Talking About Heritage

From 22 September to 15 December 2020, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) sought views on new draft guidance ‘Talking About Heritage’.

Background

This document is part of an ongoing review of historic environment policy guidance, following on from the What's Your Heritage? campaign and the launch of the Historic Environment Policy for Scotland (HEPS) in May 2019.

What's Your Heritage? asked people from all over the country how Scotland’s places, buildings and monuments should be recognised and celebrated. Feedback from over 2,000 responses to the campaign told us that people wanted to achieve recognition for the heritage that matters to them.

Talking About Heritage is part of the HES response to this.

What is the guidance about?

Talking About Heritage is intended to be used as a tool by anyone with an interest in exploring and talking about heritage. The guidance aims to equip people to have new – sometimes difficult – conversations about our places, people and traditions.

We wanted to find out if the Talking About Heritage guidance would help you to investigate, to share and celebrate, and to achieve recognition for the heritage that matters to you.

We had 34 replies to the survey as well as written feedback which we received from a range of interested individuals, organisations, public bodies, charities and local authorities.

The draft Talking About Heritage guidance was generally well received. It was felt to be a useful and comprehensive resource. Comments included suggestions about what additional content could be included, improved signposting, accessibility - particularly around language and aims - and the need for the final product to be easy to navigate and use.

We were told that we should:

• ensure simple and clear language throughout
• be clearer about the purpose of the guidance
• be clearer who the guidance is for and manage expectations of what it will help to achieve
• publish the guidance as an interactive web-based resource
• make sure the guidance is accessible for deaf users
• keep the content and the links up to date

After considering the all of the comments and suggestions received, we have updated the guidance with:

• clear and simple language
• clearer information about who the guidance is for and how it might be used
• increased signposting and more information about other relevant organisations and resources

Based on your feedback, we have also:

• explored how best to publish Talking About Heritage as an online and interactive resource
• looked at how we can produce the guidance with British Sign Language (BSL) content
• agreed a regular review period to keep the guidance up to date

Next steps:

We are currently working on updating the draft guidance and incorporating your feedback. The final guidance, an online resource, is planned for publication this summer.