Preserving Communities' Heritage: A Workbook for Heritage Capturers

Abstract

This is a practical workbook to guide local communities and heritage gatherers through the process of capturing and storing their heritage for future generations.

Through initiatives with the British Academy and the Coalition for Religious Equality and Inclusive Development (CREID), the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) has been working with young people in Egypt, Iraq and Syria to capture their oral heritage, so that it may be preserved for future generations. Alongside life history interviews and topic interviews - which cover particular aspects of communities’ heritage - a key component of this heritage preservation is how these records will be stored. Thinking about the language and accessibility of digital archiving practices, this workbook is a practical guide to capturing and storing “heritage harvests”, including community interviews, photographs, and short films.