Everyone has a story to tell : exploring the associations and connections made by visitors at a zoo, art gallery and two museums

Interpretation is commonly associated with communicating and revealing to visitors the natural, cultural and heritage significance of a landscape. Many definitions of interpretation imply that visitors will learn something as a result of the site's interpretation. This thesis challenges this assumption and argues that visitors' learning at sites is far more complex and unpredictable than indicated by the interpretation definitions. Although this thesis is concerned with the role of interpretation and visitor research at a variety of heritage, natural and cultural sites, museums have been at the forefront of the literature and research regarding education and learning and therefore much of the literature cited is from a museum context. Communication in museums is no longer seen as a one-way transmission from sender to receiver, curator to visitor. Yet a significant proportion of visitor research still operates within a behavioural psychology paradigm that concentrates on learning outcomes of a museum visit. This research fails to capture the complexity of visitor learning at the point of interaction. Learning is a process as much as it is a product and in the museum context it is important to understand the how of visitors learning by investigating the meaning-making and interpretive strategies of the visitor. Drawing on past experiences and prior knowledge is now commonly accepted as crucial to visitor learning in the museum environment. However, very little learning related research in the museum has concentrated solely on the role of prior knowledge in the meaning-making process. This thesis attempts to correct this imbalance and as others have done in the museum world, literary theory is used to analyse and explain the interpretive strategies of the visitor. Through research carried out at four separate institutions the thesis tackles the learning process as it appears in visitor's conversations. The data illustrates that making connections and associations to prior knowledge and prior experiences appears to be a common meaning-making strategy regardless of the type of site. Being able to communicate these personal connections to the social group one is visiting with is a significant component of the meaning-making process. This thesis argues for a panoptic view of learning that includes personal associations, memories and social interactions, in addition to the information related outcomes so frequently associated with the museum visit. The thesis positions the visitor experience as an intertextual construct. Learning ensues from the museum interpretation in conjunction with a myriad of external knowledge and experiences that are introduced through the visitor's personal stories and conversations. These contingent aspects cannot be accurately captured by research that focuses on the learning outcomes post-visit. The thesis concludes with an analysis of the practical implications of prior knowledge and more specifically a description of the A Day in the life of Pompeii exhibition mounted by the Melbourne Museum