The ARC-funded Everyday Heritage Linkage Project hosted a series of events in Canberra and Sydney during July 2023. The Everyday Heritage team was joined by Distinguished Visiting Scholars Professor Siân Jones (University of Stirling, UK) and Professor Stuart Jeffrey (Glasgow School of Art, UK) and by PhD researcher Martina Tenzer (University of York, UK). Together, these academics brought new insights into ideas of everyday heritage and contributed to wide-ranging conversations in a multiplicity of forums. A summary of activities is shared here, including links to recordings.
Everyday Heritage team group photo, 20 July 2023
1. Symposium – Heritage of the Everyday: Overlooked and Undervalued?
This one-day event at the Museum of Sydney attracted an audience of almost 100 people from across government, industry, academia, and local communities. The Symposium explored methods, tools and approaches that engage with ‘everyday heritage’, or the values associated with ordinary people and everyday life. Professor Siân Jones gave the keynote address. Fourteen speakers presented short papers and participated in three panel discussions. The programme for the Symposium can be found here. The Symposium provided an opportunity to engage with audiences based in Sydney, including many people associated with the work of GML Heritage, the Everyday Heritage linkage partner. The conversations built on the first Everyday Heritage Symposium, which was held in Canberra in November 2022.
Session 1 – Social Value and Everyday Heritage Methods
Welcome and keynote introduction
Tracy Ireland, Associate Dean Research and Professor of Cultural Heritage, University of Canberra
Keynote address: The everyday heritage of the ‘deep city’: a mixed methods assemblage for exploring social values across online and offline contexts
Sian Jones, Professor of Heritage, University of Stirling, UK
Belonging: body, writing and the everyday place
Chris Johnston, Heritage Specialist: Calendia Pty Ltd, Honorary Research Associate La Trobe University
The everyday heritage of recent migrants in the Parramatta LGA
Denis Byrne, Professor, Institute of Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
Panel 1: Social Value and Everyday Heritage Methods
Moderator: Sharon Veale, CEO, GML Heritage
Panel members: Sian Jones, Chris Johnston, Denis Byrne
ICOMOS 21st General Assembly and Scientific Symposium (GA2023), 31 August – 9 September 2023, Sydney
GA2023: Why should I attend this global heritage event?
Richard Mackay AM, Professor, Director of Possibilities, Mackay Strategic; GA2023 Convenor
Session 2: Digital Methods and Everyday Heritage
Digital heritage objects: co-design, communities and significance
Stuart Jeffrey, Professor of Digital Heritage, School of Simulation and Visualisation, The Glasgow School of Art, UK
Everyday heritage and artificial intelligence: automated categorisation of heritage values for planning and decision-making
Martina Tenzer, PhD researcher, Department of Archaeology, University of York, UK
Digital sources and everyday experience
Tim Sherratt, Associate Professor, Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, University of Canberra
Panel 2: Digital Methods and Everyday Heritage
Moderator: Cristina Garduño Freeman, PhD, Senior Lecturer – Arts, Design and
Architecture, University of New South Wales, Sydney
Panel members: Stuart Jeffrey, Martina Tenzer
Session 3: Industry Practice and Everyday Heritage Methods
Social values of heritage – Heritage NSW
Damian Lucas, PhD, Senior Policy Officer, Heritage NSW
Everyday industry practice: some methods and challenges
Nadia Iacono, PhD, Senior Associate/Manager Archaeology (Sydney), GML Heritage
The trouble with trauma: trauma-heritage and trauma-informed practice
Charlotte Feakins, PhD, Lecturer, Museum and Heritage Studies, The University of Sydney
Panel 3: Industry Practice and Everyday Heritage Methods
Moderator: Steve Brown, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, University of Canberra; Special Adviser, GML Heritage
Panel members: Kate Bagnall, Damian Lucas, Nadia Iacono, Charlotte Feakins
Rapporteur
Jane Lydon, Professor, Wesfarmers Chair in Australian History, University of Western Australia
Closing
Tracy Ireland, Associate Dean Research and Professor of Cultural Heritage, University of Canberra
2. Workshops – Social value and digital methods
The ARC-funded Everyday Heritage Linkage Project presented two workshops, each 2.5 hours long, at the GML Heritage Sydney Office.
The first workshop – Social Value: What do methods do? – was facilitated by Tracy Ireland and Steve Brown with Siân Jones and Chris Johnston as discussants. The workshop included four case study presentations: Exploring social values and placemaking: Bangladeshi communities in Sydney (Adiba Rahman); Interpreting Ballarat Orphanage (Minna Muhlen-Schultz; Beau Vandenberg); Parkville Heritage Review for the City of Melbourne (Freya Keam & Mark Huntersmith); A rapid assessment method for in-place interviews (Caitlin Allen).
Abstract – Social Value
The ARC Everyday Heritage Linkage Project aims to bring methods and tools to the fore in the work of heritage. This workshop is built on the premise that different heritage practices and methodologies can produce different forms of heritage. It will ask: What do different methods do? What kind of objects of attention, knowledge and concern do they produce? Who gets to participate and what kinds of visibilities and invisibilities do they create?
Workshop participants will be asked to come to the workshop with a case study example from their work in identifying, documenting, and/or assessing social or community values. Through conversations arising from selected case studies, the workshop discussants and facilitators will work with participants to collectively reflect on the importance of taking a ‘critical’ approach to thinking about methods as practice. The discussion will include reference to mixed (or ‘assemblage’) method approaches and available toolkits.
The workshop will provide an opportunity for industry and government practitioners and community members to engage with internationally recognised specialists in the fields of social value and heritage conservation.
The second workshop – Digital methods and changing heritage practice – was facilitated by Cristina Garduno Freeman with Stuart Jeffrey and Martina Tenzer as discussants. The workshop included four case study presentations: Making the most of the everyday: digital methods for understanding domestic assemblages (Jacob Gwaizdzinski); (ESEM Projects): Digital Horizons (Sarah Barns); Arboreal Alterations: methods (Ursula Frederick).
Abstract – Digital Methods
In a world increasing dominated by the digital and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), how is heritage practice changing? How should heritage practitioners prepare for, engage with, and harness such change? How can AI be brought into the conversation and be integrated with current heritage practices? What are the ethical challenges and risks of digital disruptions? In what ways are shifts in heritage practice to a greater emphasis on community benefits and wellbeing and health outcomes enhanced and confronted by digital approaches?
In this workshop, we will consider the current state of application of digital technologies, social media, and artificial intelligence in heritage practice. We will examine the ways in which industry and government heritage professionals are innovating in the digital realm and consider future possibilities. Additionally, we will grapple with the ways online and offline methods and tools can work cohesively and productively together.
The format of the workshop will be a round table discussion based on shared learning. It will provide an opportunity for industry and government practitioners and community members to engage with internationally recognised specialists in the fields of digital methods and AI.
3. Seminars – Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, University of Canberra
3.1 Prof. Siân Jones: The Object of Conservation
2023 Culture and Creativity Seminar Series, University of Canberra
Abstract
How are heritage objects made and what kind of conservation work does this involve? In this lecture, Siân Jones will discuss some of the conclusions arising from her recent book (co-authored with Tom Yarrow). Based on a multi-sited ethnographic study of conservation practice in a national heritage organisation, The Object of Conservation (2022) examines how historic buildings, monuments and artefacts are cared for as valued embodiments of the past. Conservation practice involves various kinds of intervention to keep heritage objects in some sense as they are, in the face of various challenges, changes and threats. In doing so, conservators play an active, and at times decisive, role in their biographies, (re)assembling them conceptually and materially whilst grappling with the paradox of how to keep something essentially the same whilst changing it.
3.2 Martina Tenzer: Venerated Women – mapping Anglo-Saxon female saints
2023 Culture and Creativity Seminar Series, University of Canberra
Abstract
Female Anglo-Saxon saints, venerated across Britain for over 1700 years, still inspire in modern times. However, the Anglo-Saxon Christian world is mainly seen in the light of kings and bishops. At the same time the remarkable lives and workings of the female protagonists remain scattered and marginalised within Anglo-Saxon history. Scientific projects, such as ‘Finding Eanswythe’ (Canterbury Christ Church University), draw the spotlight on this subject. However, a comprehensive resource for students and the public, compiling and presenting female saints, is missing.
This talk will give insights into a project to extend the ‘Finding Eanswythe’ project and map female Anglo-Saxon saints across Britain. It combines spatial, quantitative, and qualitative data on one platform, creating a deep map with textual, audio and video information. The resulting website includes an interactive web map, giving an overview of the network and distribution of female saints and deep insight and understanding of the lives, workings, places, and legends of this neglected but important part of history. Integrating historical data, anecdotes and legends, spatial data, photographs of the landscape setting, and audio impressions of the church bell sound with quantitative and qualitative data create a deep map for immersive storytelling.
4. Public Lectures – Australia ICOMOS ACT Chapter
4.1 Prof. Stuart Jeffrey: Digital Heritage objects – co-design, communities and significance
11 July 2023, Offices of GML Heritage and Australian Institute of Architects
Abstract
This lecture explores the evolution of digital methods in heritage, including the digital heritage object (DHO), highlighting some of the fundamental issues this raises, including the unexpected transformation of DHOs from passive record to dynamic portal. The DHO, a transmediation of a physical site or heritage object into a digital form, has undergone a number of significant conceptual changes. Initially conceived of as a digital version of traditional analogue records, they may now assume a status distinct from, but parallel to, the physical original. In an echo of historic replicas, the DHO can become an artefact in its own right, while their production is arguably a significant chapter in the biography of the original. Recognising this can create new opportunities for engagement and empowerment through creative response, co-design and co-production as well as offering moments of intervention that can directly impact the forms of significance and authenticity associated with the site or object in question. I will explore these questions by drawing on recent case studies from heritage and art based research projects in the UK, Africa and the Pacific, including the One Ocean Hub project.
4.2 Martina Tenzer: Story mapping for planning – understanding the factors for rootedness and place-attachment for an inclusive and sustainable heritage management of cultural landscapes
25 July 2023, Offices of GML Heritage and Australian Institute of Architects
Abstract
This talk presents the results of a study that reveals the patterns of hidden values in cultural landscapes and offers an innovative method for the collection, analysis and visualisation of individual “stories”, using remote survey methods combined with Artificial Intelligence to create deep maps of attachment. This dataset, integrated into the traditional heritage datasets and assessment framework, can provide the people-centred background or insider knowledge necessary to facilitate sustainable, inclusive and transparent heritage management practices.
