Auditing the historic environment: Measurements,datasets and English heritage's state of the historic environment report 2002

This chapter sets out the current context for historic environment management, and the associated information requirements to manage organisations successfully within the sector for the benefit of the country's heritage. The initiative undertaken by English Heritage (the English government's conservation advisors) in developing a pilot State of the Historic Environment Report is used as a case study in the collation of management information for advocacy purposes. Political support for such a development is considered, as well as the history of the report's development with its roots outside the heritage sector. The challenges of project management for report delivery are discussed, particularly where information collation and analysis is reliant on third‐party data sources, often created for separate purposes. Tourism data is focused on, showing how results from the former English Tourism Council's annual surveys of visitor attractions were used to inform key messages in the heritage sector. Comments are made on specific types of data used, and a review given of the methodology for collecting dedicated heritage management organisational data.     

Why heritage counts: researching the historic environment

The role of English Heritage in commissioning new research into the historic environment is considered. The place of research within the organization and the priorities for research as highlighted in the proposed English Heritage Research Strategy are set out. Research commissioned or carried out by English Heritage covers a wide range of areas, from archaeology and buildings history to applied conservation research. However, the focus of the article is on research that addresses social, economic and policy issues. Work that has been carried out by English Heritage in three areas is explored: the economic value of heritage investment; issues of social inclusion and access to heritage; and analysis of the threats faced by the historic environment and the resources available to address these threats. A key driver for this research activity is the annual Heritage Counts report produced by English Heritage on behalf of the wider heritage sector.     

Gulliver's Travels: Michael Moore the Explorer in Who to Invade Next

America is identified as a nation of immigrants. These immigrants are thought to be the source of its subcultures. It is also a nation of individual explorers and inventors. Their activities are also a source of diverse subcultures. Many notable movies have made heroes of such innovators in different fields of endeavor. Michael Moore's movie Who to Invade Next is a documentary about his trips to other countries in search of more successful institutions of work, education, health services, and incarceration. The premise of the movie is Moore has come to invade the other countries and steal the secrets of their successes in order to reform similar American institutions. Moore finds only mild amusement rather than amazement from his “victims.” He discovers the advances he attributes to other countries were originally American innovations, adopted in other societies but abandoned in America, which has become strangely timid about progress and reform.     

Policy Impact on Cultural Industries in the Next Decade

Cultural industries in China are heavily influenced by policies. With the ever-deepening cultural restructuring, cultural industries in China are embracing fast growth and becoming the country＇s pillar industry with strategic importance.