| Present: Prof A Harding (Chair), Mr D Baker (CBA), Mr N Clubb (English Heritage), Ms K Fernie (HEIRNET), Mr N Fojut (Historic Scotland), Dr M Heyworth (CBA - minutes), Mrs H Malaws (RCAHMW), Mrs D Murray (RCAHMS), Dr J D Richards (ADS), Mr I Shepherd (ARIA). | |
| Apologies for absence were received from were received from Dr D Barrett (ALGAO),
Dr R Bland (Portable Antiquities Scheme), Mr J Berry (Cadw), Dr G Chitty,
Mr D Dawson (Resource), Dr A Foxon (Manx National Heritage), Mrs C Longworth
(Society for Museum Archaeologists), Ms S Nuttall (mda). Dr A Grant (consultant) was in attendance. |
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| 1 | Minutes of the seventh meeting, held on 6 December 2001 in York. The minutes were AGREED to be an accurate record of the meeting. |
| 2 | HEIRNET staffing Dr Heyworth reported that Ms Kate Fernie's secondment from English Heritage to work for HEIRNET for three days a week had been extended for a further year to the end of September 2003, with supporting funding from the ADS and Welsh and Scottish Royal Commissions. Dr Heyworth thanked these organisations for their support, but noted that this would be the final year of Ms Fernie's secondment and HEIRNET would have to develop alternative arrangements to take forward its initiatives in subsequent years. |
| 3 | HEIRNET chairmanship Prof Harding stated that he was stepping down as Chair of HEIRNET following the meeting as he had recently taken on a number of new commitments. He wished the Network well for the future and thanked all members for their support during his term as Chair. Dr Heyworth thanked Prof Harding for his efforts on behalf of HEIRNET, and congratulated him on his recent election as the next President of the European Association of Archaeologists. The names of several possible successors were discussed and it was AGREED that Dr Heyworth would take further soundings with individual members outside the meeting. |
| 4 | HEIRNET Officer activity report (a) Register of HEIRs Ms Fernie reported that the Register was continuing to expand and was increasingly eclectic in its range of content. She had experienced some difficulties, particularly in finding resources focussed on buildings as the relevant contact points were harder to identify. Mr Baker suggested that the new Heritage Information service (see http://www.heritageinformation.org.uk) might provide a useful addition to the register and would offer a point-of-contact with conservation officers, as well as trying to make contact through IHBC. Ms Fernie planned to continue to build up the Register to cover relevant resources in the coming year. As the range of content expanded so it was more widely used as it now had sufficient critical mass to be seen to be useful. On the technical side, the Register had been migrated to the new Oracle software now being used by the Archaeology Data Service which provided a better interface for users. Ms Fernie noted that the ADS only had the resources to update the Register through a batch process at six-monthly intervals and this would have to be taken into consideration for its future development. Dr Richards commented that this was a relevant issue as users expected information to be updated rapidly. This required greater investment in the technical effort, for example by providing an online data collection/correction facility, but this was not possible with the ADS's current resources. (b) HEIRPORT Ms Fernie expressed her disappointment that no new targets had been added to HEIRPORT in the last year, but reported that discussions with a number of organisations were ongoing. (c) Technical Advisory Service Ms Fernie reported that some modest updates and new information had been added to the relevant HEIRNET web pages. She hoped that there might be an opportunity to enhance this service in due course through European projects/funding. (d) Publicity Ms Fernie reported on a range of conference papers and publications that she had prepared in the last year, including the revised and updated HEIRNET publicity leaflet which had been circulated at a number of conferences. It was AGREED that the priorities for the coming year should include the need to communicate HEIRNET's work to adjacent sectors, particularly archivists, librarians, architects, planners, biologists and ecologists. |
| 5 | Users and their use of HEIRs Dr Grant gave a short presentation of the main conclusions of the report which she had produced, with her colleagues from the Cultural Heritage Consortium. Prof Harding thanked her for the work that had gone into the report and for the clear recommendations which now needed to be taken forward. It was AGREED that the report fulfilled the original brief and should be published on the HEIRNET web site and widely promoted. Dr Grant thanked HEIRNET for the opportunity to work on the report and noted that the recommendations for further work focussed on collective action, although there were a number of issues which should be taken forward within individual organisations, linked to their own strategic development. It was AGREED that Ms Fernie, Dr Heyworth & Dr Richards would work up the recommendations for further projects and circulate more detailed project outlines for comment through the HEIRNET email list, as appropriate, before seeking potential funding. It was noted that some of the suggested projects had potential to become ongoing services, while others were clearly one-off projects. |
| 6 | Portals conference Ms Fernie outlined plans for a one-day HEIRNET conference, to be held in London in early summer 2003. The conference would focus on issues relating to content, technical underpinning and users' perspectives. It was AGREED that the proposed meeting was very timely and should be taken forward. Mr Clubb suggested that the audience could usefully include those working within adjacent sectors, as well as those from the historic environment sector. He offered to provide information on prospective venues in London which his staff had recently collected for a possible English Heritage meeting. It was AGREED that Ms Fernie would work on the organisation of the conference as one of her key tasks for the next year, with support from Mr Clubb, Dr Heyworth & Dr Richards. The date of the conference would depend on availability of venues and speakers, but it was hoped to find a convenient date in June 2003, or failing that in September 2003. |
| 7 | Culture Online Dr Heyworth reported that he had received a recent update from Culture Online following the submission of HEIRNET's expression of interest in being involved in relevant projects through the expertise of its members. Culture Online had received over 650 detailed proposals which were taking some time to work through, but they hoped to try to put together a portfolio of projects with the right mix of target audiences, geographic distribution, types of participating organisation and so on. In many cases they would be brokering partnerships. Once they have identified the projects they wish to develop for the first tranche of commissioning, they will be approaching certain organisations to ensure that they are happy with the potential partnerships they propose. They envisaged that the final number of projects would be between 20 and 40. Dr Heyworth promised to pass on any further information to HEIRNET members as it came through from the Culture Online staff. |
| 8 | EU Framework Programme Ms Fernie reported that HEIRNET was identified in expressions of interest from Euro-FISH and Techne to the European Union as a network of cultural heritage organisations with expertise relevant to their proposals to develop networks of excellence, which both looked to the development of standards, guidelines and professional training. More than 100 expressions of interest were received by the European Union in the Cultural Heritage field. The EU invited representatives from a selection of the proposed networks to an update on programme development in November. Attendees were advised that some networks lacked critical mass or were over-specialised and that complementary proposals might benefit from being amalgamated. This appears to be resulting in the amalgamation of the networks of excellence proposed by Euro-FISH and Techne. The possibilities for HEIRNET members should be clarified once the European Union announces the 6th framework programme call. |
| 9 | Future staffing Dr Heyworth suggested that the increasing range of HEIRNET's activities meant that staff resources would be needed to follow on from Ms Fernie's secondment after September 2003. The work could be divided up between HEIRNET members, but it would still need someone to coordinate the activities, publicise the outputs, and drive the Network's agenda forward. It was AGREED that Dr Heyworth should discuss funding options with HEIRNET members, and also look into other possibilities, such as funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Heritage Grant Fund, and other appropriate funding sources. Prof Harding agreed to see if the British Academy would be able to offer any support. |
Document last revised: 18 December 2002 by Mike Heyworth and Kate Fernie.