Digitisation,digital interaction and social media: embedded barriers to democratic heritage

Abstract

The democratisation of heritage through digital access is a well-documented aspiration. It has included innovative ways to manage interpretation, express heritage values, and create experiences through the ‘decoding’ of heritage. This decoding of heritage becomes democratised, more polyvocal than didactic exhibitions, and less dependent on experts. However, the decision of what ‘heritage’ is and what is commissioned for digitisation (the encoding) is not necessarily a part of this democratisation. This paper will consider how digitisation reinforces the Authorised Heritage Discourse through the lens of Stephen Lukes’ three (increasingly subtle) dimensions of power: conflict resolution, control of expression and shaping of preferences. All three dimensions have an impact on how public values are represented in heritage contexts, but the introduction of digitisation requires more resources, expertise and training within established professional discourse. Social media may have a positive impact on the first two dimensions, but can reinforce hegemony. Alternatives are subject to epistemic populism. The role of digitisation and social media in the democratisation of heritage needs to be better understood. Questions regarding the nature and process of digital interaction, in terms of whose heritage is accessible, affect the very issues of democratisation digitisation appears to promote.     

Italian Public Opinion in the Atomic Age: Mass-market Magazines Facing Nuclear Issues (1963–1967)

Through the analysis of a wide range of Italian mass-market magazines and a selection of public opinion surveys, this essay investigates widespread images and perceptions about nuclear issues in Italy during the Sixties. It considers the views of Italians about nuclear weapons within foreign policy debates, as well as the wide range of fears expressed about the atomic bomb. The article also analyses the image of anti-nuclear movements, as well as Italians’ views on disarmament and the easing of international relations after 1962. Deeply influenced by ideological divides and filtered through the mechanisms of mass culture – which tended to trivialise the bomb – these widespread representations of nuclear issues offer a unique perspective on Italians’ beliefs, fears, and hopes during a time of deep socio-economic change and shifting political equilibriums in the country.     

Is vitrification in charcoal a result of high temperature burning of wood?

The term ‘vitrified’ is used to describe the glassy appearance of some charcoals recovered in the archaeological record. It has been generally considered that this phenomenon is a result of wood being subjected to high temperatures similar to the role of temperature in the formation of glass and pottery. Charcoals displaying characteristics of vitrification from three distinct archaeological contexts were analysed using reflectance microscopy to determine their temperature of formation. Charcoal was also generated in laboratory charring experiments at temperatures of 900–1100 °C for durations of 1, 6, 12 and 24 h to determine if subjection to high temperature led to vitrification. None of the laboratory-produced charcoals displayed characteristics of vitrification. Mean random reflectance of the vitrified archaeological fragments indicated temperature of formation from 310 to 530 °C. A charring experiment was also conducted, at 500 °C for 6 h, using green wood with some bark attached, and added sugars, but no evidence of vitrification was seen. Therefore vitrified charcoals do not result from high temperature charring or primarily from the use of green wood.     

Virtual skeletons: using a structured light scanner to create a 3D faunal comparative collection

Appropriate comparative animal skeletons are not always available to faunal analysts for use in identifying archaeofaunal remains. This is especially pertinent when working in locations where no comparative collections are available locally, and the archaeological assemblage cannot be transported to another facility. In order to fill this gap, we are building a virtual comparative faunal collection using a structured light scanner to scan modern skeletal material in 3D. The resulting high resolution 3D color models are a valuable resource for identifying fossil specimens. Scan data can be converted into a variety of formats for viewing and can be transported on a portable digital device for use at field or laboratory localities. In addition, scans can be printed three dimensionally to produce a replica of the scanned skeletal part. A particular advantage of this digital technology is that we can eventually create a complete 3D representation of a taxon's skeleton from scans of several components of what are incomplete skeletons of one animal taxon in a museum collection. The results of our project thus far are available to other researchers and educators by means of the internet. A variety of interested parties could benefit from such a collection, including zooarchaeologists, paleontologists, biologists, teachers and museum curators.     

A SANCTUARY IN POST-CONFLICT SPACE: THE BAPTIST CHURCH AS A 'MIDDLE OPTION' IN BANOVINA, CROATIA

One of the observable aspects of social change during the transition period in most post-socialist countries is the revival of religion. The resurgence of churches has accompanied national revival and in some countries it is also connected to a growing post-socialist nationalism. This article focuses on the development of different –'transnational'– religious options in an area of ethnic conflict by presenting a case study of the post-war growth of the Baptist Church in the Banovina region in Croatia, close to the Bosnian border. Research results are based on halfstructured interviews with church representatives and members.
The research shows that there has been a considerable post-war expansion of the Baptist Church in the Banovina region, and that it is mainly ethnic Serbs and people from mixed marriages who have joined the Church. Many of them have a background as communists. For them, neither the Catholic Church, which is regarded as a Croatian church, nor the Serbian Orthodox Church are viable religious options. Instead, there are three factors that make the 'Baptist option' attractive. First, it is grounded in the historical tradition of the Baptist Church in this region and on memories and myths activated in the war and post-war periods. Second, the Baptist Church has made a middle transnational option available in an ethnically mixed area. As such it attracts those who are searching for a niche of neutrality in an ethnically strongly divided region characterized by conflict. Third, the considerable humanitarian work and help of organizations related to the Baptist Church during and after the war not only added in the eyes of many people in need to its image elements of existential shelter, but also brought the Church out of the shadows and made it more 'visible'– thereby improving its former reputation as an obscure sect.