Special feature - Heritage on the web

Foregrounding the periphery – Highland heritage on the web

March 2006

The Marxist cultural critic Walter Benjamin talked about “aura” - the ability for old objects, to create feelings of awe in viewers. The HIE area is rich in such objects and locations, and whilst nothing can compare with being there and bringing all senses into play, the Internet can offer 95% of the experience.

For the other 5%, the aura, you just have to be there. This is in direct contravention of critics of web-led heritage, who predict a loss of visitors. Research has shown that people are willing to travel for that 5%.

Heritage multimedia presentation allows text, sound and static and moving images to be presented, for educational purposes, visitor invitations, souvenirs and just general curiosity. Some agencies and institutions have partnered in order to create websites which offer co-operative marketing of heritage services. The Highlands and Islands to date, has not had such a resource. Until now.

The Heritage North site www.heritagenorth.co.uk aims to assist the heritage sector, very broadly defined in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise area. The website will rest on a platform adjacent to, but separate from the Hi-Arts website www.hi-arts.co.uk, but there the similarity ends. This is not an attempt by the successful arts promotion agency to muscle in on the little brother, the comparatively under resourced heritage and museum sector. Rather, it aims to offer expertise in the skills gained in promotion and, contiguously, ecommerce for the benefit of the sector. This is a rare opportunity which demands to be taken seriously.

The site will be a flexible resource for both the heritage sector and also tourists and visitors. At the core will be a fully searchable database of all institutions, societies, funders and providers functioning there. For practitioners this will facilitate networking liaisons, commercial activity and knowledge sharing. The database will also form the tourism resource, again fully searchable for both potential and past visitors. News will feature highly; the site will be a one stop shop for funding and administration developments, training and research developments and latest trends in museology. There will be downloadable documents and a forum for discussions. Crucially, the site will be driven by the museums and heritage site and their community. Heritage North will act as a facilitator.

The project is funded by the Scottish Museum Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and is in partnership with the Regional Development Challenge Fund in the Highlands and Islands. It has as its objectives four tenets: access, volunteer development, tourism and learning.

The democratizing drive, seeks to open doors to as many as possible. Thus we will be addressing the barriers to right of entry, be they cultural, intellectual, age based, or driven by some aspect of disability. We will assure that as many folk as possible can celebrate Highland and Islands heritage.

Volunteering has long gone on record as a key factor in improving the quality of life amongst participants, many of whom have passed the end of their working lives, but still have a wealth of skills and experience in business. With the Highlands seen as a desirable retirement home, we are generously supplied with third-age museologists.

But yet we must seek to integrate their skills with the extroversion and technophilia of the young. Though the core product is the past, is no need for heritage to be retroverted in its presentation.

Young people must be encouraged to see museums not as dusty old places, full of grey haired people arguing over minutae, but places alive with curiosity and wonder. The skills which the sector can provide reach beyond curatorial and archival proficiency and into transferable competencies, which will last a lifetime.

Tourism is set to benefit too. Our greatest money maker; heritage should put the problems that beset the accommodation sector behind it and realize the capacity of ICT to act as an advert that keeps on giving. The profile of the region, so identifiable, sells itself – it is on us to facilitate the buying decision.

The quality of what we have should not be undersold, and it is only through a realization of how we package our greatest asset that we can bring tourists to our doorstep. We will work on addressing the link between the heritage sector and the tourist industry in our web design.

Museums have seen themselves playing a much more proactive role in education. There are several good heritage learning resources and Heritage North aims to be a great one, but this more specific to the area. Another RCDF funded project in Highland Heritage, Skills building website, www.heritage-skills.co.uk offers courses to increase the capacity, professionalism and, ultimately, product quality of the sector.

I feel very lucky to be involved in this exciting and innovative project, but I see that all my past experience has been working towards a project of this significance. I have a first class Honours degree in Cultural History, specializing in representations of Scottish Jacobites in French Theatre. I have worked as events and exhibitions officer for one of the small independent museums in the Highlands, so have an understanding of the challenges faced locally. As a freelance, I have been involved in digital heritage through Am Baile www.ambaile.org.uk, the National Museum of Scotland, the British Library and the UHI. I have published research on social inclusion and volunteering, and am currently researching the Great War and the Highlands and Islands.

Although, as web manager, my priority is to maintaining the website as actively and comprehensively as possible, I will try be on hand to deal with queries and questions on all aspects of Highland heritage, even if that answer involves passing on a website address.

It is anticipated that the Heritage North website will go live towards the latter part of the year, no date has been finalised yet. In the meantime, we will be asking the heritage sector as to what they would like included on the site, and we will be seeking content to populate the site; both the database and editorial material.

We will be working in partnership with several agencies to develop this resource. The SMC have asked us to assist in gathering content level descriptors (CLD) for their own purposes; data which will be useful for our site. We are also in talks with other data collection partners, to minimise work and eliminate duplication.

Gordon Urquhart can be contacted on 01463 720886 or by email: gordon@hi-arts.co.uk