Dear All

Sorry it has taken me a while to follow up the email I posted some time ago
about creating an email based SMR Users Working Group this is where I have
got to:

The response to my idea was positive on SMR Forum and the following SMR
regions offered to provide representatives:

Yorkshire
West Midlands
South East
North West

However, it was suggested to me that we need a revamp of the ALGAO SMR
Committee rather than the creation of additional tier of communication.
This was discussed at the ALGAO SMR Committee meeting last month and the
following was agreed:

·    That whilst the membership of the ALGAO SMR Committee is extensive the
attendance at meetings is small (a core of up to 8 SMR Officers and County
Archaeologists) and that we should encourage a more regular country-wide
coverage of SMRs. Each SMR region should ensure they have an SMR Officer
responsible for attending ALGAO SMR Committees and acts as liaison between
Regional SMR Groups and ALGAO.  If an SMR Officer is unable to attend a
particular ALGAO Committee meeting they should be responsible for finding
someone to attend on their behalf.

·    That the ALGAO SMR Committee will take on the remit I suggested in my
proposal for the SMR Working Group; decide on topics, format and venues for
future SMR User Groups and facilitate SMR discussion on broader strategic
issues like Statutory Status for SMRs.

·    That there is a number of working groups/committees in existence but
the lines of communication between them is ad hoc and ineffective.  This
could be improved by setting down the structure and remit of each group and
organising future meetings in a cycle that allows for the circulation of
ideas and strategic decisions.

·    In theory, strategic direction should pass from the top down but
recommendations will be informed by collective opinion moving up the chain
from the bottom.  Not all recommendations will need to travel the length of
the chain, but I hope to achieve better links than currently exist.  A more
detailed article will appear in a future issue of SMR News but in the
interim the summary below should clarify things.  We also hope to include a
regular update from the ALGAO SMR Committee in each SMR News.

Groups/Committees

English Heritage/ALGAO SMR Working Group
The ALGAO, EH, RCHME Working Party was set up to produce the Joint
Co-operation Statement on SMRs published in 1998.  The Working Party went
on to oversee the Production of 'An Assessment of English SMRs' by David
Baker and the Guidance document on HLF bids for SMRs.  After a hiatus
during the merger of EH and RCHME, the Working Party has re-convened and is
currently engaged in discussing issues relating to statutory status for
SMRs.

ALGAO SMR Committee
Taken from the ALAGO website (http://www.algao.org.uk/cttees/smr/fs_smr.htm
)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| The  purpose  of  the Committee is to inform, advise and act for|
| the   Executive   Committee  and  membership  of  ALGAO  on  the|
| development  and  maintenance  of  Sites  and  Monuments Records|
| (SMRs),   the  database  and  GIS  applications  involved,  data|
| standards,  and  the  relationship  of these to database and GIS|
| standards,   development,   provision   and   use  elsewhere  in|
| archaeology and allied sciences, and in commerce.               |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|


In  addition,  the  ALGAO SMR Committee should be responsible for ratifying
the  decisions  agreed  by the SMR User Group, Portable Antiquities Working
Group  and  the  Exegesis User Group where appropriate.  Issues relating to
the SMR Software affect non-local authority record holders (National Trust,
EH)  so  these  organisations  along  with  Exegesis SDM will be invited to
attend  ALGAO  Committee  meetings  to  discuss  relevant  agenda  items as
appropriate.   The  SMR  committee  should be the channel through which the
recommendations  of the other groups can be formally communicated to EH and
Exegesis  where  necessary.   It gives such recommendations extra weight by
being the recommendations of the Association rather than informal groups.

SMR Users Group
Until recently the SMR User Group has had no formal role within the
decision-making process and the views of SMR Officers have been collected
on an individual basis (Exegesis Software, SMR Manual etc).  My feeling is
that the group should be involved more actively.  SMR User Group meetings
and SMR Forum will be used to canvass views of SMR Officers to be passed
formally to the ALGAO SMR Committee.  The responsibility for drawing
together SMRO opinions could be jointly shared by the regional SMR reps on
the ALGAO Committee.

Portable Antiquities Working Group
Sub-Group of the SMR Users Group.  Currently active and engaged in
assisting the data transfer conflicts between the PA scheme and SMRs.

Exegesis Users Group
Sub-Group of the SMR Users Group.  Had no formal remit to begin with but
has now emerged as having responsibility for informing future priorities
for development of the Exegesis SDM SMR Software.  Ideally the
recommendations on major upgrades should be agreed by this group and
ratified by the ALGAO Committee.

I hope that we can arrange future meetings of all groups so they occur over
a period (ie. Not overlapping or over two weeks) that allows people to
attend the meetings they want to and to help the development of clear lines
of communication

I hope this does not come across as an attempt to develop a bureaucratic
system.  I am trying to formalise the structure we already have, to make
sure all SMR Officers are aware of what is going on outside their local
authority and give everyone the opportunity to contribute to ALGAO led and
other discussions. It may also make communication down the line easier as
well if there is a more formal structure. If people still feel that we
should continue with the formation of this group please let me know.

All comments welcome.

Emma