I am probably being crassly naïve here, but if people want to document 'hands-on' practical skills with a view to 'handing them down', surely videos and recorded interviews (not a dictionary or thesaurus of keywords) are the most explicit records apart from/together with the items and equipment themselves? Purely word-based definitions could entail paragraph-length prose that still doesn't convey the essential information.  There is also a very high probability that different words will be used for the same activities/items in different parts of the country (and, conversely, that the same word might have different meanings in different locations). Rural dialects could make the compilation extraordinarily complex. But hey, it's Christmas, so I shouldn't spoil what could be an excellent challenge

Seasonal greetings etc

Sue 

Dr Sue Stallibrass

English Heritage Archaeological Science Adviser for North-West England,
Department of Archaeology (SACE),
Hartley Building, Brownlow Street,
University of Liverpool,
LIVERPOOL
L69 3GS

email: [log in to unmask]

direct phone: 0151 794 5046

departmental FAX: 0151 794 5057

-----Original Message-----
From: The Forum for Information Standards in Heritage (FISH) [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Edmund Lee
Sent: 20 December 2006 09:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [FISH] documenting traditional rural craft

Hello David,

Definitely an interesting topic. The team I work for at English Heritage 
has a particular role in identifying training needs and promoting 
traditional craft skills. From a recording point of view I suggest the 
forts thing to consider would be what it is that you are trying to record. 
Is it:
- a description of the skill itself (perhaps there is an existing 
terminology list, or does one need to be developed)?
- documenting the availability of that particular skill (e.g. 
practitioners, contact details, reference works, training manuals etc)
- particular instances / case studies of the application of that skill to 
a particular site?
etc etc

SPECTRUM, and indeed MIDAS, the documentation standard for the UK historic 
environment both have some aspects of this covered. 

Edmund Lee
Standards and Guildeines Manager (and MIDAS project manager)
English Heritage
Training and Standards Team