Research Methods & Ethics: Connecting UK Heritage Data

This Towards a National Collection (TaNC) webinar provides a platform for researchers from our Unpath’d Waters and The Congruence Engine Discovery Projects to discuss how specific research methods and value frameworks may lead to improved practices when combining UK heritage data.

• Arran Rees, University of Leeds: Action research, complexity, and the Congruence Engine project
• Katrina Foxton, MOLA: Research ethics in multi-partner research projects: Lessons learned from the Unpath’d Waters values framework 

Arran Rees will reflect on the Congruence Engine project’s range of approaches to connecting digital heritage collections, and the use of action research within this context. Katrina Foxton will discuss how shared value frameworks in multi-partner research projects may lead to more relevant and ethically sound practices, reflecting on lessons learned from the Unpath’d Waters (UNPATH) project.

Full abstract

Arran Rees: Action research, complexity, and the Congruence Engine project

Congruence Engine has been using action research to understand the potential of a united digital collection of industrial heritage. Working through cycles of planning, action, observation, and reflection, we have been navigating an emergent sense of what might be possible, following multiple strands of investigation, and exploring a range of approaches to connecting heritage collections.

This presentation will reflection on managing the project’s multiple parallel socio-technical investigations, as well as our steps towards experimenting with a local instantiation of a national collection as social machine in Bradford.

Katrina Foxton: Research ethics in multi-partner research projects: Lessons learned from the Unpath’d Waters values framework 

Within the context of a multi-partner research project which aims to combine UK maritime heritage data, how can grounding ourselves in a values framework lead to more relevant and ethically sound practices?

As part of the Unpath’d Waters (UNPATH) project, we sought to gain practical understanding of how a values framework could strengthen the ethical posture of this project. Reflecting on the challenges and achievements of various approaches and data gathering methods over two years, Katrina Foxton teases out the lessons learned and offers areas for further development toward this venture.