In this note from the editor of "Visitor Studies Today!", Kris Morrissey introduces the issue with an update on the annual VSA conference. Morrissey also discusses two new columns in the issue: one on thoughts and experiences with the processes or products of evaluation and one on technology.
This is an introduction to the "Visitor Studies" journal by Stephen Bitgood of Jacksonville State University. Bitgood summarizes discussions and highlights important issues from the First Annual Visitor Studies Conference. Bitgood analyzes visitor studies as a separate field.
In December 2008, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, in partnership with the New England Aquarium and the National Aquarium in Baltimore, hosted a summit of leaders from aquariums across North America and beyond. The intent was to empower aquarium professionals to elevate their collective focus on the relationship between climate change and the ocean, and to develop collaborative strategies for communicating climate change and inspiring solution-‐oriented actions among our institutions and audiences. The summit represented the birth of a community. The three‐day event succeeded in mobilizing 34
The Climate Interpretation Coalition is maturing beyond a set of discrete institutions to become a collective voice for communicating climate change and the ocean. As the three‐year funded NOAA program and the empowerment evaluation end, the question of how to build ongoing communities of support arises. The findings are based upon an interview‐based exploration of individuals who participated in the 2012 Baltimore summit and who represent a broad spectrum of engagement (highly engaged with creating the coalition through to limited engagement in a single summit). The interviews were nested