Information Studies Research

Executive Summary

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) needs a coherent policy if it is to respond to the opportunities offered by information and communications technology (ICT) and to select ICT-based heritage projects for funding. Technology must be viewed as an enabling tool, rather than a driving force. ICT plays an increasingly important role in the creation, storage, dissemination, and use of information in the developing information society. In the areas supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, ICT can both contribute to the better conservation and management of the heritage and assist in its understanding, study, and enjoyment. The development of culturally rich information resources that will add value to the existing network services depend upon the judicious use of ICT to support the creation of, and access to, data and information resources in digital forms.

General awareness of the enabling potential of technology is leading to an increase in the numbers of applicants to the HLF who are seeking support for heritage projects using information technology. The consultations, surveys, interviews, and research, on which the ICT policy we recommend is based, all conclude that the HLF should recognise the potential of ICT to support the creation of resources in digital form, whether their content is museum, library, or archival catalogues, sites and monuments records, records of species or habitats, or the built heritage. These types of digital resources provide the essential materials for those working in the heritage sector to better conserve the heritage assets in their care, and provide the raw materials for the delivery of interpretative resources to improve public understanding and enjoyment of these assets. In supporting the use of ICT to create digital content the HLF will be funding the development of resources of lasting value. These will improve access to and understanding of the heritage.

This report recommends an ICT policy that will achieve these objectives and identifies how it should be implemented. ICT includes a diverse range of technologies, including computer hardware, software, and information modelling and management methods. Not all of these are of direct benefit to the heritage. The report argues (¶s 7.1-7.17) that the use of ICT to support the creation of digital collections describing heritage resources, the retrospective conversion of existing heritage catalogues and records, and the digitisation of resources to improve their public access should all attract support. It examines the technologies which will contribute to the better collection, management, and reuse of digital content (¶s 8.1-8.29). Two technologies often put forward by applicants for HLF support—Websites (¶s 8.17-8.21) and interactive displays (¶s 8.22-8.25)—are considered in particular detail. The conclusion is that these two uses of technology should only receive support where the base documentation has been created as a first step.

The report acknowledges the need to encourage innovation in the use of ICT in the heritage sector and its use to create new kinds of heritage information resources. To avoid the risk that the HLF could, in the end, commit extensive amounts of funds to innovative areas, the report recommends the establishment

of a limited funded programme for this purpose (¶ 8.12). There are a number of issues—such as standards, rights management, and risk assessment—that the HLF needs to address, if it is to ensure that the uses of ICT it supports will have lasting impact and long-term value (¶s 10.1-10.24). Some of the policies recommended here, if they are to be implemented successfully, require that the HLF take internal actions (e.g. staff training, adoption of new application and assessment guidelines) (¶s 11.1-11.12).

In conclusion, the policy—and strategies for making it achievable—promotes the use of ICT for content creation. In adopting this policy and its associated strategies the HLF will:

• maximise the benefits to the conservation of our national heritage assets;
• bring tangible benefits to the public through access to heritage information;
• contribute heritage information resources of value to education and lifelong learning;
• aid the development of a heritage-rich information society;
• promote the use of ICT in the support of activities which have lasting value—a digital information collection composed of local resources of national significance which will eventually be comparable to the founding of national collections in the 18th century; and,
• minimise the risks associated with ICT.