Making museum tours better: understanding what a guided tour really is and what a tour guide really does

Abstract

Tour guiding is much-practised and yet little-studied, particularly within the museum sector. Consequently, we have little understanding of the nature of guided tours and this results in untested assumptions forming the basis of training and practice. Because of this lack of knowledge, we cannot capitalise on the opportunities that tours present for museums to engage with their publics; nor can we counteract the challenges which their design and delivery present for the contemporary museum. This article uses detailed studies of guides-in-practice to show that tours are highly interactive pursuits, as opposed to the somewhat pre-scripted ‘lectures’ that they are often considered to be. As such, this paper intends to respecify what a tour is, how guides are trained and managed, and how electronic museum guides are designed and deployed.

Keywords:

• tour guides
• docents
• visitor experience
• Conversation Analysis
• museum management
• visitor services
• electronic guides
• workplace studies

Notes

1. Cohen breaks the role down into further sub-roles, based on this dichotomy, concerned with whether guides are engaged in undertaking pathfinding or mentoring activities with their group in an inwardly- or outwardly-focused way, but it is really at the level of pathfinder/mentor that this paper is at its most powerful and engaging and which have captured the public and academic imagination.

2. Usually, a panelled glass door would be made of small sheets of glass held together by ‘muntins’ (glazing bars made from thin strips of wood). The construction here is one sheet of glass instead, with beading simply stuck on top; this allows the mock glazing bars to be much thinner because they are just for effect and do not actually need to house joints. This allows for a much more delicate look and it also makes the cabinet much more hard-wearing.

3. Audience derives from the Latin, ‘audentia’, which means ‘hearing’ or ‘listening’ (the present participle of audere, which means ‘to hear’)