HERM 671, Documentation and Condition Assessment
Interested in both heritage and technology?
Athabasca University is offering a learning opportunity that will train students in the use of sophisticated equipment and approaches to record, assess, and protect heritage assets. Understanding the design, materials, use, and structure of the objects in our historic sites and museums is at the core of almost all other work in heritage.
HERM 671, Documentation and Condition Assessment provides students broad training in documentation practice, from the foundational concepts to emerging tools and technologies.
In this course, students are given the opportunity to explore new ways of observing and thinking about the built environment through practical application of documentation methods and fieldwork exercises. All of the assignments are based on fieldwork.
Recording the physical characteristics of historic structures and landscapes is a cornerstone of monitoring, preventive maintenance, and conservation. The information produced by such documentation guides decision making by property owners, site managers, public officials, and conservators. Rigorous documentation may also serve a broader purpose: over time, it becomes the primary means by which scholars and the public can apprehend a site that has changed radically or disappeared.
The growth of the field of conservation has brought with it vast quantities of heritage information collected using a variety of techniques, from long-established practices such as photography and hand sketching, to emerging technologies including building information modelling (BIM) and digital fabrication.
Thorough documentation plays a vital role in defining a heritage place’s significance, integrity, extent, and threats, and is crucial to understanding, protection, and management. It is essential that heritage professionals understand the various recording techniques that are available to them, as well as their applications.
Full details can be found in the course syllabus here.
