Writing AD for Historic and Cultural Sites
Besides their role in the traditional museum setting, AD Audio Tours are used for historic sites and cultural sites, for national parks, for nature walks, and for sports venues. (I wrote an AD tour of the new Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in Lambeau Field)
In writing for these venues, most of the same guidelines in this website apply, and they are repeated below. But here are a few added considerations.
Guided or Random Access Tour?
A tour can be Guided, in which visitors are directed to move through stops in a set sequence, or it can be Random Access, in which visitors are free to choose their stops in any order. It’s important to determine which type you are writing and to communicate that to listeners. In a Random Access tour, each stop is self-contained, though all the stops may be about a specific location or building. But in a Guided Tour, the content of the stops is designed to add to a listener’s knowledge in a prescribed incremental fashion.
Add Wayfinding Language?
A tour at a historic or cultural site or park may be primarily outdoors, and it may cover a wide area. The venue should determine how much wayfinding language to include in the narration. Wayfinding is language that gives people directions for moving through the location or building. Wayfinding language can be part of a tour inside a museum too, but it may be more important in other settings.
The wayfinding language can be generally helpful. For example:
You will continue straight along this path for approximately 30 feet till you hear the sound of water on your left.
That’s your next stop.
Wayfinding language can include geographic details.
The best way to find the statue of Balto is to enter the park at 67th Street and Fifth Avenue. You walk about a hundred yards into the park along a gently curving path that first goes down a slight hill and then up another hill. This path then intersects another path and you find Balto at that crossing. He stands atop a dark gray rock called Manhattan schist.
Or wayfinding can be even more detailed and specific, as in these directions from one stop to another in a tour of New York’s Chinatown.
Here’s how to walk from Columbus Park Pavilion to the Kim Lau Memorial Arch.
It’s about a 5 to 6 minute walk. As you face the Pavilion from inside the Park, on your right there’s a short path leading out of the park and on to the sidewalk of Mulberry Street. Turn right and you’ll now walk a very long block, with the Park always on your right. As you walk, you may hear the sounds of sports in the park...soccer and basketball...and you may also hear children’s voices from a children’s playground.
At the end of the block you are at Worth Street. Turn left, and cross Mulberry Street. Careful, there is no light or stop sign for cars here. Walk along Worth Street for one block to Mott Street. Cross Mott Street and then turn quickly right to face another crosswalk. This walk crosses 4 lanes of traffic so it’s a long one.
When you reach the other side you will be on the large traffic island named Kim Lau Memorial Square.
The Arch is in the center of this Square.
Writing Tips -- Historic and Cultural Sites
What follows is a review of the tips for writing found earlier on this site, with special consideration about writing for non-museum venues.
Research the Content
To prepare for writing, gather printed and other materials from the venue, do your own online research if necessary, and interview staff. If the person who will narrate the tour is from the venue, ask for reflections or insights that personalize the tour. I did this when producing the web site New York Beyond Sight for Art Beyond Sight. It often allowed me to begin a tour stop with a brief memory from the narrator and with language the narrator was comfortable using.
Make a Site Visit
It’s very difficult to write verbal description of a physical location without visiting it. Take photos, note colors, and take measurements: how high? how long? how many? If you can’t measure, estimate using your body. Use your height to estimate height. Pace off dimensions and count your steps. Then multiply by the length of your step and approximate. If there is a stairway count the steps and include the number in your description.
And listen: maybe there are sounds in the area that you can include in the verbal description to make the location more vivid for a person without sight.
Establish a Point of View and the Sequence of Description
To describe a physical location, it helps a listener to know their point of view. Where am I in relation to what’s being described?
We are standing and facing directly across the street at the façade.
We are sitting on a bench under a tree in the front yard of the house.
We are at the base of the tower looking straight up at it.
The verbal description will incrementally build an image in the listener’s mind so plan an order and sequence and tell listeners the order.
I will describe the mansion by beginning at the ground floor and moving up to the roof line.
Relate to Listener Experiences and Find Analogies
Sometimes the best way to describe is with an analogy to something a listener might know or have experienced.
The wrought iron railing is waist high.
The bell tower looks like three boxes piled one atop another.
The skyscraper looks like a tall pencil with a sharpened point.
Use Touch
In verbal descriptions of architecture or public sculpture or nature, look for opportunities to invite listeners to touch: the sculpture itself, the walls of the architecture, the leaves on the plant, etc.
Define Terms
Use proper terms when appropriate, but be careful of using jargon without defining it. Here’s an example from a recording I made of Congressman Charles Rangel describing the façade of the Apollo Theater. I assumed the word pilaster needed explanation.
There are pilasters on the sides of the windows. A pilaster looks like a
free standing column but it’s not. It’s a decorative element attached to the building.
**************
In writing for these venues, most of the same guidelines in this website apply, and they are repeated below. But here are a few added considerations.
Guided or Random Access Tour?
A tour can be Guided, in which visitors are directed to move through stops in a set sequence, or it can be Random Access, in which visitors are free to choose their stops in any order. It’s important to determine which type you are writing and to communicate that to listeners. In a Random Access tour, each stop is self-contained, though all the stops may be about a specific location or building. But in a Guided Tour, the content of the stops is designed to add to a listener’s knowledge in a prescribed incremental fashion.
Add Wayfinding Language?
A tour at a historic or cultural site or park may be primarily outdoors, and it may cover a wide area. The venue should determine how much wayfinding language to include in the narration. Wayfinding is language that gives people directions for moving through the location or building. Wayfinding language can be part of a tour inside a museum too, but it may be more important in other settings.
The wayfinding language can be generally helpful. For example:
You will continue straight along this path for approximately 30 feet till you hear the sound of water on your left.
That’s your next stop.
Wayfinding language can include geographic details.
The best way to find the statue of Balto is to enter the park at 67th Street and Fifth Avenue. You walk about a hundred yards into the park along a gently curving path that first goes down a slight hill and then up another hill. This path then intersects another path and you find Balto at that crossing. He stands atop a dark gray rock called Manhattan schist.
Or wayfinding can be even more detailed and specific, as in these directions from one stop to another in a tour of New York’s Chinatown.
Here’s how to walk from Columbus Park Pavilion to the Kim Lau Memorial Arch.
It’s about a 5 to 6 minute walk. As you face the Pavilion from inside the Park, on your right there’s a short path leading out of the park and on to the sidewalk of Mulberry Street. Turn right and you’ll now walk a very long block, with the Park always on your right. As you walk, you may hear the sounds of sports in the park...soccer and basketball...and you may also hear children’s voices from a children’s playground.
At the end of the block you are at Worth Street. Turn left, and cross Mulberry Street. Careful, there is no light or stop sign for cars here. Walk along Worth Street for one block to Mott Street. Cross Mott Street and then turn quickly right to face another crosswalk. This walk crosses 4 lanes of traffic so it’s a long one.
When you reach the other side you will be on the large traffic island named Kim Lau Memorial Square.
The Arch is in the center of this Square.
Writing Tips -- Historic and Cultural Sites
What follows is a review of the tips for writing found earlier on this site, with special consideration about writing for non-museum venues.
Research the Content
To prepare for writing, gather printed and other materials from the venue, do your own online research if necessary, and interview staff. If the person who will narrate the tour is from the venue, ask for reflections or insights that personalize the tour. I did this when producing the web site New York Beyond Sight for Art Beyond Sight. It often allowed me to begin a tour stop with a brief memory from the narrator and with language the narrator was comfortable using.
Make a Site Visit
It’s very difficult to write verbal description of a physical location without visiting it. Take photos, note colors, and take measurements: how high? how long? how many? If you can’t measure, estimate using your body. Use your height to estimate height. Pace off dimensions and count your steps. Then multiply by the length of your step and approximate. If there is a stairway count the steps and include the number in your description.
And listen: maybe there are sounds in the area that you can include in the verbal description to make the location more vivid for a person without sight.
Establish a Point of View and the Sequence of Description
To describe a physical location, it helps a listener to know their point of view. Where am I in relation to what’s being described?
We are standing and facing directly across the street at the façade.
We are sitting on a bench under a tree in the front yard of the house.
We are at the base of the tower looking straight up at it.
The verbal description will incrementally build an image in the listener’s mind so plan an order and sequence and tell listeners the order.
I will describe the mansion by beginning at the ground floor and moving up to the roof line.
Relate to Listener Experiences and Find Analogies
Sometimes the best way to describe is with an analogy to something a listener might know or have experienced.
The wrought iron railing is waist high.
The bell tower looks like three boxes piled one atop another.
The skyscraper looks like a tall pencil with a sharpened point.
Use Touch
In verbal descriptions of architecture or public sculpture or nature, look for opportunities to invite listeners to touch: the sculpture itself, the walls of the architecture, the leaves on the plant, etc.
Define Terms
Use proper terms when appropriate, but be careful of using jargon without defining it. Here’s an example from a recording I made of Congressman Charles Rangel describing the façade of the Apollo Theater. I assumed the word pilaster needed explanation.
There are pilasters on the sides of the windows. A pilaster looks like a
free standing column but it’s not. It’s a decorative element attached to the building.
**************