 home > groups > apsig > newsletter > 51 > Preserving Asia's cultural heritage |
|||
APSIG Newsletter number 51 - March 2003Preserving Asia's cultural heritageAmelia McKenzie APSIG held a well-attended lunchtime seminar on preserving Asia's cultural heritage on 20 March at the national library. Two speakers addressed very different topics - digital works and the built environment but with the same theme of how to preserve heritage. Colin Webb, director of preservation services, national library, spoke about his recent work on a high-level UNESCO project to develop a UNESCO charter and technical guidelines on digital preservation. Colins role in this task was to write the technical guidelines and to convene and lead an Asia-Pacific group of experts in drafting a charter document. Senior colleagues from the Asia-Pacific region with the desired expertise and knowledge were invited to attend a seminar in Canberra in November 2002. Participants came from research institutes, libraries and archives. Their backgrounds in these fields, together with their clear motivation and interest led to a very successful seminar at which a draft charter document was developed, and input provided to the technical guidelines created by Colin. Moving from the virtual to the physical, Anya Dettman of the national library's Indonesian Unit then gave a fascinating account of efforts to preserve Malaysias built heritage in the historic city of Georgetown on the island of Penang. Anya spoke of the alarming pace of development which was obliterating the traditional nineteenth century domestic architecture of inner city Georgetown. Anya spoke of the efforts of the Penang Heritage Trust, Malaysia to stop the wholesale demolition of sections of the well-preserved city of Georgetown, and the nomination of Georgetown for inclusion as a cultural site on UNESCO's World Heritage list. If successful, it would be one of the first sites in Asia representing living heritage, as compared to natural or monumental heritage, like the Great Barrier Reef, Indias Taj Mahal or Indonesias Borobodur all listed. The results of Georgetown's nomination will be known in June 2003.
|
|
