Using Citizen Heritage Science to Monitor Remote Sites Before and During the First COVID-19 Lockdown: A Comparison of Two Methods

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes citizen heritage science as an effective method to gather reliable data for monitoring and documenting heritage sites. For large heritage organisations the monitoring and documentation of sites in their care presents considerable challenges; continual monitoring of smaller, unstaffed, and more remote sites is often not practical. However, heritage sites are often popular destinations that receive high levels of visitors who carry increasingly sophisticated mobile phones. It seems logical that heritage organisations capitalise on using visitors’ images to record and monitor remote heritage sites. We compare two methods for data collection: a ‘guided’ approach, in which on-site signage prompts visitor submissions; and an ‘open’ approach, in which the public is asked to send any photographs they have of the site in question. We analyse the different results in collected data from these two approaches and hope to encourage heritage institutions to set up similar projects.

KEYWORDS:

• Remote monitoring
• conservation
• surveying
• participatory methods
• crowdsourcing
• historic environments

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the ongoing support of the staff at Historic Environment Scotland, particularly in the communications, conservation, and management teams. Special thanks to Hugh Boag, Ryan Taylor, and George Mair for their work in publicising ‘Monument Monitor at Home’. The authors wish to thank all participants in the Monument Monitor project, without whom this work would not be possible.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability

The raw data consisting of images submitted by visitors is not available due to licence restrictions. The dataset derived from the analysis of the submitted images is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported jointly supported by Historic Environment Scotland and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under grant EP/L016036/1.

Notes on contributors

Rosie Brigham

Rosie Brigham completed her PhD in Heritage Science, focusing on Citizen Science and Software Engineering at UCL last year and now works as a software engineer for a fintech startup.

Scott Allan Orr

Scott Allan Orr is a lecturer in Heritage Data Science at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage. An engineer with broad interests, his research primarily uses data-driven approaches to further understanding and management of heritage, with a particular focus on the historic environment and climate change.

Lyn Wilson

Lyn Wilson is a heritage scientist and Head of Programme for Research and Climate Change at Historic Environment Scotland. Her research interests focus on the application of science and digital technologies in cultural heritage contexts.

Adam Frost

Adam Frost is a Senior Digital Documentation Officer at Historic Environment Scotland and part-time PhD candidate with the UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage, researching wind-driven rain using computational fluid dynamics. Other research interests include applications and visualisation of 3D data for cultural heritage.

Matija Strlič

Matija Strlič is Professor of Heritage Science at the Institute for Heritage Science, University College London, with a keen interest in the interactions between heritage, its environments, and people.

Josep Grau-Bové

Josep Grau-Bové is an Associate Professor of Heritage Science, with research interests in citizen science, preventive conservation and environmental simulation.