Knowledge Management Practices and Cultural Heritage Conservation in Modern Societies

Abstract

In modern-day societies cultural heritage conservation has moved beyond a technical and custodial activity towards one that relies on knowledge, and involves systematic identification, documentation, preservation and dissemination of tacit and explicit knowledge. This article reviews the cross-overs between knowledge management (KM) and the cultural heritage (CH) conservation, and analyses the application of the well-known KM frameworks, such as the tacit/explicit distinction, the SECI model for knowledge conversion on the safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Inspired by recent studies in bibliometric and information-systems literature and heritage management literature, the review will illustrate the exigencies of knowledge and information that make the use of structured knowledge-sharing architectures essential to good conservation practice today, and the need for connections between heritage professionals, holders of indigenous knowledge, digital archives, and the communities that produce them. Specific practices in knowledge management in the sector are reviewed, such as knowledge management systems for heritage projects, information and documentation in digital form and application of semantic knowledge architectures, bibliometric and scholarly knowledge tools, and the capacity to integrate indigenous and CSI with formal conservation and science knowledge systems. It also explores the complexities of sharing knowledge with heterogeneous stakeholders and their epistemological viewpoints; the potential marginalisation of indigenous knowledge in favour of institutionalized knowledge; and the geographical unevenness in the production of heritage knowledge. The article suggests that a pluralistic approach to knowledge management recognizes both indigenous and community-level knowledge as well as scientific and digital knowledge and conservation practice in a formal manner, allowing neither of these types of knowledge to be subordinate to the others, but a pathway for future research on the governance of knowledge in a pluralistic way in heritage management.