Fact, fiction and nostalgia: an assessment of heritage interpretation at living museums

This paper aims to explore and discuss the role of nostalgia (a concept that is inherently grounded within a psychological framework) in heritage interpretation from both provider and consumer perspectives. Whilst many cultural practitioners recognise the relationship between sentimentality and authenticity, particularly within a folk-heritage context, few have sought to examine the effect this has on the visitor experience. This paper questions visitors’ ability to objectively assess objects and experiences at heritage sites, and the role of practitioners in presenting often blurred views of social history that may sometimes negate historical fact. Drawing on case study research at two UK living museums, Blists Hill Victorian Town in Shropshire, England, and the Big Pit: National Coal Museum in Wales, notions of reminiscence, authenticity, myth and intangibility are considered within the framework of the interpretive experience. Findings suggest that the visitor experience is inherently subjective, highly individual and that the concept of intangibility is integral to an understanding of the nostalgia-authenticity debate.

Chthamalid cyprid identification - a photographic guide

A photographic guide to identification of the chthamalid cyprid larval stage of Chthamalus stellatus and Chthamalus montagui. Dimensions, shape, colour and distinctive features are highlighted.

Creating a modern database from archive material - The Norman Holme archive: Interpretation of marine field research notebooks in the historical context of the MBA, 1958-83

This document provides details of the transfer of the Norman Holme archive data held in the National Marine Biological Library onto a modern database, specifically Marine Recorder. A key part in the creation of the database was the retrieval of a large amount of information recorded in field notebooks and on loosely-bound sheets of paper. As this work involved amending, interpreting and updating the available information, it was felt that an accurate record of this process should exist to allow scientists of the future to be able to clearly link the modern database to the archive material. This document also provides details of external information sources that were used to enhance and qualify the historical interpretation, such as estimating volumes and species abundances.

Phaeocystis colony distribution in the North Atlantic Ocean since 1948, and interpretation of long-term changes in the Phaeocystis hotspot in the North Sea

Monitoring of Phaeocystis since 1948 during the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey indicates that over the last 5.5 decades the distribution of its colonies in the North Atlantic Ocean was not restricted to neritic waters: occurrence was also recorded in the open Atlantic regions sampled, most frequently in the spring. Apparently, environmental conditions in open ocean waters, also those far oVshore, are suitable for complete lifecycle development of colonies (the only stage recorded in the survey). In the North Sea the frequency of occurrence was also highest in spring. Its southeastern part was the Phaeocystis abundance hotspot of the whole area covered by the survey. Frequency was especially high before the 1960s and after the 1980s, i.e., in the periods when anthropogenic nutrient enrichment was relatively low. Changes in eutrophication have obviously not been a major cause of long-term Phaeocystis variation in the southeastern North Sea, where total phytoplankton biomass was related signiWcantly to river discharge. Evidence is presented for the suggestion that Phaeocystis abundance in the southern North Sea is to a large extent determined by the amount of Atlantic Ocean water Xushed in through the Dover Strait. Since Phaeocystis plays a key role in element Xuxes relevant to climate the results presented here have implications for biogeochemical models of cycling of carbon and sulphur. Sea-to-air exchange of CO2 and dimethyl sulphide (DMS) has been calculated on the basis of measurements during single-year cruises. The considerable annual variation in phytoplankton and in its Phaeocystis component reported here does not warrant extrapolation of such figures.