Preserving Cultural Heritage Using Open Source Collection Management Tools

Open source software (OSS) popularity is growing steadily and many OSS systems could be used to preserve cultural heritage objects. Such solutions give the opportunity to organizations to afford the development of a digital collection. This paper focuses on reviewing two OSS tools, CollectionSpace and the Open Video Digital Library Toolkit and discuss on how these could be used for organizing digital replicas of cultural objects. The features of the software are presented and some examples are given.

English Heritage wetlands strategy

English Heritage Wetlands Strategy: includes Lists A, B and C from the Heritage Management of England's Wetlands Project

Villages that never were : the museum village as a heritage genre

Villages of relocated buildings now constitute a phenomenon of the world's repertoire of heritage. They go by a multitude of names depending on particular inflection: open air museum, folk museum, living history museum, heritage village, museum village and so forth. 1 This paper reviews the context of the form of the genre's manifestation in Australia, where it is often known as the `pioneer village'. They are the fruit of a populist vision of national history which celebrates white rural settlement as its central theme. In practice, the villages manifest a deep commitment to collecting and saving old buildings as the meaningful construction of a favourite historical identity. But the generation that established Australia's villages has been overtaken. Today, the intersection of museum villages with the managerialist pressures of local economy enhancement and modern professional standards of heritage management challenge most villages' survival.

Whose history? Whose heritage? Positing a sustainable future for Point Nepean, Victoria

Australia's national heritage comprises exceptional natural and cultural places which help give Australia its national identity. This paper reports on work in progress. It critically and reflectively explores the bonds and  limitations between the work of historians, heritage professionals and ‘free thinkers’ – architects, artists and writers – in the task of identifying, protecting and interpreting the possibilities and opportunities presented by our cultural heritage at Point Nepean, Victoria. Underway is the development of an extensive knowledge database, as historians grapple with the problem of understanding the complex history of Point Nepean. Historians and heritage professionals aspire to recreate the past; they search for the patterns of history; they use historical evidence to gain political objectives; they distil insights from the historical record itself. While scholarship and rigorous procedures are generally adhered to, much hangs on interpretation and perspective; how documentation and imagination are interwoven; on how and by whom the story is told. Once a place is listed on National and/or State registers, the conservation process is invoked for transferring information about the past into the future, using current skills, knowledge and  techniques. In Australia conservation is underpinned by the principle that change to a heritage place should not occur at the expense of its special character and qualities, by what is described as its heritage significance. This requires that approval be obtained before any action takes place which has, will have, or is likely to have, a significant impact on the national heritage values of a listed place. Conflict in heritage management arises because there are many different views on how different values are  managed. It is the role of the architectural historian, conservation architect and architect to creatively reveal the inherent values, to interpret them and sustain the place into the future, never losing sight of Point Nepean’s unique ‘sense of place’.

Heritage and globalisation

This volume analyzes the politics, policy and practice of cultural heritage at the global level, identifying the major directions in which international heritage practice is moving, and exploring the key issues likely to shape the cultural heritage field well into the twenty-first century. It examines the tensions between the universal claims of much heritage practice, particularly that associated with the World Heritage system, and national and local perspectives. It explores the international legal framework developed since World War Two to protect heritage, particularly at times of war, and from theft, showing how contemporary global problems of conflict and illicit trade continue to challenge the international legal system.

Managing industrial world heritage sites : preservation, presentation and sustainability

This thesis uses case study methodology to explore how the concept of sustainable development is being applied at industrial World Heritage sites. The thesis proposes a model of sustainable heritage management that is relevant to industrial heritage sites, as well as to other complex heritage sites, including historic urban landscapes.

Heritage rights - avoidance and reinforcement

 The conflicts that abound around the world between different groups struggling to control the definition, management, and use of heritage give rise to many issues that need to be foregrounded in scholarly and professional debates. Focusing on UNESCO’s World Heritage system, this paper asks: Why and how do nation states avoid respecting heritage rights? What can be and is being done about it? How can we move toward a more rightsbased approach to heritage management? The notion that people have rights to access and enjoy their cultural heritage has emerged within the domain of cultural rights, which, in turn, is a component of human rights. Prospects for achieving global recognition of cultural heritage rights have improved recently through interrelated activities being undertaken at the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, in a Norwegian network of heritage, environmental and rights agencies, and at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. These advances relate mostly to Indigenous heritage, whereas the cultural heritage of other groups, such as women, children, and youth, or, in many parts of the world, ethnic and racial minorities that are not considered Indigenous peoples, lack comparable recognition and respect. © W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2014

Teaching-learning process of historical heritage: a Journey as a beginning, path and end

The implantation of new university degrees within the European Higher Education Area implies the need of innovative methodologies in teaching and learning to improve the skills and competencies of students and to answer the growing needs that society continuously demands to heritage management experts. The present work shows an application of the teaching methodology proposed during the international workshop entitled “I International Planning Preservation Workshop. Learning from Al Andalus”, which included the participation of the University of Alicante and Granada, Università Politecnico di Milano and Hunter College City University of New York; where we tried to dissolve traditional boundaries derived of interuniversity cooperation programs. The main objective of the workshop was to discuss and debate the role of urban Historical Centers within the Global Heritage by the integrated work through multidisciplinary teams and the creation of a permanent international working group between these universities to both teach and research. The methodology of this workshop was very participatory and considered the idea of a new learning process generated by "a journey experience." A trip from global to local (from the big city to the small village) but also a trip from the local (historical) part of a big city to the global dimension of contemporary historical villages identified by the students through a system of exhibition panels in affinity groups, specific projects proposed by lecturers and teachers or the generation of publications in various areas (texts, photographs, videos, etc.). So, the participation of the students in this multidisciplinary meeting has enhanced their capacity for self-criticism in several disciplines and has promoted their ability to perform learning and research strategies in an autonomous way. As a result, it has been established a permanent international work structure for the development of projects of the Historical City. This relationship has generated the publication of several books whose contents have reflected the conclusions developed in the workshop and several teaching proposals shared between those institutions. All these aspects have generated a new way of understanding the teaching process through a journey, in order to study the representative role of university in the historical heritage and to make students (from planning, heritage management, architecture, geography, sociology, history or engineering areas) be compromised on searching strategies for sustainable development in the Contemporary City.

The World Heritage vs. Local Comnuty : identifying the sources of conflicts

The presented work is an essay rather than a scientific dissertation. The author wants to put an impact on the source of conflicts regarding the complex subject of heritage management and conservation in comparison with the local needs and the given context. The paper attempts to show the role of local communities and their cooperation with authorities as well as the effects of such cooperation. The area of research comprises the problems arising in the field of implementing external rules on the local field, challenges appearing regarding the needs of local communities and the efforts of official authorities trying to implement the principles of the conventions. The problems arise when local communities display the lack of understanding and do not share the common idea of heritage conservation. This is caused mainly by the decreasing possibilities of comfortable life. The author tries to identify the main and wrongful approaches as ‘Gone with the Wind’, ‘The Prince and The Pauper’, ‘Heart of Darkness’ or ‘Scarlet letter’. The focus will be put to explain what the areas are where a mutual misunderstanding arise and why all parts to the problem present different points of view. What creates a value? Is it a heritage object or maybe the other values need a stronger protection? When the general duty and the need to protect the heritage is regarded as a controversy and when it is considered as a value within a given community? The international public interest in heritage protection is often regarded as an attempt to diminish the sovereign power of the community and provokes severe controversies and tensions. The major problem envisaged today seems to be the massive and increasing urbanisation and the destruction of the vestiges still existing of traditional cultures, when we consider century urban post-industrial districts of Upper Silesia in Poland, the medieval cities in Western Europe, the traditional nomad Masaya villages in Kenya or the remains of vanished cultures in various regions of Asia. The preferred platform of cooperation between the parts of the conflict includes divergent needs, beliefs and practices of communities and the possible fields of reconciling the abovementioned. Chosen examples of the best practices considering mutual cooperation will be underlined.

Contrived Dereliction: Employing an aesthetic of decay at mining heritage sites

Conventional descriptions place conservation activities between the two poles of active restorative intervention and passive abandonment. This paper proposes that site stewards at mining heritage sites often follow presentation strategies that sit outside this neat dualism. Drawing on material presented in the form of three case studies, this paper identifies the actions these strategies entail and considers the results in terms of an aesthetic of decay. To consolidate the argument, a new overarching term is introduced to describe this strategy: contrived dereliction, in order to foreground its essential features. The paper then outlines the advantages, limitations and requirements of contrived dereliction as a heritage management and presentation practice.

Archeologia amerykańska w świetle zarządzania dziedzictwem kulturowym: geneza, prawo, praktyka

Wydział Historyczny: Instytut Archeologii

Teaching Crossroads: 11th IPB Erasmus Week

In the wake of the latest news regarding IPB’s award for best Polytechnic Institute in Portugal, we would like to congratulate the IPB community who has always striven for the quality of the institution within the national and international academic milieu. We are, undoubtedly, bowled over by the 1st place in the national context (out of the 27 national institutions under evaluation) and the 7th position in the international scope. In fact, it is worth mentioning that the IPB has won this award, three years in a row, being in a leading position in the ranking promoted and sponsored by the European Union. This year’s edition has selected and evaluated over 1300 world higher education institutions. Teaching Crossroads intends thus to give a watershed contribution to the IPB’s successful and most valued pathway. Numbers indicate that Teaching Crossroads has had over 2550 downloads since it first came out. But let’s cut to the chase. Once again, we are delighted to present the 5th number of Teaching Crossroads. This wholly calculated and well-sustained editorial adventure started in 2012 when the first number of Teaching Crossroads first saw the light. This year’s publication includes the areas of Human Geography/anthropology, Information Technology and Forensics and Language and culture, focusing on minority languages. Alongside this, as in the two last previous numbers, we’ve included the specific area for International mobility, Intensive Programmes and Erasmus+ Mobility of Individuals, being the latter financed by the European Union within the Erasmus+ Programme, whereas the former is sponsored uniquely by the foreign partner institution, in this case, Lillebaelt Academy in Denmark. These types of programmes convey very positive and overarching ideas, resonant in cross-cultural and educational benefits, valuable for all the involved partners. We would very kindheartedly like to thank the authors for having contributed with much enlightening and serious articles on a wide array of areas. Pablo M. Orduna Pórtus’s article focuses on border culture and heritage management. The author’s study is placed on two borderlands of the Iberian Peninsula: Roncal Valley (Navarre) and Riverbanks of Douro. Going beyond the linear or physical conception of the border, the author centres his study on the metaphysical and symbolic ideas of the frontier that sustain his anthropological analysis. Michal Popdora manages to find evidence for his proposal of a new conception of teaching Image Processing, based on the student-centered approach. A hands-on experience on a Project-based Learning methodology sustains the teaching project. Grounded on “a forensic-flavored style”, using the author’s own words, he shows how students can become engaged in a highly effective learning process. Cláudia Martins is already a confirmed habitué of this publication, as in every Erasmus Week she delivers a lecture on Portuguese language and culture to visiting teaching and non-teaching staff. This time, the author decided to delve into a Portugal’s official language, Mirandese, spoken in a small designated area in the northeastern part of Portugal, Miranda do Douro and its surrounding area. The author gives account of some thought-provoking facts about the language, from the origin and the survival of the language, however still a minority language, up to the moment when it was acknowledged Portugal’s second official language, together with the challenges that nowadays faces. Luís Frölen Ribeiro, João Eduardo Ribeiro, Carlos Casimiro Costa, António Duarte, Carlos Andrade from the Polytechnic Institute and Arne Svinth, John Madsen, Morten Thomsen, Kent Smidstrup, Carsten John Jacobsen from the Lillebaelt Academy, in Denmark, participate in a joint project which they describe, outlining the main goals and gains of the project. To overcome teaching difficulties regarding the engineering degrees, a 12-ECTS joint course from Lillebaelt Academy and Polytechnic Institute of Bragança was created based on the Danish model. The course Product Development and Industrial Processing was hence created. Rui Pedro Lopes presents an insightful and acute account of the Internationalization programmes in Higher Education in Europe. At one go, the author describes his own experience as a visiting lecturer, within the Erasmus+ programme, to Università Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona, Italy, in a Master’s degree in computer science, bringing to light a personal reflection on the goals and benefits of the mobility for both students and teachers. Finally, the author puts forth some suggestions that would improve the whole mobility process. We sincerely hope to have stimulated you to keep on reading, upholding the belief that these texts can represent valuable sources for both teachers and students in their research work.