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There is a complex branch of economic life: tourism. It includes and makes use of many branches of economic and cultural life as well as it contributes to international relations. Therefore, it is very difficult to define its place in the structure of the management of a country: it is sometimes attached to foreign or inner affairs, to the highest political leading section or subordinated to economic or cultural ministries. We have tried to set up a connection between touristic market development through IT tools to heritage management that partly belongs to conservation processes and partly to pure economy. In the course of our research we could identify an area to be examined that concentrates all the problems and questions raised in this subject - rural heritage houses. Their exploration exists all over the world. Either by the presentation of individual houses or by the presentation of the customs, architecture and way of living of a community, i.e. by the so-called “skanzens”. The first open air folklore museum of the world, the Skansen in Stockholm was opened in 1891. Numerous countries followed this example in the middle of the 20th century. We have visited some of these houses from the Baltic states to India and found that there is a vast interest in these buildings, tools and ancient vocations. The original houses are very special points of interest, scattered all around in each country. In Hungary there are approximately 300 rural heritage houses representing folk heritage. If a country, farm or village house is operating as a museum where the tools of past industries are collected and presented, or where the rooms are furnished according to their old function for tourists to visit them, it can apply for an official qualification of "Rural Heritage House". Sometimes the tools are shown in their past functions displaying the origins of the industry or agriculture of former periods. Additionally, each nation has its own folklore including textual, poetic, musical and dancing traditions. The value of these houses can be best introduced by information and knowledge management techniques and many areas can make profit out of these achievements, even if the target of the examination is "nothing else" but buildings representing the past of their inhabitants. The objective of our "Rural Heritage" program has been to draw the attention of visitors arriving from any country, from any social layer to make acquaintance with the rural life in its original surroundings. For people arriving from various backgrounds, to get to know how other types of people live can be a useful experience. Moreover, this type of touristic visit can be profitable for both sides: it produces financial and cultural benefits for the participants as well as for the servicing areas like hotels, restaurants, roads, shops etc. Cultural heritage, either tangible or intangible, must be considered as integral part of the economic life. It means that the investments in this cultural sector are elemental parts of the value chains that absolutely require an information system as their background. Consequently, the settlements possessing cultural values have a definite role in the appropriate establishment of the value chains. By increasing the local awareness in heritage elements, we assist the inhabitants to establish their identity and economic life, we help them understand why it is important to preserve and transmit heritage to future generations and also how it can be profitable for the present community. Heritage is our common treasure but without adequate information provision and management, it cannot draw attention on its importance and cannot be shared. The indispensable organisation, technical elaboration and implementation need a special level of knowledge, tools and practice. One complete digital presentation pilot has already been prepared out of the network of nearly 300 buildings registered on the Tentative List of Hungarian World Heritage sites. It includes all information about the access, environment, history, inner and outer structure of the houses as well as the description and presentation of the objects within the houses, also covering the intangible heritage relationship (environment, folk art, music etc). The information package received can be made available and used by the local authorities and site managers as well as for touristic purposes. Moreover, any special, local request of features can be added to satisfy their needs and assist their work. Data are recorded corresponding to the national conservational, museological and ethnological rules and standards.
The houses in Hungary can be qualified as rural farmhouses and thus appear on the official list. Unfortunately, many of them do not comply with the conditions, as the requirements are too expensive to be implemented by a small settlement.
The current situation is that there are about three times more farmhouses, local collections and no doubt intangible heritage to be protected than those listed. Our research team has visited most of them and tried to record the existing houses that could be potential receivers of visitors. The Hungarian Open Air Folklore Museum has granted a funding for some selected houses to digitise their collections. It is very important because these houses lack financial resources to protect their heritage in an appropriate way. They generally have a local caretaker who is fervently committed and possesses many objects, pictures, written documents or recipes of traditional dishes. Caretakers are generally members of a local dance or music group or just the organisers of local events, and are grateful if someone shows interest in their customs. In the course of the processing, various sorts of data collection, registration, archiving and retrieval methods have been applied. Any heritage site management project attempts to: - Detect and document unauthorised changes; - Partially automate these processes; - Adapt business Facility Management (FM) methodologies to heritage site management; - Integrate FM IT technology into the preservation process; - Develop a decision support system model. Figure 1. Csesztreg (South West Hungary). Figure 2. Táp (Western Hungary). Figure 3. Ceramic bottle to keep the liquid cool (Hidas). Figure 4. Bottle opener from the last century (Hidas). Figure 5. Vase from the last century (Hidas). The most recent rapid development of network analyses prove that description, investigation and thus management of heritage objects can be carried out very efficiently by exploring all of their attributes and connections. The relations can be set up based on the collection of all sorts of qualities and functions of the objects. Thus, the network can provide us with a good tool for the analyses of the relations and the grouping of the objects or object attributes. The establishment of a complete heritage network will enable us to understand and eventually re-engineer the nature of heritage preservation irrespectively from the fact whether it is a built heritage, a natural creation, an artefact or any living being. As in Hungary the professional training is at a high level, the number of experts to be employed is sufficient, the crucial problem for heritage protection being the lack of resources of owners (cultural organizations, private persons, local governments). The solution applied in most cases for the establishment of maintenance, renovation, development, even archiving is to submit various applications to EU and other funding organizations.
The database created by our work can establish a good base for these claims. It can be used not only for the writers of the bid but it can give a full picture to the evaluators to enable them to a sound judgement. In the course of the evaluation process, it becomes clear what is mostly needed and where, for the correct operation of the heritage site and in the same time, it reveals clearly how the investment can be turned profitable and what are the means to obtain the most out of it.
The access to the database enables managers, authorities and owners to set up statistics concerning the collection. Other visitor statistical figures can also be applied for decisions concerning infrastructural investments. For instance, it is proved that when selecting a hotel via internet, the amount and quality of information about the surrounding points of interest can have a very powerful impact on the choice of the tourist. In the long run (after three years), the data processing is able to produce internal relations and also enables researchers and experts to draw relevant conclusions regarding protection and utilization. For this work stage another branch of informatics can be involved: data mining. This method is necessary because the increase of the amount of records impedes the access and retrieval of data and these collections are hard if not impossible to be handled by traditional tools. The special methodologies and processes established aim at a sort of "informational treasure hunting". The hidden point, correlations or regularities of the databases can be disclosed by this method. Data mining can contribute to the application of the collected and systematically arranged data into three directions. Firstly, it helps touristic experts to find out the establishment of targeted developments by exposing precise and detailed data of collections. Secondly, it assists caretakers to be prepared for the expected types and periods of visits by the identification of exact visitor requirements. Thirdly, the decision makers, professional bodies and authorities possess a full set of data, nevertheless they can make a selection of the relevant ones for their own purposes. In consequence of these achievements both the invested work and publicity fees can be decreased producing thus more revenue for preservation of values, maintenance, research and renewal. Therefore, the awareness and interest in the site can grow, effecting an increase in the number of visitors and generating more income that can be invested in further development. The purpose of our research is to document the methods of this data recording process, to enable all the users for applying the database with ease. Besides, it can also be qualified as a conservation job by providing assistance for the scientific records and access for market values. In the course of our work, it has become clear by now what we would like to disseminate to everybody interested in preservation. The continuity of history must be safeguarded. We can not allow civilisations or their constructions, physical or spiritual testimonies to disappear anymore because it can also have a strong influence on the economic and financial position of a given area. People educated and living among such circumstances should be aware of their shared legacy of the common heritage. In order to enable them to keep and convey it, their identity has to be defined and preserved deliberately by setting up systematic and comprehensive educational projects. Their contribution to community building and knowledge transfer can and has to be successfully implemented. Heritage is a value and in the 21st century its objective is not only the protection of the environment and human creations but the validation of these universal values. The world heritage principles can orient future generations to enable them to separate good from bad, right from wrong, true from false, genuine from fake. Our intention has been to present a description of the network of the Hungarian rural farm houses, of a network system of cultural heritage as well as the establishment of a special information management system of their data complying with the Operational Guidelines of UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention. In addition to the implementation, the following supplementary results are expected to be obtained and used in the future: - The authenticity of the registration list to increase; - The improvement of the preservation level; - The promotion of site popularity; - The establishment of direct connection with touristically important sites; - The development of the capabilities of reception of sites; - Mobilisation of the attention of inhabitants (especially that of the youth) for the importance of traditions; - Promotion of interest for folkloric arts.
Figure 6. Hidas (Central Hungary). Figure 7. The inside of a farmhouse (Western Hungary). Figure 8. The “clean room”(living room) of a farm house (Eastern Hungary). Figure 9. Sledge from the early 20th century.
On the one hand, attention must be drawn on the fact that although heritage conservation processes are cost consuming, their result can be turned back into new economic investments that, at the end of the development, produce profit. On the other hand, this research for recording and processing tangible and intangible data not only for heritage preservation purposes but also for the benefit of economy, culture and education, can set an example for other organisations or countries to treat heritage as part of the overall life of a nation. For closing, see here below a collection of selected bibliography concerning the relation between heritage, documentation and information management. It also shows that these relations are not invented today, nevertheless the closer connection of these branches of science are still not widely used. The reason for it can be many folded. On the one hand – and this might be the main reason, especially in Central Europe – there is a huge, unfortunately increasing lack of financial resources. On the other hand, this might be the slowly decreasing side – the separation of professions, meaning that everyone is an expert only in one subject and does not regard his own area through the eyes of another related field, in spite of the fact that the border territories provide the most exciting spheres for research work. Architectural Heritage: Inventory and Documentation Methods in Europe, Proceedings of a European colloquy organized by the Council of Europe and the French Ministry for Education and Culture Direction du Patrimoine, Nantes, October 28-31, 1992, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 1993 P. Askerud and E. Clément, Preventing the Illicit Traffic in Cultural Property: A Resource Handbook for the Implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention, UNESCO, Paris, 1997 J. Bold, “Patrimoine Architectural: Cooperation de Centres de Documentation”, in Villes, Architectures, Metiers: Banques de Données des Savoir-Faire, Atelier du Patrimoine, Marseille, 1990,4-7 J. Bold, “Technical Assistance for a Computerised Heritage Documentation Centre in Malta”, Architectural Heritage No.23, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 1992 R.G. Chenhall and P. Homulos, “Museum Data Standards”, Museum, Vol. 314, 1978, 205-212 Convention for the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage of Europe (revised), Valletta, 16.I.1992, Council of Europe Treaties ETS No. 143 Core Data Index to Historic Buildings and Monuments of the Architectural Heritage, Recommendation R (95) 3 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states on co-ordinating documentation methods and systems related to historic buildings and monuments of the architectural heritage, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 1995 Council of Europe, Cultural Heritage Division, CC-PAT (93) 131, 2. (Report on Prague meeting on threats to the movable heritage in central and eastern Europe) Getty Art History Information Program and International Council of Museums International Documentation Committee, Developments in International Museum and Cultural Heritage Information Standards, Getty Art History Information Program, Santa Monica, 1993 A. Grant, Spectrum: The U.K. Museum Documentation Standard, Museum Documentation Association, Cambridge, 1994 Handbook of Standards, Documenting African Collections, International Council of Museums, Paris, 1996 R. Harrison (ed.), Manual of Heritage Management, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994 S. Holm, Facts and Artifacts: How to Document a Museum Collection, Museum Documentation Association, Cambridge, 1991 Humanities Data Dictionary of the Canadian Heritage Information Network, Canadian Heritage Information Network, Ottawa, 1993 International Guidelines for Museum Object Information: The CIDOC Information Categories, International Council of Museums, Paris, 1995 N. Lang and S.D. Stead, “Sites and Monuments Records in England - Theory and Practice“, Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, BAR International Series, 1992, 69-76 C.U. Larsen (ed.), Sites and Monuments. National Archaeological Records, The National Museum of Denmark (DKC), Copenhagen, 1992 Minimum Categories for Museum Objects: Proposed Guidelines for an International Standard, International Council ofMuseums, Paris, 1994 Protecting Cultural Objects in the Global Information Society (video), Getty Information Institute, Santa Monica, 1996 D.A. Roberts (ed.), European Museum Documentation Strategies and Standards, The Museum Documentation Association, Cambridge, 1993 S. Ross, J. Moffet and J. Henderson (eds.), Computing for Archaeologists, Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, Monograph 18, 1991 Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and English Heritage, Thesaurus of Monument Types: A Standard for Use in Archaeological and Architectural Records, RCHME, Swindon, 1995 Specification for Representation of Dates and Times in Information Interchange, (ISO 8601: 198S/ ES EN 28601: 1992), International Organisation for Standardisation, Geneva, 1988 R. Thornes, Protecting Cultural Objects through International Documentation Standards: A Preliminary Survey, Getty Art History Information Program, Santa Monica, 1995 R. Thornes, Protecting Cultural Objects in the Global Information Society: The Making of Object ID, Getty Information Institute, Santa Monica, 1997
About the author
Lia Bassa Contact: bassa.lia@infota.org Dr. Lia Bassa is a researcher at Infota Research Institute. She is an Expert in Heritage Preservation and Touristic Relations and the Managing Director of the Foundation for Information Society. She holds a MA in English and French literature and linguistics as well as a Ph.D in English literature. She is the author and co-author of numerous articles and lectures on World Heritage management and heritage preservation and conservation. FOUNDATION FOR INFORMATION SOCIETY Contact Address: Táborhegyi út 18/d. 1037 Budapest Mail: 1507 Budapest, PO Box 213 Phone: (36-1-) 279 1510 Fax: (36-1-) 279-1511 E-mail: info@infota.org Website: http://www.infota.org
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