Department of Archaeology
Liz Vazquez
Research project
Research project title: Decision-Making in Historic Buildings Recording and Survey
Supervisor/s: Dr. Kate Giles, Dr. Dav Smith
Digital technologies such as Structure from Motion photogrammetry and laser scanning offer new opportunities and challenges for the recording of historic buildings. Current UK guidance standardises recording and data management methodologies but the complexities of the decision-making process for recording and its effect the final record remain unexplored. Understanding the existing practices, assumptions, and realities at play when recording a historic building, particularly when employing new digital techniques, is critical to ensuring that records produced now are fit for purpose and future-proofed.
This PhD research project will analyse the decision-making process in the recording of historic buildings with a particular focus on the role played by digital technologies. Through a retrospective examination of case studies and a combination of questionnaires and interviews with current historic buildings professionals, this project will look at the ways in which decision-making processes and protocols impact how these records are produced, presented, stored, accessed, and utilised. The data gathered will be used to identify gaps within current guidance and practice and will contribute to the development of a new informed decision-making framework for recording historic buildings.
