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e v a l u a t i n g s i g n e f f e c t i v e n e s s resembling a traditional park regulatory sign was seen by visitors as no less vivid than four experimental messages, each specifically designed to be vivid or novel in a different way. While further research would be needed to fully understand the reasons for this finding, an obvious possibility is that the same bright yellow background used in all the signs was just as responsible for visitors’ assessments of “vividness” as the actual content and tone of the messages the signs presented. It is possible that a construct such as “message vividness” is incomplete since it assumes the character of a message is somehow isolated in the visitor’s mind from the communication medium or delivery system used to convey the message. Thus, the background color of a sign (or the fonts it uses, the types of illustrations, etc.) can influence audience perceptions of vividness on an equal par with the communication appeal of the message and the words used to convey it. While researchers might attempt to partition out these elements of vividness for the sake of empirical clarity, the same elements might nevertheless remain an inseparable integrated whole in the mind of the visitor. Alternatively, communication researchers might consider whether the conventional concept of “message” as consisting solely of the words in a sign text is adequate. The results of this study suggest the possibility that, from the visitor’s side of things, the “message” is actually the sum total of the words and the delivery system used to convey them. In fact, this is not a new way of looking at things. The famed Canadian philosopher of the 1960s, Marshall McLuhan (1967), felt that the medium and the message were an inextricable whole and that to understand the influence of a message on an audience required consideration of the way the medium and the message interacted. Thus, the quality or power of a message would derive not just from the words used to express it, but from the totality of these things plus the medium used to convey or deliver the message. A fruitful area for future research is the influence of sign location both on attention capture and holding power as well as on the persuasive effects of messages. This study found that the message vividness provided by a personal narrative was relatively effective in attracting and holding attention regardless of where the sign was located. However, the effectiveness of other types of messages varied widely according to a sign’s location. It is likely that the location effect has something to do with the schemas visitors bring with them to certain locations. Whatever is on visitors’ minds in a particular place, and what is most centrally relevant to them at the time (e.g., what they most need, want, fear, etc.) is likely to shape their attention-paying behavior. While the immediate interests of campers in a large campground such as Yosemite Valley would probably be quite varied, visitors in settings that are more specifically defined by a certain type of use (hiking, climbing, etc.) might have more homogeneous interests. A deeper understanding of how such factors influence attention paying to signs represents a potentially important focus for additional work. References Arndt, M., Screven, C., Benusa, D., & Bishop, T. (1993). Behavior and learning in a zoo under different signage conditions. Vistor Studies: Theory, Research and Practice, 5, 245–253. Baesler, E. J., & Burgoon, J. K. (1994). The temporal effects of story and statistical evidence on belief change. Communication Research, 21(5), 582–602. v o l u m e 15, n u m b e r 1 33
t r o y e. h a l l , s a m h. h a m , b r e n d a k. l a c k e y Bitgood, S. (2000). The role of attention in designing effective interpretive labels. Journal of Interpretation Research, 5(2), 31–45. Block, L. G., & Keller, P. A. (1997). Effects of self-efficacy and vividness on the persuasiveness of health communications. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 6(1), 31–54. Brosius, H.-B., & Bathelt, A. (1994). The utility of exemplars in persuasive communications. Communication Research, 21(1), 48–78. Campbell, R. G., & Babrow, A. S. (2004). The role of empathy in responses to persuasive risk communication: Overcoming resistance to HIV prevention messages. Health Communication, 16(2), 159–182. David, P. (1998). News concreteness and visual-verbal association: Do news pictures narrow the recall gap between concrete and abstract news. Human Communication Research, 25(2), 180–201. De Young, R., & Monroe, M. C. (1996). Some fundamentals of engaging stories. Environmental Education Research, 2, 171–187. Eagly, A. H., & Kulesa, P. (1997). Attitudes, attitude structure, and resistance to change: Implications for persuasion on environmental issues. In M. H. Bazerman, D. M. Messick, A. E. Tenbrunsel & K. A. Wade-Benzoni (Eds.), Environment, ethics, and behavior: The psychology of environmental valuation and degradation (pp. 122–153). San Francisco: New Lexington Press. Falk, J. H. (1997). Testing a museum exhibition design assumption: Effect of explicit labeling of exhibit clusters on visitor concept development. Science Education, 81(6), 679–687. Falk, J. & Dierking, L. (1992). The museum experience. Washington, DC: Whalesback Books. Falk, J. & Storksdieck, M. (2005). Using the contextual model of learning to understand visitor learning from a science center exhibition. Science Education 89: 744–778. Garcia-Marques, T., & Mackie, D. M. (2001). The feeling of familiarity as a regulator of persuasive processing. Social Cognition, 19(1), 9–34. Hall, T. E., Hockett, K. S., & Smith-Jackson, T. (2001). Tests of small panel signs in Yosemite National Park (Unpublished Report). Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech. Ham, S. H. (1992). Environmental <strong>interpretation</strong>: A practical guide for people with big ideas and small budgets. Golden, CO: North American Press. Ham, S., & Weiler, B. (2005). Experimental evaluation of persuasive communication strategies aimed at influencing problem visitor behaviour at Port Campbell National Park. Final research report to Parks Victoria. Melbourne, Australia: Monash University, Tourism Research Unit. Ham, S. H., Weiler, B., Hughes, M., Brown, T. J., Curtis, J., & Poll, M. (2008). Asking visitors to help: Research to guide strategic communication for protected area management. Gold Coast: Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre. 34 j o u r n a l o f i n t e r p r e t a t i o n r e s e a r c h
Page 1 and 2: 2010 journal of 15(1) interpretatio
Page 3 and 4: NAI Staff Tim Merriman Executive Di
Page 5 and 6: A Note from the Editor As many of y
Page 7 and 8: Improvisational Theater Games for C
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Page 45 and 46: o l i v i a b u c k Testing Length
Page 47 and 48: APPENDIX
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Page 51: a p p e n d i x Proofs All proofs m

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