Page 317 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

Rule 36 requires that a final project synthesis shall be made public and deposited in public records. In order to fulfil this:
1) Understand that the project’s public synthesis is generally a different product than the project’s final report.
2) Consider alternative methods for public synthesis, such as websites, posters, site guides, brochures, and lavishly illustrated publications.
3) Provide periodic updates for the public if the project is long-term; do not wait until the very end to explain the project.
4) Recognize some information may be too sensitive to immediately share with the public.
5) Deposit the synthesis product in archives and other locations that are easily accessible by the public. Consider including public-oriented material on the Web.
Some underwater cultural heritage sites may also be appropriate for inclusion as part of a larger maritime heritage trail that can feature maritime sites above and below water. These trails boost tourism, enhance the local economy, educate citizens and visitors, promote appreciation for history and culture, and serve as effective management tools.
Complexity of the project
Archaeological projects, especially full-scale exca- vation of sites, are most often a multi-year, or even multi-decade, undertaking. The amount of material recovered that requires conservation, analysis, and interpretation adds to the time between initial discovery and investigation and the production of the final report and public synthesis. This is an accepted and understood fact of the discipline, although the public will be eager to hear of on-going research and discoveries. Consider the preparation of interim or periodic updates for the public, such as press releases or articles detailing the extent of work so far. Websites are an extremely effective and relatively simple way to enable the public to keep abreast of project progress; many project websites include web logs (“blogs”) of daily activities. By keeping the public
© Swedish Maritime Museum. The Vasa Museum, Stockholm, Sweden.
The Vasa Museum has a reputa- tion of having a professional visitor service of a kind that you rarely find in museums.To welcome
as many persons as possible in the building on any given day, despite climate restrictions, an efficient system of queuing and guiding practices has evolved.The entrance system is designed to let people in as directly as possible. Opening hours are generous and groups are let in before or after closing. Guided tours in several languages are constantly being held by groups of students from
a multicultural background.Texts and films are also written and spoken in different languages. Museum staff employs various schemes to steer clusters of visi- tors away from the most crowded points in the museum.The visitors, most of them in the Vasa for the first time, will find guides in dis- tinct clothing around the museum. There is a visitor services desk near the entrance which acts both as an information point on the Vasa and as a booking central for taxis and the like.
316 informed about current developments, the project
Dissemination