Heritage Interpretation and Attribute Identification

Heritage Interpretation and Attribute Identification

Since the adoption of the World Heritage Convention in 1972, the need to recognize the diverse values of heritage and the changes in those values has been increasing. Accordingly, there is a growing trend to understand the different perspectives of various people regarding which aspects of heritage they recognize its value in, and to convey these values in a balanced way. It is specified that, starting from the preliminary evaluation stage introduced in 2028, authenticity and integrity must be supported as attributes that convey and express the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the heritage.
In this context, we examined the concepts of attributes and values within the World Heritage system and extracted the attributes of Korea’s 15 World Heritage sites. We aimed to understand how the extraction of attributes influences heritage interpretation, where the public forms meaning about heritage. Based on this, we ultimately seek to present guidelines for the method of attribute extraction for heritage interpretation.

Contributiors

2023

2024

Gamini Wijesuriya | Former Staff member of ICCORM
Sarah Court | Independent heritage specialist
Peter Shadie | Senior Advisor of World Heritage Programme, IUCN
Jon Day | Senior Research Fellow of James Cook University
Jessica Brown | CEO of New England Biolab Foundation
NG Boon Nee | Department Manager of Cultural Heritage Research and Development of GTWHI
Neel Kamal Chapagain | Professor of Cultural Heritage Management Centre, Ahmedabad University

Research Progress

Year	Research progress	Publication
2022	Basic Study on the Attributes of the World Heritage Sites of Korea(2022) Study on the basic concept of attribute and its relation to integrity, authenticity and OUV Identification of the attributes of the World Heritage sites in Korea through SOUV analysis	(KOR)
2023	Study on the Concept of Attributes in the World Heritage Context(2023) Study on the concept and potential roles of attributes in the World Heritage context through the analysis of Resource Manuals Drawing up the direction for developing attribute identification methodology for heritage interpretation
2024	Basic study on developing a methodology of attribute identification Study on the relations between interpretation, meaning-making and attribute identification Drafting a attribute identification procedure for heritage interpretation and value/attribute listing table

Year

Research progress

Publication

2022

Basic Study on the Attributes of the World Heritage Sites of Korea(2022)

Study on the basic concept of attribute and its relation to integrity, authenticity and OUV
Identification of the attributes of the World Heritage sites in Korea through SOUV analysis

(KOR)

2023

Study on the Concept of Attributes in the World Heritage Context(2023)

Study on the concept and potential roles of attributes in the World Heritage context through the analysis of Resource Manuals
Drawing up the direction for developing attribute identification methodology for heritage interpretation

2024

Basic study on developing a methodology of attribute identification

Study on the relations between interpretation, meaning-making and attribute identification
Drafting a attribute identification procedure for heritage interpretation and value/attribute listing table