Category Archives: Fermata

What is a theme?

Fermata, Guerrilla Interpretation, , , ,
Sunrise on the Colorado River below Longhorn Dam by Ted Lee Eubanks
Sunrise on the Colorado River below Longhorn Dam by Ted Lee Eubanks

What is a theme? A theme to me should be the same as to you. An interpretive theme doesn’t differ from a literary theme. There is no need for a new definition of an age-old (Aristotelian) literary concept.

The theme is the main idea or underlying message of a literary work. The theme is a tool that unifies the various elements of the book or essay. A literary work can have more than one theme, although there is often a single theme that underlies the work.

The theme, more importantly, is a central insight that the author provides through his or her writing. A theme is revelatory. In our case, the theme is the central insight (or insights) that the interpreter provides through their interpretation. The most powerful themes are those with insights into the human condition. In other words, the theme of an interpretive walk, if lucky, offers insight not only into nature but into the human experience, as well.

Let’s use my hike along the trail from my previous article as an example. If you remember, I start themelessly. The only sideboards that I place on my interpretation is the trail itself (a thing, not a meaning). The trail and its inhabitants are the subject, not the theme.

I am interested in interpreting what I see and experience. But, walking the trail and simply identifying the flora and fauna offers no insight either into this natural system or into our role within this system. This is guiding, not interpretation. This is information, not revelation.

Field guides, as an example, rarely offer meanings. Field guides are useful tools in identifying things (birds, Civil War weaponry, roadkill) and thus contribute to the overall knowledge that is a necessary part of interpretation. But, being able to tell warblers apart by their tail spots isn’t interpretation in its own right. This is guiding, begging for interpretation. This is information, begging for revelation.

At the start of our walk, I notice a black-and-yellow lichen moth, a highly specialized species. If need be, I could use a field guide to identify the moth. Once I know its identity, I am ready to consider how it will serve my interpretive needs.

I decide that the moth and its dependence on lichen can serve as a motif for the remainder of the walk (think about the simple motif that Ravel uses in Bolero). Specialization restates itself with other species such as the poison-ivy sawfly and the Hercules club beetle. These species become the repeated motif within my theme of specialization.

But, of course, a guerrilla interpreter doesn’t stop with specialization in insects. That theme is too limiting, too restrictive, too shallow. I extend that theme to one that is universal. My theme focuses the walk on the rewards of specialization and its risks within a changing world. In other words, I extend the theme to include the human experience.

I am not finished, though. As I mentioned in the article, there is a take away, a conservation message, that will serve as a coda. A diverse ecosystem supports diverse wildlife. Without the lichen, there is no lichen moth.

I could, in the same talk, note that a diverse economy provides employment opportunities for a diverse population, as well. But, the interpreter’s role is not to spoon-feed meanings. As I said in the previous article, we plow the ground where a visitor’s own ideas and revelations can be nurtured. In this case, I will leave the visitor with a clear understanding of the relationship between rich and diverse habitats and biodiversity, and let them explore the universality of this simple message.

My theme focuses the walk on the rewards of specialization and its risks within a changing world. In other words, I extend the theme to include the human experience.

Of course, I could write this out in advance. But why? What if I don’t see the black-and-yellow lichen moth at the beginning of the walk? What if I see the Indian blanket moth instead? If I see the Indian blanket moth first, I will allow that moment of opportunity to introduce an entirely different underlying message, that of the advantages and risks of blending into your environment.

Prescripted interpretation for the trail would need to rise above these unexpected opportunities. Such a plan would need to be organized around a more general theme (“an interpretive trail offers diverse opportunities for understanding the natural world”, or some similarly tasteless, textureless pablum). Since we are engaged in in situ interpretation, I would  want to be sure that what I am interpreting is actually “in situ.” Otherwise, I am left interpreting a ghost, a figment, rather than a thing.

Are there advantages to the extemporaneous approach? Absolutely. For the interpreter, every day starts with a clean slate. Nature (or whatever the subjects might be) offers the cues, and challenges the interpreter to take the audience to places they, as well as the interpreter, have never been before. I will argue that the process is exhilarating to the audience, as well as the performer (the interpreter). This is walking the interpretive tightrope without a net.

Is this a better methodology? No. As I said in my article, the extemporaneous approach, an element of guerrilla interpretation, isn’t for everyone. You need to have the chops.

What does it take to master interpretation? You must be knowledgeable (about the profession as well as about the subject). You must be skilled (presentation, design, illustration, etc.). And, you must be creative. If the theme of a walk is its central insight, then give us a view that is new. Give us a revelation (didn’t Tilden say something to the effect that interpretation is revelation based upon information.)

I cannot think of a better way to exploit Tilden’s first principle – Any interpretation that does not somehow relate what is being displayed or being described to something within the personality or experience of the visitor will be sterile. Use what is at hand (the black-and-yellow lichen moth), and then embed that motif within a universal theme (the risks and rewards of specialization in a rapidly changing world).

And, of course, do all of this on the fly. Go guerrilla.

Indian blanket moth (Schinia volupia), Austin, Texas, by Ted Lee Eubanks
Indian blanket moth (Schinia volupia), Austin, Texas, by Ted Lee Eubanks

Interpretive Jazz

Fermata, Guerrilla Interpretation, ,
coloradoriver
Colorado River below Longhorn Dam, Austin, Texas, by Ted Lee Eubanks

If you aspire to being something more than a guide, or an usher, or a glorified bush beater, then you will need to provide a service beyond finding things. You will need to find meanings.

Every program or tour doesn’t need to have a theme. You can function as a guide for example, and themes may never cross your mind. Take bird guides. Bird guides can find, call, attract, and identify birds. As long as they can do the above, a bird guide will be successful. Birding clients demand little more than an expanded life list. This isn’t interpretation, though. This is guiding.

If you aspire to being something more than a guide, or an usher, or a glorified bush beater, then you will need to provide something beyond finding things. You will need to find meanings. The moment that you cross that fine line between a thing and its meaning, you enter the rarefied air of interpretation.

Interpreters explore meanings. Meanings aren’t spoon-fed to the listener or reader. An interpreter only prepares the fertile ground where the visitor’s own meanings will grow. A theme is one way to define the boundaries of this fertile ground.

Themes shouldn’t throttle meanings. Themes are meant to be flexible, malleable. In fact, one strategy of guerrilla interpretation is to adapt the theme of a program as opportunities present themselves.

Adaptability is one of an interpreter’s greatest strengths when interpreting nature, for example. Nature changes with every new day, with every new moment. You can walk the same trail every day for the remainder of your life, and each day’s experiences will be singular. Why not take advantage of what each moment brings by being alert to their interpretive opportunities?

Black-and-yellow lichen moth (Lycomorpha pholus)
Black-and-yellow lichen moth (Lycomorpha pholus), Austin, Texas, by Ted Lee Eubanks

Here is an example. I walked along the Colorado River in Austin last week, just as I do virtually every day. I carried my camera (as I do virtually every day, as well). I noticed an interesting moth perched on a beggar’s tick (hedge-parsley), and took a couple of quick images. I identified the moth as a black-and-yellow lichen moth. The caterpillars of this moth only eat lichen.

Now, think of where I could take the program based on this one moth. I could talk about specialization, and how evolution favors those organisms that succeed by specializing in a way to avoid competitive exclusion. I could then interpret the lichens that the caterpillars are feeding on. I could talk about how lichens have succeeded through the symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an algae (or a cyanobacteria). I could talk about how lichens also have few competitors, and that the moth’s caterpillars are among the few predators that a lichen faces. And, I can pose the obvious question. What happens to a specialist when that plant or tree they depend on has been eliminated or destroyed? No lichen; no lichen moth.

Lichen
Lichen, Austin, Texas, by Ted Lee Eubanks

I would argue that the opportunity of the moment, the moth, gives me enough material for several programs, each branded and bound together with its own theme (symbiosis, specialization, competitive exclusion). I probably would have chosen specialization as my theme since I know of other species and stories along the way that will fit under that theme. Along the same trail, there is a sawfly whose young only feed on poison ivy, and a beetle that only feeds on the Hercules club tree. From there, I could expand to include the notion of biodiversity and endangered species.

Or, maybe I would have organized my walk around cryptic species, those that blend in with their surroundings. An example that I often see along my trail is the Indian blanket moth (Schinia volupia). The caterpillars of this moth only feed on Indian blanket (Gaillardia pulchella), and the adults are rarely seen away from the blossoms.

Guerrilla interpretation like I have described isn’t for everyone. Here’s an analogy. There are musicians that play from a written score. An orchestra is the perfect example of this approach. You play the notes that have been written for you.

On the other hand, there are musicians that take a basic melodic line and then extemporize. Jazz is the perfect example of such an approach. When you extemporize you walk the tight rope without a net. Not everyone is comfortable with playing extemporaneously, just as not everyone is comfortable with guerrilla interpretation. But, if you have the chops (talent, skill, experience, inspiration), this approach offers additional, expanded opportunities for engaging and inspiring an audience.

I may start a walk themelessly, and wait for the opportunity of the moment to bring inspiration and order to my walk. But, this isn’t to say that my program or talk remains themeless. I am an interpreter, not a guide. I simply wait for nature to give the cue.

Indian blanket moth (Schinia volupia), Colorado River, Austin, Texas, by Ted Lee Eubanks
Indian blanket moth (Schinia volupia), Colorado River, Austin, Texas, by Ted Lee Eubanks

The Nature Photography Revolution

Fermata, Photography, ,

To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them…Elliott Erwitt

How many Americans watch birds? How many Americans care to know how many Americans watch birds? More importantly, at least for this essay, how many Americans photograph birds and wildlife, and, in general, nature?

The Outdoor Foundation, in its annual Outdoor Participation Report, estimated that around 14 million Americans watched birds in 2013. That number, around 4.9% of the population age 6 and older, has been relatively stable since 2007.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), in its 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, estimated that 17.8 million Americans age 16 and older took trips away from home to observe birds.

The number of birders committed enough to escape backyard feeding, between 14 and 18 million, underestimates the impact of the recreation. Not only does the number of birders matter, even more important are the numbers of days spent watching birds outdoors, at least from the standpoint of public use and economic impact, User-days (or outings) is a more accurate predictor of tourism and resource impacts than the overall number of recreationists.

A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera…Dorothea Lange

According to the Outdoor Foundation, birding is the third most favorite American recreation when measured by frequency of participation (lagging behind only running/jogging and biking). Birders and wildlife viewers averaged 39 outings per-person per-year, for a total of 1 billion outings in 2013. For a comparison, fishing is the fourth most favorite recreation, and anglers averaged around 20 outings per-person per-year.

The USFWS survey looks at a variety of ways that people watch wildlife. People feed wildlife, observe wildlife, and photograph wildlife. I am interested in the trends in these activities, particular the growth in photographing birds and/or wildlife when compared to observation.

In 2001, there are 20,080,000 wildlife observers who left home to recreate, and there were 9,427,000 wildlife photographers. Ten years later, the number of wildlife observers had stayed relatively flat (a 1% decline to 19,808,000), while photography had grown by 31% (to 12,354,000 away-from-home wildlife photographers). Outings tracked a similar pattern. Observers spent 295,345,000 days in the field in 2001, dropping to 268,798,000 in 2011 (a decline of 9%). Wildlife photographers spent 76,324,000 days out in 2001, growing to 110,459,000 in 2011 (an increase of 45%).

To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event…Henri Cartier-Bresson

Why is this important? The growth in wildlife and bird photography is helping mitigating for the losses in people observing or feeding birds. Photography is the engine that is propelling many toward nature in the 21st Century.

The next USFWS survey should be out next year. I am eager to see how the growth in wildlife photography is captured in the new report. The past five years have seen photography grow at an unprecedented rate. According to 1000memories, “Every 2 minutes today we snap as many photos as the whole of humanity took in the 1800s.”

There are over 350 million images posted to Facebook each day. What if only 1% of those images are related to nature? That’s still 3.5 million images being shared daily!

The rise of digital photography has breathed life into birding and wildlife observation. Photographers are doing much more than looking; photographers are chronicling. The ability to record and then instantly share what you see is a powerful influence in the ways that people are approaching nature.

People are sharing experiences with their images. There is an ad hoc interpretation taking place, one that is introducing swaths of our population to nature in new and credible ways. According to Neilsen, “Ninety-two percent of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising.” What is a Facebook photo if not “earned media”? Look at the number of nature tour companies and destinations posting images in Facebook groups and other digital platforms. What could be a more perfect example of content marketing?

trust-in-advertising

Consider this example. The Facebook page Texbirds focuses on rare birds seen in that state. The “rules on photos” from that page state that PHOTOS MUST SHOW SOMETHING, I.E. EARLY OR LATE SPECIES, UNUSUAL BEHAVIOR, UNUSUAL FOR LOCATION, ETC. PHOTOS JUST TO SHOW OF A PRETTY PHOTO ARE NOT ALLOWED. IF YOU JUST WANT TO SHOW OFF YOUR PRETTY PHOTOS PLEASE JOIN THE BIRDS OF TEXAS GROUP FOR THAT (their all caps, not mine). Texbirds has 3,604 members.

The Facebook group referenced in the above rules is Birds of Texas. Birds of Texas only requires that the photos be of Texas birds. Otherwise, any bird image is welcomed, no matter how common the bird. Birds of Texas has four times as many members as Texbirds (12,283). In fact, the Birds of Texas group, focused only on one state, has attracted twice as many members as the American Birding Association Facebook group (6,251 members) that covers the entire nation.

The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box…Henri Cartier-Bresson

I see no reason for this trend not to continue. As more affordable digital cameras suitable for nature photography are brought to the market (such as the Canon Powershot SX50 or SX60), the growth in nature photography will only accelerate. Demands for enhancements that are desired by photographers will only increase pressure on public land managers, as well.

The USFWS, the resource agency that manages the nation’s wildlife refuges, has traditionally dumped all wildlife observers, feeders, and photographers into one bucket. This is no longer appropriate or meaningful. The needs and desires of photographers are not necessarily the same as those of observers. The size of this recreational population (to over 12 million in 2011, and, even if the rate of 31% rate of growth has only remained constant) now totals over 16 million Americans. This segment of the wildlife recreation population has been relatively shy and hidden to date, but I doubt that this reticence will continue.

For interpreters, there needs to be a recognition that park, refuge, and museum staffs are not the only ones empowered to interpret these special places. Out of these 250 million images posted each day, how many were uploaded by interpretive staff? How can interpretive messages rise above the din? What if the messages from friends and family are considered more credible than those from official staff?

For those who have spent their lives promoting recreation as the primary vector that leads people to nature, this revolution in nature photography could not be more welcome. People are finding their ways to nature; they just aren’t following the traditional paths laid before them. Let’s hope that those agencies and institutions that are being confronted by this growth are prepared to nurture it to maturity.

It is my intention to present – through the medium of photography – intuitive observations of the natural world which may have meaning to the spectators…Ansel Adams

Ted Lee Eubanks
12 Jan 2015

The Sound Bite Society

Fermata, Guerrilla Interpretation, , , , ,

Our audience is the Sound Bite Society, one that  demands rudimentary snippets of information delivered by their individual choice of media.

The average American watches 5 hours of television a day. African-Americans? 7.12 hours a day. An average American kid spends about 900 hours in school per year, and watches around 1200 hours of television. Kids ages 6-11 spend about 28 hours a week in front of the TV.  As Rousseau said, “the apparent ease with which children learn is their ruin.” What could be easier than television?

Sheila Murphy (How Television Invented the New Media) declares that “literally and figuratively, television informs how New Media is used.” An argument could just as easily be made that television separates the old from the new, the timeless from the dated, the current from the outdated. If any medium is the message, it’s television.

Attention spans have become abbreviated, reduced to a length only sufficient to snatch a few of the staccato messages being sprayed toward the viewer. Television information is fractured into ephemeral sound bites; once broadcast, the content, consumed or not, evaporates.

Jeffrey Scheuer, in The Sound Bite Society: Television and the American Mind, states that,

  • Television inherently simplifies complex ideas into emotional, self-oriented moral and political impulses;
  • Television therefore impedes public consideration of complexity, ambiguity and connectedness in political and social issues…

Television has shaped recent generations of visitors to our parks, refuges, and museums. As Marshall McLuhan said, “we shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us.” Whether or not we care for this transformation is irrelevant.

Statistic: Average daily media use in the United States from 2010 to 2014 (in minutes) | Statista
Find more statistics at Statista

One way that visitors manifest this transformation is through the devices they choose to access information. The chart above shows the trends in digital media and the various platforms that are currently available. Of equal importance are the programs that are chosen, such as Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Viber, etc.

A guerrilla interpreter is media agnostic. These media are not your children. If they no longer suit the need, they are thrown away and replaced. Traditional media, such as printed guides and interpretive signs, are of no less inherent or intrinsic value than an iPad or an app. Each has a role. Each has a specific user demographic, a specific set of interpretive attributes, and specific instances when the medium is the one of choice.

We are habituated to certain media, limited in our imaginations by the sideboards of convention and tradition. A tombstone label, for example, has its place in a collection. But is “artist-date-medium” the limit of what we wish to communicate to a visitor?

We are habituated to certain media, limited in our imaginations by the sideboards of convention and tradition.

This is not to say that a traditional medium such as a tombstone label doesn’t have its place. A low tech application such as an interpretive panel, for example, is required in locations where connectivity is nonexistent. The same panel in an urban setting may be ignored by those bringing their own devices. The retooling of traditional media may well add contrast value to an installation, heightening public awareness and a sense of familiarity and convention. Tradition by choice (rather than by habit or ritual) has a place in guerrilla interpretation.

Tradition by choice (rather than by habit or ritual) has a place in guerrilla interpretation.

The devices visitors choose to bring is in constant flux, as seen in the chart below. The current trend is toward phablets, devices such as the iPhone 6 Plus that merge phone and tablet into a single device. By next Christmas, the trends may veer off in a new direction that no one can currently see.

Infographic: Phablets See Jump in Popularity This Holiday Season | Statista

Integrate a specific strategy for reaching the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) audience into your interpretive plans. Be sure that content can be easily distributed across multiple interpretive platforms. Torn between mobile web and a mobile app? Have one program feed both. Remember that text written for a website isn’t the same as text for an app. Each medium demands a tailored approach to content development. The messages remain the same, but the form changes with each medium and application. As Bryan Garner said, “the best writers match substance with form. They use language precisely, evocatively, even daringly.” The language of the guerrilla interpreter is provocative and revelatory, as well.

The messages remain the same, but the form changes with each medium and application.

A guerrilla interpreter must keep a finger on these trends. While the messages may  be timeless, the interpretive platforms are transitory. You must be able to nimbly hop from one platform to another, staying focused on the content of the work rather than the platforms that are used to deliver that content. There is no medium that cannot be adapted to an interpreter’s uses.

The interpreter must decide which media best deliver the content to the audience quickly and efficiently. Interpretation is still all about content and the ability to craft the words and imagery that engage a  visitor. The technology is ubiquitous, usually off the shelf, and today’s proprietary approach will be emancipated by tomorrow. The brand of the particular technology or medium is irrelevant.

What does a guerrilla interpreter ask of those developing these media (digital and analog)? Keep the variables low, and band width narrow. Make customization simple. Keep your digital design out of the way of our interpretive content. Interpretive design has a function, and that function is to communicate the message for which the interpretation was conceived. The same is true for your technology.

Most importantly, a guerrilla interpreter wants to pick a product that is already on the shelf.  Development time is dead time. The audience is waiting.

Development time is dead time. The audience is waiting.

 

The Guerrilla’s Eye

Fermata, Guerrilla Interpretation, ,

The desktop computer had yet to be developed when I started in this profession. Computers in the 1970s were titanic machines that were shoehorned into specially designed, air-conditioned iceboxes to be fed keypunched paper cards. An IBM 38 could do simple arithmetic and little else (your iPhone can do more).

The design and fabrication of interpretive materials at that time involved an astounding amount of manual effort. Drafts were reviewed manually. Crculating a draft document among reviewers for a “sign off” could take months. Photographs were transferred from slide film to internegatives (Kodak no longer even makes internegative film) or were shot on print film and then physically affixed to the print document (think Scotch tape). A pamphlet or printed guide could easily take several months to produce. Catch a mistake after spending the night pecking away on the IBM? Pull out the bottle of Liquid Paper and dab away.

Digital technology has radically changed our capabilities. But what about our skills? Have these technological advances improved our skill set as well?

We have the ability to design an entire interpretive sign on a computer, but what if we know little about the art of graphic design? We can integrate photographs with the flip of a switch, but a poor quality image still distracts and degrades the end product. We have a marvelous selection of tools at our fingertips, but they are worthless unless we now how to use them.

Exactly what does an interpreter need to succeed? Which skills are necessary to go guerrilla?

Going guerrilla demands a degree of self-containment and self-reliance.

Let’s begin with one of the elementary premises of guerrilla interpretation. Going guerrilla demands a degree of self-containment and self-reliance. The more self-contained the interpreter, the better the chances of success in the profession. A self-contained interpreter is like a gonzo journalist, personally involved in the creation of every interpretive message, plan, and enhancement.

There is rarely a situation where some collaboration isn’t required. But, interpretation at an accelerated pace while retaining thematic integrity demands that much of the work be done by the same person or the same small team. Going guerrilla demands a mastery of interpretation.

Most people come to the profession from the mastery of a resource rather than through a mastery of interpretation.

Most people come to the profession from the mastery of a resource rather than through a mastery of interpretation. Resource interpreters begin as biologists, ecologists, historians, archeologists, and educators, and thus carry a deep knowledge of a specific field. Most enter interpretation through the back door.

Mastery of a specific resource or field is of limited value in guerrilla interpretation. A guerrilla interpreter is confronted and challenged by array of resources, often in the same project. Consider the interpretation of a scenic byway. An interpreter will be faced with an eclectic (and disparate) range of sites and interpretive possibilities along the designated route. The challenge for the interpreter is to find the thematic linkages that will pull them together into a coherent whole.

Guerrilla interpretation is a rapid fire, efficient, self-contained approach that operates at the nexus of the new digital technologies and an interpreter’s skills.

Additionally, while knowledge of a field certainly helps with the initial research and inventory work, that is only one skill that is needed in the wider set. Experts can always be found to assist with research. What is critical for a guerrilla interpreter is the ability to work across the broadest array of topics, and to have the skills to massage these disparate points of interest into a cohesive interpretive strategy. The key is to see the byway with an guerrilla’s eye.

What are the specific skills that are critical to such an interpreter? Start with interpretive planning, interpretive writing, photography, illustration, graphic design, web design, and social media. To be blunt, research isn’t one of them. The academic community provides a wealth of research material to review and incorporate. But, there is a limit to how much research can be incorporated into the work. More importantly, there is a limit to how much needs to be incorporated.

You need to be fluent in all of these skills, although you may only master a few. If required, you should be capable of working with all of these skills independently to developed interpretive enhancements. If needed, you should be able to organize the interpretive strategy, write the content, photograph the subjects, design the signs, and engineer the blog. This gives you the freedom to “go guerrilla,” and literally interpret on the fly.

Guerrilla interpretation is a rapid fire, efficient, self-contained approach that operates at the nexus of the new digital technologies and an interpreter’s skills. Gonzo interpreters may spend the day in the field, then build a blog in their hotel room overnight. Compressed work flows give advantages in both time and cost.

All of this depends on technology and skills. Technology is bought; skills are taught. Which skills are critical to interpreters remaining relevant in the 21st century?

Technology is bought; skills are taught.

Here is a basic skill list that is used in guerrilla interpretation. Skills such a facility design and project analysis that may or may not be creative activities are therefore not included.

  • Research
  • Inventory
  • Interpretive Design
    • Graphic Design
    • Illustration (including photography)
  • Interpretive Writing
  • Interpretive Technologies
  • Interpretive Planning
  • Personal Interpretation

This is the guerrilla skill set, at a minimum. With these skills you can efficiently and expediently develop an interpretive program from inventory to product development.

Are we teaching new interpreters these skills? No. We may hit the high points, but, for the most part, we spend more time on Maslow. A new interpreter can learn Maslow in about five minutes if he or she hasn’t the common sense to know these basic human needs already. But interpretive photography? That skill takes work. That skill takes time.

A guerrilla interpreter is a practitioner, not an academician or a theoretician. Guerrilla interpreters work with people who are practitioners as well. Clients are interested in how interpretation will aid their efforts on the ground, not in journals. This is not to say that the research isn’t important, or that you shouldn’t try to keep abreast of the latest results. The research, however, is at best a means to an end.

An analogous field is journalism (and, not surprisingly, many early interpreters such as Freeman Tilden came from journalism). Journalists study editorial writing, headlines, ethics, and the like. Journalism is a craft, and it is taught by craftsmen.

Interpretation is a craft as well. As such, interpretation involves not just skills but the creativity of art as well (as in artisan). As in any art, there are skills that must be learned before the artist can begin to effectively express themselves through their work.

A guerrilla interpreter believes in the healing powers of practice. Interpreters become better interpreters by interpreting.

A guerrilla interpreter believes in the healing powers of practice. Interpreters become better interpreters by interpreting. Henri Cartier-Bresson, the great photojournalist, once advised those becoming photographers to take 10,000 photos, throw them away, and start again. The same is true for interpretation. Write a few dozen interpretive strategies, throw them away, and start again.

Hone your skills. Practice your craft. These are skills that practitioners need to become the best at their crafts and to stretch the horizons of what is possible.