• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2006

The purposes of this study were to provide basic visitor information for effective park management and to understand visitors' perception about the interpretive media which is utilized as a self-guide environmental interpretation in Weolchusan National Park. To accomplish the purposes of study, a questionnaire survey was chosen and the 196 valid samples among them were analyzed. Among who used the interpretive media, the largest proportion used the information board of park use-resources, and the usage rate of interpretive label of woody plant, interpretive sign of cultural asset, and self-guide tour were shown to be relatively high. However, the park brochures(map), bulletin boards, park web sites, LED sign, and visitor center exhibits were evaluated that use efficiency was low. In the analysis of importance-performance, visitors were perceiving the importance of all form of interpretive media greatly. The performance of interpretive media was also evaluated as affirmative.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.9-19
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• 2006

This study was conducted on the visitors regarding their usage and evaluation state of the interpretive media which is utilized as a self-guide environment interpretation for the purpose of accumulating basic data for the park management. A questionnaire survey was chosen and the 275 valid samples among them were analyzed. The socioeconomic and behavioral characteristics of the visitors turned out to be similar with the results from another visitor survey in the same site. Among those who used the interpretive media, the largest proportion(77%) used the information board resources of the park; the usage rate of interpretive labels of woody plants, interpretive signs of cultural assets, and LED signs were shown to be relatively high. The usage of park brochures, park web sites, visitor center exhibits, and bulletin boards were less than 40% each. Visitors were asked to evaluate the importance and performance of the nine interpretive medias using a Likert Scale whose value ranges from one to five. The result recorded averaged above 4, which proved that the respondents were perceiving the importance of all forms of interpretive media greatly. The performance of interpretive media was also evaluated as affirmative, except the visitor center exhibits.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.159-169
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• 2006

Interpretive sign is a communication medium that is often used in self-guided interpretation. Understanding interpretive signs and their users is important to maximize the effectiveness of interpretation. This study evaluated design attributes of interpretive signs by visitor's personal characteristics and visiting patterns using Importance-Performance Analysis(IPA). Data were collected from August to September of 2003 at the self-guided trail in Naejangsan National Park, Korea. Visitors using the trail participated in a questionnaire survey, and a total of 276 subiects was used for data analysis. The IPA results showed that female(23.3%) than male(13.3%), low age group(43.3%) than middle(0.0%) and high age group(0.0%), higher education group(36.7%) than lower education group(0.0%), medium size group(33.3%) than large(10.0%) or small group(16.7%), 'with child' group(66.7%) than 'without child' group(20.0%) rated higher importance and lower performance on more design attributes of the interpretive signs. These groups also showed higher rate of 'Concentrate Here(CH)' attributes that require urgent improvement. The 'with child' group showed the especially high rate of 'CH' attributes. The results suggest that interpretive signs need to be designed considering diverse user groups. It is also necessary to develop some standardized items of the sign design attributes for more efficient and reliable implementation of IPA and other evaluative works.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.642-649
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• 2013

This study evaluated the efficacy of information and self-interpretive media that provide information on park environment using self-administered visitor survey to the Dadohaehaesang National Park, Korea. Excluding missing and unreliable responses, 205 valid responses were used for the analysis. Socioeconomic status and visiting behavior of the visitors to the Dadohaehaesang National Park were similar to those to other Korean national parks. Results showed that, of the self-interpretive media, 'Information board of park use and resources' were most frequently used (87.7%), followed by 'Interpretive label of woody plant,' and 'Bulletin boards for information and enlightenment.' 'Guided interpretation' was used less than 40% of the visitors. Visitors also highly rated the importance of the media (higher than 4.0 on average out of 5 point Liker scale question). The average performance rate was 3.82, suggesting that visitors were satisfied on the self-interpretive media. Visitors responded that 'Information board of park use and resources' and 'Bulletin boards for information and enlightenment' were not useful and, therefore, should be amended and managed to improve the self-interpretability of the media.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.473-481
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• 2006

Readability, an indicator measuring the easiness of reading letters, has been known an important element that determines the communicative effectiveness of the self-guided interpretive signs. However, there are few studies to find out how the readability of the signs influence visitor's attraction and reading behavior of interpretive signs. This study examined the relationship between readability of interpretive signs and attraction, preferences, and intent to recommend reading signs to others. Data were collected from August to November of 2003 at a self-guided trail of Naejangsan National Park, Korea. 350 out of 375 responses from subjects who participated in the questionnaire survey were usable. Results showed that readability of the signs is related with the attraction, preferences, and intention of recommending reading signs to others. The higher the readability of the signs were, the higher the attraction, preferences, and intention of recommending reading signs were. Attraction and preferences were also positively related with intention of recommending reading signs. Preferences better explained intention of recommending reading signs than readability and attraction. These findings suggest that enhancing readability of the signs may lead to higher participation in reading them.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.213-222
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• 2007

The goal of the study is to provide basic information that can be used to come up with environmental interpretation methods that are appropriate to the conditions of urban parks. For this matter, research was conducted to find out whether the environmental interpretation that was provided to the visitors of the World Cup Park Visitor Center encouraged them to become interested in the environment and to understand how such environmental interest was related to the level of satisfaction that the visitors were experiencing from their visits to the park. At the same time, the research was designed to find out whether the park's visitors were affected differently in terms of their environmental interests and their experience depending on the two different types of environmental interpretations; Interpreter's Interpretation and Self-guiding Interpretation. Experimental result showed no statistically meaningful correlation between environmental interpretation and environmental knowledge, though the experimental group subjected to environmental interpretation was found to have higher environmental knowledge than that of the control group, which was not subjected to environmental interpretation. As for the correlation between environmental knowledge, which was acquired through environmental interpretation, and environmental interest, the group, which showed big changes in terms of the volume of environmental knowledge, was found to have higher environmental interest than that of the group, which recorded a low level of changes in the volume of environmental knowledge. Also, the difference in their level of environmental interest was big enough to be acknowledged statistically. Also environmental interest, which was created thanks to environmental interpretation, was found to affect the level of satisfaction visitors feel when visiting the park. Even though the study was intended to find out how environmental interpretation affects park visitors by means of analysis that can be proved based on facts, it was difficult to control some of the variables due to the circumstances under which the experiments were conducted. Despite this, the study can be considered meaningful in the fact that the researches and experiments were conducted at a park that is actually visited by people. It is also believed that as one of the first studies done on the World Cup Park, it could serve as a basis upon which future studies could be carried out.