scholarly journals EXPRESS: Federal Employees or Rogue Rangers: Sharing and Resisting Organizational Authority through Twitter Communication Practices

2021 ◽  
pp. 001872672110329
Author(s):  
Veronica Dawson ◽  
Nicolas Bencherki
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Federal Employees ◽  
Communicative Performance ◽  
Textual Data ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Trump Administration

On January 24, 2017, the Trump administration tried to censor various science-related federal agencies, most notably, the National Park Service. This case study presents the emergence of “alternative” National Park Service Twitter accounts that subverted the ban and explores how “rogue rangers” share in and resist organizational authority through communicative practices we interpret as dis/attributing communicative action to various figures to do so. Through qualitative analysis of textual and non-textual data pertaining to the accounts, we demonstrate that organizational members create ambiguity through communicative dis/attribution to do and say more things than authorized, while maintaining a link to their organization, for it is as members that their actions and words are authoritative. The study concludes by theorizing three contributions to the literature on authority and resistance, in particular in the context of social media: 1) it shows that authority and resistance are at play even outside of conventional organizations, which conversely means that social media activity can display a level of organizationality; 2) it demonstrates that the communicative performance of authority and resistance rests on membership ambiguity; and 3) it extends current conversations on the communicative performance of authority by showing that the same practices can also perform resistance.

A Case Study of Urban and Peri-urban Mammal Communities: Implications for the Management of National Park Service Areas

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam D. Chupp ◽  
Amy M. Roder ◽  
Loretta L. Battaglia ◽  
John F. Pagels
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Service Areas ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Mammal Communities

The 150-Year War

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 149-166
Author(s):  
Olivia Williams Black
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Fort Sumter

In the century and a half since 1865, Fort Sumter and its home city have been the battlefield for another conflict, a struggle to control the memory—and the meaning—of the Civil War. Fort Sumter provides a telling case study in how the National Park Service has helped to shape the historical narratives of its sites, and how it participates in debates over the meaning of events. During both the centennial of the war (1961–65) and the sesquicentennial (2011–15), Charleston was the site of elaborate ceremonies that dramatized evolving interpretations of the conflict.

scholarly journals Creating Grand Teton National Park: A Case Study in Honor of the National Park System’s Centennial

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Leah Sherman
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Woodrow Wilson ◽  
Grand Teton National Park ◽  
Government Documents ◽  
Historical Monuments ◽  
Park Service ◽  
National Park System

In August 1916 President Woodrow Wilson founded the National Park Service (NPS) as a means of preserving the United States’ wildlands, battlefields, and historical monuments. Over the last century this agency has grown exponentially, rising to 409 sites of significance as of 2014. In celebration of this achievement and in time for the National Park Service’s centennial later this year I have chosen to focus on the origin of one site in particular: Grand Teton National Park. This article thus seeks to present a case study of the park’s creation narrative as told through government documents, and to provide a starting place for researchers interested in the National Park System and/or Grand Teton National Park.

scholarly journals A History of the National Park Service: Through the Lens of Legislation

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Boerner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Governmental Agencies ◽  
Park Service ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Resistance Movement

Many are aware of the media blackout that happened earlier this year as President Donald Trump took office. While several governmental agencies where affected, the order given to the Department of Interior, which the National Park Service is under, sparked an unprecedented social media backlash. Social media accounts named Alt National Park Service started popping up on Twitter and Facebook. While there is some question as to whether these social media accounts were actually run by employees of the National Park Service, there is no question that the National Park Service suddenly became major conversation. Whether people saw this as an unwanted act of rebellion, or as the start of a resistance movement to stand behind, the National Park Service was being talked about by many people.

Interpretation Training Needs in the 21st Century: A Needs Assessment of Interpreters in the National Park Service

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Powell ◽  
Gina L. Depper ◽  
Brett A. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Needs Assessment ◽  
21St Century ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Research Evaluation ◽  
Training Needs ◽  
Comprehensive List ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Park Service

To identify critical training needs in the Interpretation and Education (I&E) Division within the National Park Service (NPS), a team of experts and practitioners, including six academic institutions, the National Association for Interpretation, and the NPS, developed a comprehensive list of knowledge, skills, and abilities thought to be relevant for providing and managing interpretation in the 21st century. Using this list of 80 competencies, we received over 1,000 NPS I&E employees’ responses regarding their beliefs about the importance and their level of preparation performing these tasks. The results identified not only the most important competencies, but also three broad training needs: skills related to research-evaluation literacy, engaging new and diverse audiences, and using emerging and existing social media technologies. Preparing interpreters to perform these skills at the highest level appears imperative if the NPS is to maintain relevance and continue to meet the demands of 21st-century audiences.

NPS History 101

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 190-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth C. Bruggeman
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Educational Partnerships ◽  
College Classrooms ◽  
Park Service ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Generation

This essay details my experience in developing and teaching a course concerning the history of the National Park Service for students enrolled in Temple University’s ProRanger Program. I offer this account as a pedagogical case study, but also as evidence that educational partnerships between the agency and college classrooms can help us imagine new possibilities for both. Most significant, for the NPS, is the possibility of grooming a new generation of agency advocates at a time when it—and we—need them most.

Tracing a Lineage of Social Reform Programs at Catoctin Mountain Park

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 167-189
Author(s):  
Angela Sirna
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Reform ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Land Use Policies ◽  
Policies And Programs

This article uses Catoctin Mountain Park as a case study to chart the evolution of social policy on a national park landscape. It places these changes in the larger context of economic, social, and land use policies throughout the twentieth century. These policies and programs often created complicated relationships between the park and certain groups. It is essential for the National Park Service to understand these complexities in order for it to be a good steward of the agency’s own history and provide new opportunities for visitor engagement.

Resuscitating the Promise

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 129-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margo Shea ◽  
Maryann Zujewski ◽  
Jonathan Parker
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Historic Sites ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Historic Site ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Park Service

This article explores the challenges and opportunities that accompany efforts on the ground to nurture innovation as we promote stewardship, preserve valued places, advance education, and facilitate citizens’ connection to their parks and historic sites in the second century of the National Park Service. Using the first nationally designated historic site, Salem Maritime, as a case study, we examine efforts to grapple with bureaucratic inertias, entrenched patterns of insularity, and reliance on top-down authority. Support from leadership is necessary to allow education and interpretation staff on the ground to invite scholars, teachers, school districts, community educators, park neighbors, and others to participate in developing more engaged, complex, multivocal, and democratic histories and a broader vision for the new century in the NPS.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document