Notices

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My Place heritage project: Notice

November-12-2012 – July-31-2014

Launch of the 'My Place' heritage project will see local communities explore the local heritage of Bradford and Keighley.The project runs until July 2014 and will include workshops, archaeological excavations and exhibitions.

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Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies: Notice

November-11-2013 – November-13-2013

Urban Archaeology and 'Correct' documentation - Documenting the Data. The main topic of the International Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies 2013 will be documentation. Documentation of archaeological and cultural heritage sites is at the heart of the archaeological process and an important component in cultural heritage research and presentation. It is an essential step without which interpretation and analysis are not possible. It is what makes archaeology and cultural heritage "scientific". Maybe we are storytellers. If so, the type of story we tell is heavily influenced by our way of collecting and organising our archaeological data. But can we speak about CORRECT documentation or should we talk only about usable and non-usable documentation? The contemporary field is plagued by the involvement of operators each with their own new tools. They propose solutions and suggest methods but are often in blissful ignorance of the past investigations of the item, site or cultural heritage they are working on. New technology, however, has to support our research. Its use still depends on what we want to know next (our research). The best solution is to have an underpinning of basic documentation that allows any new researcher to easily access the core record. Then they can then enrich the documentation with the results of their new method, analysis and ideas. It may be possible to build the ultimate recording system, but the information we feed it is always potentially unreliable. How do we know when our record is good - has integrity? What indicates that it might be bad -lacking integrity? Models are there to be used, not believed. Documentation is always for a certain purpose and depending on that purpose, a set of documentation may be regarded as good or bad, as 'fit for purpose'. There will never be absolute "true", "correct" or "right" documentation. An abstract model of documentation should consist of the attributes we record of the real world traits that we observe. The set of attributes that we choose to record (out of the infinite set of possibilities) are the ones that our current state of knowledge and our research aims (and therefore designs) suggest will be the most useful to our current research aims/agenda. If we want to reuse data beyond the current research project/agenda then we must be very explicit about why, how and what we record. This is the so called 'para' data and goes beyond meta data to include the 'how' and 'why' of data capture.

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Call for papers for the first international conference on Early Main Line Railways: Notice

June-19-2014 – June-22-2014

Abstracts are invited for 30-minute papers to be delivered at the First Early Main Line Railways Conference. The Conference will cover the pioneering period of the public main line railway, up to the establishment of a regular network of routes with agreed or amalgamated running rights. (this period extends from the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1830 to the major consolidation of companies which had taken place by about 1870; start/end dates will differ for other countries). The emphasis of the event will be on the formation, cultural impact and effects (financial, social, technical etc.) of the early main lines in all their aspects. Papers are particularly sought on: Political influences and implications, Capitalisation and Finance, Management, staffing and administration of Early Main Lines; Technology, with respect to all aspects of the Civil and Mechanical Engineering of Early Main Line Railways, including Engines, Rolling Stock, Infrastructure and Buildings; Social Context and Cultural Impact; and International Context. Further information on topics of potential interest can be found online. 200-word abstracts should be submitted by 30th September 2013 for consideration by the organising committee.

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