World Café Session on an International Collaboration

Conference Description - Join us for an interactive conversation about future international collaboration.  Take part in this important dialogue and share your ideas on ways to share research, resources, and experiences.  How can big interpretive associations work together formally and help nurture new and growing efforts?  Is it time for an International Federation of Interpretation?

Premise for the session – The issue of international collaboration has been a part of both formal and informal discussion at international interpretive conferences for many years, including the suggestion of a federation of associations. In 2014, at the NAI National Conference in Denver, an international group of interested people once again picked up the discussion with the group previously identified loosely agreeing to contact others regarding interest and content.

A World Café format was proposed as a way of engaging participants at the conference in Montreal in the discussion with a facilitated dialogue. This became a modified World Café because of time and space, with approximately 15 participants moving between three topics with a single facilitator staying at each discussion for consistency. Amy Lethbridge introduced the idea of formal international collaboration and the history of the discussion that she had participated in, which began in Vancouver in 200x, and the various potential collaborative efforts that have been mentioned to her over that period of time. She also mentioned the potential overlap of the discussion on international standards cautioning that these are two separate discussions. Lastly she mentioned her frustration at the lack of discussion regarding the role of interpretation at the World Parks Congress in Sydney and how impressed she was at the work the International Ranger Federation did making the issues important to rangers and rangers themselves a visible part of the conference discussion. She shared her personal vision that the international interpretive community could do something similar at the next congress in ten years and a federation or like organization could facilitate that happening.

Topics - Benefits of an international federation? Goals of an international federation? Challenges and opportunities of such a collaboration?

Discussion and results - Changing groups discussed these questions for 15–20 minutes and then moved on to a different topic with a different set of participants. The discussion is reflected on the flip chart notes below.

Noteworthy was the confusion/frustration regarding standards, which had not yet been discussed at the conference but had been mentioned; the comment that before talking about goals there should be a needs assessment; and the recognition that this small “conversation” needed to be brought to the whole gathered community. This led to a team of volunteers, led by Jane

Beattie, volunteering to lead a discussion at lunchtime the following day and which is further described hereafter in these proceedings.

Why - What are the benefits of an international federation?

Voice of an international stage Sense of urgency – feel like something is being done Cross training and cross cultural experiences Bringing people together, creating community, sharing

of ideas, resources, and reaching out Potential to connect more closely with international

organizations such as UNESCO Ability to link with other global networks and

organizations (e.g. AAM) Creating a commonality of language Sharing financial resources and combining efforts on

activities such as:o Translationo Printingo Outreach efforts and civic engagemento Joint international projects

Global charitable efforts Global advocacy Build on groundswell Reciprocity “open source” information sharing

What – Goals of an international federation Create an understanding of interpretation Principles/ethics Recognition at highest (all) levels Support network for all International membership would bring leverage and

respect Legitimacy Pursuit of excellence We don’t like the word “standards” or don’t care Involvement of commercial section Other disciplines – seek allies Open to all including organizations and individuals Lessons learned – analysis and promotion Identify exemplars (people, places, practices) Lobbying and advocacy Policy directives Access and communication

Challenges/Opportunities Multiple languages and

cultures Different cultural

perceptions What is interpretation Politics/Lots of pre-

existing organizations (not all interp, but similar)

Cross cultural exchange Mentorship Infrastructure Answering why – why

do we need this? Why us?

Link different agencies/organizations and increase flow of resources

Problems and challenges of top down planning

Could be unmanageable due to size

Could use online communication/social media

Challenge of online accessibility not being equal

Likely to be western centric

Economic inequality Exchange programs Pull in new and

emerging interpretation groups

Opportunity for open access and grassroots

Funding – cost to run Create global

community Growing internet, online

Coordination of larger projects Promote sense of belonging, identity, community Develop association members Categories – practice, academic, and values Coalition vs federation or consortium What can be answered soon or not Materials production and sale Promote international representativeness and global

sites Art vs science vs craft Gather and distribute resources Develop association members Research, conferences, standards, publications Facilitation and dialogue

access and online translation

Definitions are different (how orgs see/define themselves)

Establishing core values Running an organization

(paid/unpaid) Over ambition “Founder syndrome” Coming up with

common standards Sharing research