This session explores new strategies for designing practical preservation spaces in contemporary ... more This session explores new strategies for designing practical preservation spaces in contemporary archives, libraries, and storage facilities. Come hear our speakers discuss the frontlines of preservation as seen through the perspectives of user-centered design, sustainability, and the cutting-edge technology available for preservation systems and built environments
NILU – the Norwegian Institute for Air Research and NIKU the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Her... more NILU – the Norwegian Institute for Air Research and NIKU the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research has upon application received funding from the Directorate for Cultural Heritage in Norway to prepare a memorandum that identifies knowledge gaps in Norway related to physical preservation of cultural heritage.
ICOM-Committee for Conservation 16th Triennial Meeting preprints, 2011
This paper examines intra-surveyor agreement (the extent to which people agree with their own jud... more This paper examines intra-surveyor agreement (the extent to which people agree with their own judgments over time) in collection condition surveys specifically in terms of relevance to several conservation practices. The argument is based on the fact that the consequences of poor agreement are inaccurate assessments that may lead to unrecognized problems or misallocation of resources. The experiment in question is concerned with two surveys carried out with an interval of ten weeks by a group of professional conservators. The group carried out two surveys of the
This contribution considers the potential impact of using a strain index as a metric for various ... more This contribution considers the potential impact of using a strain index as a metric for various conservation applications. Using new approaches to model strain calculations, the paper describes the benefit of introducing a metric as an alternative to targets or ranges of relative humidity. Three examples of its value in analyzing and communicating risks are presented. The paper also draws parallels with other metrics and standards that have provided insight into complex practical matters, such as human comfort.
This contribution examines the use of the term 'future generations' in the context of the conserv... more This contribution examines the use of the term 'future generations' in the context of the conservation of cultural material. The implications of the term are discussed with examples from documents by professional bodies and conventions. It discusses the nuance around the term's aims and application, and highlights how the various lenses and worldviews in which we work inform its definition, whether temporally, geographically or culturally. More importantly, it highlights how the phrase 'future generations' as a collective implies a single, unified entity rather than the contested values and polyvocal nature that characterises present generations. The paper explores how greater precision in the term's application can provide practical benefit to the conservation field. Three examples from other fields of how considerations of the future and future generations have been approached, and the implications of those approaches, are given.
This paper examines the role and effectiveness of condition guides on the reliability of collecti... more This paper examines the role and effectiveness of condition guides on the reliability of collection condition surveys. It reports on an experiment in which conservators carried out a condition survey using a condition guide. The results are compared with a control group and also with the same surveyors when not using a guide. The use of a guide cannot be assumed to increase reliability. The experiment showed a decrease in ordinal reliability when the guide was used. This may improve with familiarity, but is some way from significantly improving condition data. Because people approach condition assessment differently, some felt more comfortable with the guide than others. The impact of assessment guides on the reliability of collection condition surveys
The article considers the use of nudge theory and behavioural science as a lens to better understand the influences and effects of heritage on society. Nudge theory applies insights from psychology to contextual factors that influence decisions and behaviours. These same insights can be used inversely, to interpret existing effects such as heritage. The paper describes parallels between nudging and heritage, focusing on ethical aspects including the dilemmas created by acknowledging these insights, transparency, and intentionality. It follows with discussion of choice architecture, the apparatus of nudging – and some of the mechanics behind the influences it can have. This draws upon experimental findings in behavioural science and applies them to various examples, with the intention of presenting new perspectives on known heritage sites, such as contentious statues. Finally, it considers the implications of using behavioural insights to further unpack the effects of heritage on society and the potential to help authorities, decision-makers, and community leaders be more aware of the impacts of heritage, which can be easily overlooked in policy and practice. It is intended that the paper is accessible to both those interested in behavioural science and in heritage studies.
OPEN ACCESS https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00393630.2022.2067717 LINK TO PAPER. ... more OPEN ACCESS https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00393630.2022.2067717 LINK TO PAPER. Over the last century, conservation practice and discourse have undergone several turns. One of the most recent – the cultural turn – prompted discussions on the importance of values-led approaches, highlighting the inherently social nature of conservation. In this paper, we argue that conservation is now at the edge of a performative turn, emerging (also) from the field of critical heritage studies, which questions not only the uses (and users) of the past but also the ways in which cultural heritage is ultimately made through the actions of many agents. The performative turn in conservation comes with a set of reworked questions – not only about the aims and process of conservation itself, but also about ideas of what heritage is, for whom it is conserved, and practices of participation. This paper will focus specifically on how this performative turn revises current assumptions in practice, focusing on conservation risk assessments and how they are applied to contemporary art. We use contemporary art as the lens for this discussion, not as an exception but as the vantage point from which broader issues in conservation are more visible. LINK TO PAPER https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00393630.2022.2067717 OPEN ACCESS
CeROArt special edition - Conservation: cultures and connections, Oct 31, 2013
This contribution discusses the emergent field of Intergenerational Justice (IJ) with an aim to d... more This contribution discusses the emergent field of Intergenerational Justice (IJ) with an aim to drawing new light upon issues in conservation. Several key issues in IJ are discussed that allow heritage conservation to be contextualised. Methods and debates from IJ are described and related to conservation practice. The paper is not an exhaustive review, but identifies links to pertinent issues in conservation.
Journal of the American Institute for Conservation
A training program was developed to increase the reliability of collection condition survey data.... more A training program was developed to increase the reliability of collection condition survey data. Nine students carried out a series of three one-hour-long sessions before taking part in an experiment to examine agreement between their responses. The training sessions developed familiarity with a decision guide, provided worked-through examples of assessment and feedback and also the opportunity to analyze small practice surveys for monitoring purposes. The decision guide was modified to express ‘condition’ with greater clarity, but the scoring was not adjusted to meet individual preferences. The initial levels of reliability were low among the students. This increased incrementally up to the post-training experiment which reached an acceptable, if not ideal, level of reliability from which it would be possible to make sound decisions. The program demonstrated that a semi-formal approach to condition assessment that utilized a dynamic combination of the conservator's judgment and a systematic framework could lead to reliable approaches.
Exhibitions in general and loans in particular still appear to be driving median and relatively t... more Exhibitions in general and loans in particular still appear to be driving median and relatively tight climatic parameters for collection environments. This paper explores the impact of international loans on the adaptation of more sustainable climate control strategies. By offering a description of the complexities and (un)certainties associated with international loan policies that moves beyond the climate parameters, it explores why a more pragmatic approach to environmental control strategies is impeded. It describes how the Getty Conservation Institute’s Managing Collection Environments initiative is addressing this impasse and gives some suggestions for moving the debate forward.
This contribution discusses how embodied heritage values operate within a context of heritage sit... more This contribution discusses how embodied heritage values operate within a context of heritage sites, and tangible and intangible embodiments of what is valued as heritage. This is partly intended to recontextualize ideas of material and materiality that have recently undergone reconsideration in conservation and heritage discourse. The paper questions the claim that ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ philosophies of conservation are very different, and that they can be characterized as being concerned with intangible and tangible heritage, respectively. This is based on the assertion that influential preservation doctrines are as much a product of the context and practical situations as they are a product of different philosophies and cultures. Well-known examples from East and West are discussed to highlight the similarities, as opposed to the differences, in approaches. The article goes on to discuss the UNESCO definition of intangible heritage (2003), which conflates the intangible embodiment of values with the intangible values attributable to all heritage. As a way to contextualize this, the article considers embodiment of heritage values as a means to express both intangible and tangible heritage sites (since neither embodiment nor sites have to be physical). This is described by way of a simple, pre-existing communication model that moves from information source (which transmits the message) through the medium (the heritage site or object) to the audience (heritage user). These insights are intended to provide a balanced perspective that accommodates both the site and the embodied values in order to help make and justify conservation decisions.
This paper discusses processes in preventive conservation and the kinds of reasoning that support them. The discussion will draw upon work in cognitive psychology surrounding the Wason Selection Task as a means to identify how efforts to develop logical processes in preventive conservation have faced tension, whether implicit or explicit. Discussing logical frameworks in general, the paper draws parallels with preventive conservation. As research on the selection task evolved to account for complexities and uncertainties, the tension of trying to align expertise with formal logic became greater. This has been prompted by Jonathan Ashley-Smith’s call to embrace a ‘professional uncertainty’, and the paper draws upon this and Ashley-Smith’s later work to discuss approaches to reasoning in preventive conservation.
This paper discusses processes in preventive conservation and the kinds of reasoning that support... more This paper discusses processes in preventive conservation and the kinds of reasoning that support them. The discussion will draw upon work in cognitive psychology surrounding theWason Selection Task as a means to identify how efforts to develop logical processes in preventive conservation have faced tension, whether implicit or explicit. Discussing logical frameworks in general, the paper draws parallels with preventive conservation. As research on the selection task evolved to account for complexities and uncertainties, the tension of trying to align expertise with formal logic became greater. This has been prompted by Jonathan Ashley-Smith’s call to embrace a ‘professional uncertainty’, and the paper draws upon this and Ashley-Smith’s later work to discuss approaches to reasoning in preventive conservation.
H@V First International Workshop 'Understanding Heritage Values', 2014
This paper will consider heritage values from a conservation perspective, in particular preservin... more This paper will consider heritage values from a conservation perspective, in particular preserving heritage for future generations. It notes how understanding of values has been affected by a growing understanding of heritage. Examples of heritage sites that have been valued differently over time illustrate the implications of changed values in the future. I will suggest that there is still some way to go in terms of assessing and interpreting values, and understanding heritage values hold a key to unlocking a more mature approach to sustainability in heritage.
This session explores new strategies for designing practical preservation spaces in contemporary ... more This session explores new strategies for designing practical preservation spaces in contemporary archives, libraries, and storage facilities. Come hear our speakers discuss the frontlines of preservation as seen through the perspectives of user-centered design, sustainability, and the cutting-edge technology available for preservation systems and built environments
NILU – the Norwegian Institute for Air Research and NIKU the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Her... more NILU – the Norwegian Institute for Air Research and NIKU the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research has upon application received funding from the Directorate for Cultural Heritage in Norway to prepare a memorandum that identifies knowledge gaps in Norway related to physical preservation of cultural heritage.
ICOM-Committee for Conservation 16th Triennial Meeting preprints, 2011
This paper examines intra-surveyor agreement (the extent to which people agree with their own jud... more This paper examines intra-surveyor agreement (the extent to which people agree with their own judgments over time) in collection condition surveys specifically in terms of relevance to several conservation practices. The argument is based on the fact that the consequences of poor agreement are inaccurate assessments that may lead to unrecognized problems or misallocation of resources. The experiment in question is concerned with two surveys carried out with an interval of ten weeks by a group of professional conservators. The group carried out two surveys of the
This contribution considers the potential impact of using a strain index as a metric for various ... more This contribution considers the potential impact of using a strain index as a metric for various conservation applications. Using new approaches to model strain calculations, the paper describes the benefit of introducing a metric as an alternative to targets or ranges of relative humidity. Three examples of its value in analyzing and communicating risks are presented. The paper also draws parallels with other metrics and standards that have provided insight into complex practical matters, such as human comfort.
This contribution examines the use of the term 'future generations' in the context of the conserv... more This contribution examines the use of the term 'future generations' in the context of the conservation of cultural material. The implications of the term are discussed with examples from documents by professional bodies and conventions. It discusses the nuance around the term's aims and application, and highlights how the various lenses and worldviews in which we work inform its definition, whether temporally, geographically or culturally. More importantly, it highlights how the phrase 'future generations' as a collective implies a single, unified entity rather than the contested values and polyvocal nature that characterises present generations. The paper explores how greater precision in the term's application can provide practical benefit to the conservation field. Three examples from other fields of how considerations of the future and future generations have been approached, and the implications of those approaches, are given.
This paper examines the role and effectiveness of condition guides on the reliability of collecti... more This paper examines the role and effectiveness of condition guides on the reliability of collection condition surveys. It reports on an experiment in which conservators carried out a condition survey using a condition guide. The results are compared with a control group and also with the same surveyors when not using a guide. The use of a guide cannot be assumed to increase reliability. The experiment showed a decrease in ordinal reliability when the guide was used. This may improve with familiarity, but is some way from significantly improving condition data. Because people approach condition assessment differently, some felt more comfortable with the guide than others. The impact of assessment guides on the reliability of collection condition surveys
The article considers the use of nudge theory and behavioural science as a lens to better understand the influences and effects of heritage on society. Nudge theory applies insights from psychology to contextual factors that influence decisions and behaviours. These same insights can be used inversely, to interpret existing effects such as heritage. The paper describes parallels between nudging and heritage, focusing on ethical aspects including the dilemmas created by acknowledging these insights, transparency, and intentionality. It follows with discussion of choice architecture, the apparatus of nudging – and some of the mechanics behind the influences it can have. This draws upon experimental findings in behavioural science and applies them to various examples, with the intention of presenting new perspectives on known heritage sites, such as contentious statues. Finally, it considers the implications of using behavioural insights to further unpack the effects of heritage on society and the potential to help authorities, decision-makers, and community leaders be more aware of the impacts of heritage, which can be easily overlooked in policy and practice. It is intended that the paper is accessible to both those interested in behavioural science and in heritage studies.
OPEN ACCESS https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00393630.2022.2067717 LINK TO PAPER. ... more OPEN ACCESS https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00393630.2022.2067717 LINK TO PAPER. Over the last century, conservation practice and discourse have undergone several turns. One of the most recent – the cultural turn – prompted discussions on the importance of values-led approaches, highlighting the inherently social nature of conservation. In this paper, we argue that conservation is now at the edge of a performative turn, emerging (also) from the field of critical heritage studies, which questions not only the uses (and users) of the past but also the ways in which cultural heritage is ultimately made through the actions of many agents. The performative turn in conservation comes with a set of reworked questions – not only about the aims and process of conservation itself, but also about ideas of what heritage is, for whom it is conserved, and practices of participation. This paper will focus specifically on how this performative turn revises current assumptions in practice, focusing on conservation risk assessments and how they are applied to contemporary art. We use contemporary art as the lens for this discussion, not as an exception but as the vantage point from which broader issues in conservation are more visible. LINK TO PAPER https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00393630.2022.2067717 OPEN ACCESS
CeROArt special edition - Conservation: cultures and connections, Oct 31, 2013
This contribution discusses the emergent field of Intergenerational Justice (IJ) with an aim to d... more This contribution discusses the emergent field of Intergenerational Justice (IJ) with an aim to drawing new light upon issues in conservation. Several key issues in IJ are discussed that allow heritage conservation to be contextualised. Methods and debates from IJ are described and related to conservation practice. The paper is not an exhaustive review, but identifies links to pertinent issues in conservation.
Journal of the American Institute for Conservation
A training program was developed to increase the reliability of collection condition survey data.... more A training program was developed to increase the reliability of collection condition survey data. Nine students carried out a series of three one-hour-long sessions before taking part in an experiment to examine agreement between their responses. The training sessions developed familiarity with a decision guide, provided worked-through examples of assessment and feedback and also the opportunity to analyze small practice surveys for monitoring purposes. The decision guide was modified to express ‘condition’ with greater clarity, but the scoring was not adjusted to meet individual preferences. The initial levels of reliability were low among the students. This increased incrementally up to the post-training experiment which reached an acceptable, if not ideal, level of reliability from which it would be possible to make sound decisions. The program demonstrated that a semi-formal approach to condition assessment that utilized a dynamic combination of the conservator's judgment and a systematic framework could lead to reliable approaches.
Exhibitions in general and loans in particular still appear to be driving median and relatively t... more Exhibitions in general and loans in particular still appear to be driving median and relatively tight climatic parameters for collection environments. This paper explores the impact of international loans on the adaptation of more sustainable climate control strategies. By offering a description of the complexities and (un)certainties associated with international loan policies that moves beyond the climate parameters, it explores why a more pragmatic approach to environmental control strategies is impeded. It describes how the Getty Conservation Institute’s Managing Collection Environments initiative is addressing this impasse and gives some suggestions for moving the debate forward.
This contribution discusses how embodied heritage values operate within a context of heritage sit... more This contribution discusses how embodied heritage values operate within a context of heritage sites, and tangible and intangible embodiments of what is valued as heritage. This is partly intended to recontextualize ideas of material and materiality that have recently undergone reconsideration in conservation and heritage discourse. The paper questions the claim that ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ philosophies of conservation are very different, and that they can be characterized as being concerned with intangible and tangible heritage, respectively. This is based on the assertion that influential preservation doctrines are as much a product of the context and practical situations as they are a product of different philosophies and cultures. Well-known examples from East and West are discussed to highlight the similarities, as opposed to the differences, in approaches. The article goes on to discuss the UNESCO definition of intangible heritage (2003), which conflates the intangible embodiment of values with the intangible values attributable to all heritage. As a way to contextualize this, the article considers embodiment of heritage values as a means to express both intangible and tangible heritage sites (since neither embodiment nor sites have to be physical). This is described by way of a simple, pre-existing communication model that moves from information source (which transmits the message) through the medium (the heritage site or object) to the audience (heritage user). These insights are intended to provide a balanced perspective that accommodates both the site and the embodied values in order to help make and justify conservation decisions.
This paper discusses processes in preventive conservation and the kinds of reasoning that support them. The discussion will draw upon work in cognitive psychology surrounding the Wason Selection Task as a means to identify how efforts to develop logical processes in preventive conservation have faced tension, whether implicit or explicit. Discussing logical frameworks in general, the paper draws parallels with preventive conservation. As research on the selection task evolved to account for complexities and uncertainties, the tension of trying to align expertise with formal logic became greater. This has been prompted by Jonathan Ashley-Smith’s call to embrace a ‘professional uncertainty’, and the paper draws upon this and Ashley-Smith’s later work to discuss approaches to reasoning in preventive conservation.
This paper discusses processes in preventive conservation and the kinds of reasoning that support... more This paper discusses processes in preventive conservation and the kinds of reasoning that support them. The discussion will draw upon work in cognitive psychology surrounding theWason Selection Task as a means to identify how efforts to develop logical processes in preventive conservation have faced tension, whether implicit or explicit. Discussing logical frameworks in general, the paper draws parallels with preventive conservation. As research on the selection task evolved to account for complexities and uncertainties, the tension of trying to align expertise with formal logic became greater. This has been prompted by Jonathan Ashley-Smith’s call to embrace a ‘professional uncertainty’, and the paper draws upon this and Ashley-Smith’s later work to discuss approaches to reasoning in preventive conservation.
H@V First International Workshop 'Understanding Heritage Values', 2014
This paper will consider heritage values from a conservation perspective, in particular preservin... more This paper will consider heritage values from a conservation perspective, in particular preserving heritage for future generations. It notes how understanding of values has been affected by a growing understanding of heritage. Examples of heritage sites that have been valued differently over time illustrate the implications of changed values in the future. I will suggest that there is still some way to go in terms of assessing and interpreting values, and understanding heritage values hold a key to unlocking a more mature approach to sustainability in heritage.
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Papers by Joel Taylor
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13527258.2023.2179100
The article considers the use of nudge theory and behavioural science as a lens to better understand the influences and effects of heritage on society. Nudge theory applies insights from psychology to contextual factors that influence decisions and behaviours. These same insights can be used inversely, to interpret existing effects such as heritage. The paper describes parallels between nudging and heritage, focusing on ethical aspects including the dilemmas created by acknowledging these insights, transparency, and intentionality. It follows with discussion of choice architecture, the apparatus of nudging – and some of the mechanics behind the influences it can have. This draws upon experimental findings in behavioural science and applies them to various examples, with the intention of presenting new perspectives on known heritage sites, such as contentious statues. Finally, it considers the implications of using behavioural insights to further unpack the effects of heritage on society and the potential to help authorities, decision-makers, and community leaders be more aware of the impacts of heritage, which can be easily overlooked in policy and practice. It is intended that the paper is accessible to both those interested in behavioural science and in heritage studies.
OPEN ACCESS
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13527258.2023.2179100
This paper discusses processes in preventive conservation and the kinds of reasoning that support them. The discussion will draw upon work in cognitive psychology surrounding the Wason Selection Task as a means to identify how efforts to develop logical processes in preventive conservation have faced tension, whether implicit or explicit. Discussing logical frameworks in general, the paper draws parallels with preventive conservation. As research on the selection task evolved to account for complexities and uncertainties, the tension of trying to align expertise with formal logic became greater. This has been prompted by Jonathan Ashley-Smith’s call to embrace a ‘professional uncertainty’, and the paper draws upon this and Ashley-Smith’s later work to discuss approaches to reasoning in preventive conservation.
OPEN ACCESS https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19455224.2017.1416649
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13527258.2023.2179100
The article considers the use of nudge theory and behavioural science as a lens to better understand the influences and effects of heritage on society. Nudge theory applies insights from psychology to contextual factors that influence decisions and behaviours. These same insights can be used inversely, to interpret existing effects such as heritage. The paper describes parallels between nudging and heritage, focusing on ethical aspects including the dilemmas created by acknowledging these insights, transparency, and intentionality. It follows with discussion of choice architecture, the apparatus of nudging – and some of the mechanics behind the influences it can have. This draws upon experimental findings in behavioural science and applies them to various examples, with the intention of presenting new perspectives on known heritage sites, such as contentious statues. Finally, it considers the implications of using behavioural insights to further unpack the effects of heritage on society and the potential to help authorities, decision-makers, and community leaders be more aware of the impacts of heritage, which can be easily overlooked in policy and practice. It is intended that the paper is accessible to both those interested in behavioural science and in heritage studies.
OPEN ACCESS
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13527258.2023.2179100
This paper discusses processes in preventive conservation and the kinds of reasoning that support them. The discussion will draw upon work in cognitive psychology surrounding the Wason Selection Task as a means to identify how efforts to develop logical processes in preventive conservation have faced tension, whether implicit or explicit. Discussing logical frameworks in general, the paper draws parallels with preventive conservation. As research on the selection task evolved to account for complexities and uncertainties, the tension of trying to align expertise with formal logic became greater. This has been prompted by Jonathan Ashley-Smith’s call to embrace a ‘professional uncertainty’, and the paper draws upon this and Ashley-Smith’s later work to discuss approaches to reasoning in preventive conservation.
OPEN ACCESS https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19455224.2017.1416649