitor who had left home without his favorite podcast of Mojave National Preserve downloaded from his home computer onto his iPod, I was stuck. How do I get that interpretive program, Yosemite Nature Notes, to my phone when I want it and where I want it while visiting my on-site location?
Figure 2. Yosemite Nature Notes as it appears in iTunes.
Value of On-site Interpretation
Providing interpretation on site is seen as one of the great strengths of interpretive signs, self-guiding trails, and brochures. The premise behind this is a recognition that getting media messages to park visitors when they need them is our best chance at effective interpretation. The desire to get multimedia interpretation on site and in visitors’ hands in an effective fashion has inspired the recent growth of cell-phone based interpretation and some geo-locating interpretive services (e.g., GPS Ranger®). However, neither of these technologies would help me solve my coffee shop dilemma.
Prior to last November, if I had left my favorite podcast on my computer at home, I was out of luck regarding multimedia access. Multimedia interpretation, for all intents and purposes, stopped at my computer connection. This truth has limited the NPS and other agencies who wanted to provide podcast-style interpretation on site. The iPhone and Wi-Fi access technologies change that.
So, in the coffee shop I sat down and on my iPhone I located a button that connected me wirelessly to the iTunes store. I pressed the button and then searched for National Park Service podcasts. Amidst those listed, I found three about Yosemite, one of which was Yosemite Nature Notes. I selected it for download, and to my delight it downloaded directly onto my iPhone. Within a few minutes I was enjoying an 11-minute video program on Half Dome while sipping my coffee. It could not have been easier.
Now imagine if, instead of me being at the coffee shop in Marquette, Michigan, I had been at Yosemite Lodge. I could have used the hotel Wi-Fi to download the program and enjoyed the Yosemite Nature Notes video just moments before stepping outside the lodge to see Half Dome in all its glory. Or perhaps I could have downloaded the video and waited to view it while standing in full view of Half Dome. This Wi-Fi download technology brings multimedia interpretation onsite in a way never before experienced.
My coffee shop experience got me thinking. What is the interpretive potential of this new technology?
Wi-Fi Reach in National Parks
Figure 3. Results of search for NPS podcasts on an iPhone (left) and Yosemite Nature Notes podcast as it appears on the iPhone and iPod Touch (right).
The potential to deliver rich media experiences to visitors at interpretive sites is huge if the infrastructure for Wi-Fi technology continues to grow in national parks and recreation areas. Currently, Wi-Fi reach in most NPS areas is limited. For example, it is provided in Yosemite National Park and Death Valley National Park by concession services (e.g., lodging services). We can expect this type of Wi-Fi growth to continue as lodge-based visitors seek Wi-Fi as part of accommodation packages.
In an article in the Los Angeles Times, Nicholas Riccardi asked the question “How wired do we want our national parks?” Within the article, Riccardi reported that the National Park Service has directed all 391 park areas to consider telecommunication proposals as part of their planning. Some NPS officials see Wi-Fi access in Yellowstone hotel rooms as a way to convey relevant park information and therefore an important interpretive resource to visitors. So, Wi-Fi reach into NPS areas is occurring. But it appears that wireless telephone and Wi-Fi Internet access is being restricted to developed areas, which is probably good.
As interpreters, we should be aware that video download over cell-phone networks has significant restrictions. Wi-Fi is really what will effectively enable the download of the larger video interpretive messages, such as podcasts.
Most Promising Wi-Fi Interpretive Devices
Recently an NPS staff member suggested to me that the cell phone will be the portable interpretive device of the future. Although I don’t doubt that, I can tell you my experience with cell phone interpretation as it exists is somewhat mixed. I like the convenience, but the quality of sound and lack of visual support are real limitations. In my mind, the future of portable interpretation is the Wi-Fi-enabled device, typically a smart phone.
A smart phone is a mobile phone with computer-like capabilities. With it users can access the Internet via wireless phone signal or via Wi-Fi connection. In addition to Internet access most smart phones also provide e-mail, text messaging, and other services. Results of a recent survey by The Kelsey Group (TKB) reported that smart phone penetration in the mobile phone market is now at 18.9 percent. A survey by TKB on purchasing trends suggested that 49.2 percent of all respondents were planning to purchase a smart phone in 2009. North America is the fastest growing smart phone market. Growth in smart phone sales is expected to continue even in these difficult financial times.
A number of smart phones currently on the market have Wi-Fi capabilities. However, only the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch devices have tight integration with the most popular digital media store in the world, iTunes. So let’s look at the iPhone as an example of a smart phone that could be a future Wi-Fi interpretive media device.
The iPhone 3G is Apple’s smart phone. As a smart phone, it is becoming more and more popular, though it is not the leader in worldwide smart phone sales. However, more than 10 million iPhones have been sold. The strength of the iPhone as a portable interpretive device is its position as a cell phone with a built-in iPod. Its sibling is the iPod Touch, which is an iPod with no cell phone but with Wi-Fi capabilities.
Both of these Wi-Fi capable devices are tightly integrated to iTunes. iTunes holds the largest catalog of portable media programs, or podcasts, in the world. This is where you will find the best collection of NPS podcasts.
Currently, only iPhones and iPod Touch devices can directly download podcasts wirelessly and without a computer. Using this system, podcasts could be distributed to park visitors onsite from a central Wi-Fi location within a park, like a lodge or visitor center. This on-site distribution model has yet to be fully explored in a national park but has tremendous potential.
What this Means to Interpretation
Interpretation via Wi-Fi connectivity is in its infancy. As smart phones and other portable media devices become more universally Wi-Fi capable, we should expect more demand for this type of interpretive service. We are now seeing the development of interpretive software, websites, and portable media that take advantage of Wi-Fi access.
As the National Park Service plans for the future of interpretive programming, Wi-Fi delivery ought to be considered. This is the true horizon of multimedia-based interpretation in our national parks.
For the visitor, Wi-Fi-delivered interpretation is important because it is engaging and context-relevant. Importantly, it is also low cost to the visitor and has a strong convenience factor. Wi-Fi-delivered interpretive programming is portable, rich media that can incorporate narration, music, photographs, video, and sound. It has value to the visitor on site as well as having souvenir value.
My coffee shop experience confirmed that Wi-Fi-delivered interpretation is real. It will not be long before people begin to actively seek it out in national parks and recreation areas. Maybe not this coming season, but soon. Will your interpretive site be Wi-Fi ready?
For More Information
New Media in National Parks. http://newmedia.nmu.edu
Harpers Ferry Newsletter: HFC onMedia. June 2008 Issue on New Media. http://www.nps.gov/hfc/
hfc-onmedia.htm.
Hardy, Ed. 2008. Smart phone sales increasing, just not as much as usual. http://www.brighthand.com (accessed December 21, 2008).
Rademacher, Craig. 2008. Research Brief: NPS Podcasting Today. http://newmedia.nmu.edu (posted November 21, 2008).
The Kelsey Group. 2008. New TKG data: Smart phone penetration nears 20%. http://blog.kelseygroup.com (accessed December 1, 2008).
Craig Rademacher is an assistant professor of outdoor recreation leadership and management at Northern Michigan University (NMU) in Marquette, Michigan. He is the producer of the New Media in National Parks project (newmedia.nmu.edu) at NMU.
I think should debate all the pluses and minuses of in-park electronic communications long and hard before jumping on the Generation X bandwagon. Like, what is the point of watching a a video of half dome on your iPod in Yosemite and then stepping outside to see the real mountain? Why not just skip the electronics all together and just get out in nature? It comes down to whether we want to provide simulated or real-life experiences, doesn’t it?
Multimedia interpretation provides several opportunities that go beyond traditional interpretive outlets, such as brochures, signage, and tours.
I think that one opportunity for wi-fi/multimedia interpretation is the ability to deliver high quality content where traditional signage is undesirable. This is the same role a docent or park guide plays, sans personnel. Often it is a concern to not visually clutter a site with signage that is subject to wear, vandalism, and replacement. Here multimedia programming can excel as there is no actual impact on the site and nothing to wear out.
For small parks or other sites where staffing is not an option due to budget constraints, programming can be developed and made available 24/7. It also opens the door to making content available around the world to audiences far beyond a typical pool of visitors. Anyone with computer access can see and hear what your park has to offer.