B.6 Data standards for the Historic Environment
B.6 Data standards for the Historic Environment#
B.6.1 What are data standards?#
Data standards can be simply defined as an agreed statement of "what information should be recorded, in what manner, to achieve a particular objective". The objectives for historic environment managers are set out elsewhere in this manual. This section describes;- the value that shared data standards add to historic environment recording,
- data standards that are in current use,
- how HER officers can get involved in shaping the future direction of data standards to ensure that they meet the needs of the profession.
B.6.2 Why are data standards needed?#
Collection and recording of historic environment information is an expensive, and in some cases unrepeatable, process. It is essential that the information contained within HERs can be readily retrieved and understood by anyone and increasingly important that data from different HERs can be compared. Data standards ensure that information is recorded in a consistent and retrievable way so that the maximum benefit for the users of data is obtained from the investment.The benefits offered include:
- Reliability: As standard procedures are tried and tested, if they are sensibly applied they will work well.
- Consistency: Data standards promote consistency in recording of information, which ensures that records can be retrieved easily, so that all known relevant information is available when needed.
- Expertise: Historic environment data standards incorporate the accumulated expertise and experience of several decades. Their adoption builds this experience into an information system, reducing the risk associated with developing a system from scratch.
- Compatibility: No one organisation holds all the data relating to a particular site or area. There are usually other organisations with an interest who may have useful data. When recorded to common standards, data held in different databases can be shared and exchanged much more easily. This is increasingly important as new ways of accessing data remotely are developed.
- Communication: Data standards assist in communication of concepts involved in the historic environment both between HER staff and between HER staff and their software consultants and organisations within and beyond the sector.
- Benchmarking: Data standards perform a crucial role in providing an independent benchmark against which HER data quality can be assessed.
- Staff skills: Adoption of common data standards enable staff to become familiar with systems more quickly when changing jobs and enable employers to recruit staff with relevant skills. They also facilitate organisation of training through events such as conferences and seminars.
- Information system development: No information system lasts indefinitely. At some point data needs to be migrated from one system to its successor. Standards simplify the process of specification of new information systems and migration is greatly simplified if standards are consistent within the data.
B.6.3 MIDAS and INSCRIPTION#
This section describes the purpose of the two central standards for historic environment recording. Further information about these standards is available online via the website of FISH (the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage) http://www.fish-forum.info
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MIDAS#
Developed from data standardisation work in the 1980s and early 1990s MIDAS was first published in 1998 by the Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England (RCHME). MIDAS is available as a free downloadable electronic document via links from the FISH website, or direct from the English Heritage website.Development work in 2004 has extended MIDAS to cover GIS type data and watercraft and aircraft recording. A second full edition MIDAS Heritage: The UK Historic Environment Information Standard is in production. This second edition will cover a wider range of information types, supporting standardised recording of these by the HER community. Further development work will be reported online via the FISH website.
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What is in MIDAS?
MIDAS is a content standard in that it defines the individual facts or ‘units of information’ that should be included in a standardised record of, for example, a monument or archaeological event. It is also an open data standard, in that although information schemes are described the exact structure in which data is to be recorded is not defined, so that MIDAS can be applied to a range of information systems. To promote consistency and standardisation within the HER sector, MIDAS has been used as the basis for development of HER Level 1 Benchmark 3.2. Compliance at a basic level with MIDAS is therefore a professional requirement for all HERs. HER staff should, however, familiarise themselves with the full MIDAS standard, which includes a much wider range of information.
Who should use MIDAS?
MIDAS is intended for a wider audience than just the HER community and is recommended reading for anyone involved in inventory projects. Worked examples in the manual cover, for example, its application to academic research databases and voluntary sector thematic surveys. The same requirement for standards exists for these other sectors if the maximum value is to be obtained from their efforts. This is of course particularly important if the intention exists to deposit the results of these surveys with the local HERs.
In addition to the data standard itself, MIDAS includes a manual to assist those managing and maintaining an inventory of the historic environment. HER staff should not only be familiar with MIDAS themselves but should also recommend its use to local societies working in their area.
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INSCRIPTION#
Effective searching of HERs relies on the quality of indexing. Good indexing ensures effective retrieval of records relevant to a search; poor indexing means that records will be overlooked.Most HER information systems support indexing using standardised terminologies built into the actual software. These include simple lists, such as types of legal protection for a monument, more complex hierarchical lists such as the ALGAO list of Event Types or full indexing thesauri such as the English Heritage Thesaurus of Monument Types (see panels 4 and 5).
INSCRIPTION, provided by the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage is the definitive source for information about all the available national standards. It is a collection of wordlists and thesauri developed by various heritage bodies that are recommended for use in conjunction with MIDAS units of information.
MIDAS and INSCRIPTION have been developed to work together. For each case where MIDAS recommends the use of a controlled terminology, a suitable indexing terminology has been developed by one or more of the partners in the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage, and details included in INSCRIPTION.
Find out more about INSCRIPTION, and how the controlled terminologies recorded there can be used by visiting http://www.fish-forum.info/.
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B.6.4 The FISH Interoperability Toolkit#
Interoperability is the ability to reuse data created in one software application in another. It is essential if efficient sharing of data between HERs and their users is to become a reality. Interoperability relies on data standards that are understood and shared within the HER community such as MIDAS and INSCRIPTION, plus technical standards to support the creation of data files that different software packages will be able to process.To provide HER managers and their IT advisors with the technical tools needed to make interoperability possible the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage have developed a ‘toolkit’ of protocols and formats aimed at HERs and their technical advisors. It is based upon MIDAS and incorporates the HER benchmark Level 1 standard. Online validation of data against INSCRIPTION controlled terminologies is supported.
Whereas MIDAS and INSCRIPTION are aimed at HER staff, the Toolkit is aimed at IT specialists and software developers. HER staff should familiarise themselves with the functions that the Toolkit supports, but are advised to contact their IT support staff for discussion of how the Toolkit might be implemented in their systems.
Further information on the FISH Interoperability Toolkit can be accessed online at www.heritage-standards.org.