Provisional Semantics: Addressing the challenges of representing multiple perspectives within an evolving digitised national collection

Provisional semantics addresses a fundamental challenge facing the Towards a National Collection programme: how to develop ethical, equitable and transparent readings to support a more diverse public to engage with the digitised national collection. Currently, many subject index terms, catalogue entries and associated captions of artworks, visual media and artefacts have been informed by colonial contexts, attitudes and modes of perception. These can therefore be outdated and/or offensive to present day audiences, not least people of African and Asian descent in the UK, whose diasporic histories are intertwined with Britain's colonial and imperial past. Outdated and offensive language and interpretation deters engagement by the very audiences that collections seek to attract. Many in the heritage sector recognise the need to interrogate and redress problematic language and representations and there is a drive to decolonise - that is to explore and undo fundamental relationships of power and inequity, and to diversify - that is to present multiple perspectives. Yet at present the lack of research examining what is required in terms of ethical methodologies and practical and attitudinal shifts prevents sustainable change from taking place.

Provisional semantics seeks to address this challenge by (1) examining what methodological, ethical and practical changes heritage organisations need to make to accommodate the multiple and provisional interpretations necessary for a sustainable digitised national collection to genuinely represent UK Heritage. And (2) testing what methods and approaches that engage intellectually and practically with the decolonial agenda can heritage organisations employ to produce search terms/catalogue entries and interpretations fit for purpose for an evolving digitised national collection. Over 18 months the project will undertake a wide-ranging literature and practice review and utilise three case studies centred on specific collections at The National Trust, Imperial War Museum and Tate that address the histories, representations and artistic practices of people of African and Asian descent. Each case study will test a different approach to collaborating with key stakeholders of each collection whose expertise as people of African and Asian descent can help provide more equitable, multi-perspectival interpretations. This research will be further enhanced by a close reading of sample texts from each collection undertaken by our academic partner, Dr Anjalie Dalal-Clayton, whose research focuses on arts and decolonisation in museums, collections and heritage organisations.

In addition to the case studies and close readings, the main output will be a state of the art report that brings together the findings from the research, outlines the key challenges and provides evidence-based recommendations. These recommendations will have been tested with a group of interdisciplinary experts and disseminated to a wider group of heritage organisation professionals, academics and representatives from the standards agencies via 'sense-checking' workshops, events linked to the wider programme, journal articles, social media and through the project webpages that will be maintained on the Tate website.

Through piloting methodologies Provisional Semantics will contribute new knowledge and directly support heritage organisations seeking to decolonise and diversify their collections as an embedded strategy towards developing a genuinely representative digitised national collection. The research aims to meet the needs of academics, standards agencies, heritage professionals, policy makers and the wider public. Importantly, Provisional Semantics will have wider benefits in terms of reshaping how key stakeholders of African and Asian descent can actively participate in forming the narratives of UK Heritage.

As one of the Foundational Projects, Provisional Semantics will benefit a range of key stakeholders seeking to broaden access and break down barriers between different collections.

The project will provide evidence, knowledge and practical recommendations for action of relevance to those working to decolonise heritage organisations and ensure that 'UK Heritage' as contained within the digitised national collection is properly representative. These include:
- Internal and external stakeholders - curators, archivists, librarians, interpretation and learning professionals and digital collection managers working at the case study organisations, at the National Maritime Museum (part of Royal Museums Greenwich), across the IRO Group and in libraries, archives and heritage organisations in the UK and internationally
- Academics and researchers within the UK and internationally, including those with whom the partner organisations are already collaborating. For example, Tate is working with partners at UCL examining legacies of slavery in the collection, whilst the NT is collaborating with Oxford Research Consultancy, examining the provenance and acquisition of the Clive Collection. Bringing Provisional Semantics findings together with this ongoing research will further enrich re-interpretation of these collections.

How will they benefit:
- An enhanced knowledge of the resources and technical processes required to represent multi-perspectival and evolving interpretations digitally
- A clearer sense of how methods informed by a decolonial agenda can be effective in enabling key stakeholders to engage with collections and contribute their knowledge in sustainable and ethical ways
- Greater knowledge of the wider systemic changes required to embed these methods across heritage organisations as a fundamental element in the creation of a digitised national collection
- Recommended protocols regarding the use of terminology and how to reflect changing semantics, with a proposed collection of index terms for potential use across the sector.

This will be achieved by:
- Interviews and questionnaires completed with staff at case study organisations, across the wider IRO group and the sector more widely as part of Strand 1
- Ongoing knowledge sharing within the project team and with colleagues and key collaborators working on the case studies
- Key stakeholders from relevant organisations attending the Strand 2 workshops to test findings and contribute to the recommendations for action
- A wider group of key stakeholders from the sectors identified above attending events organised by the Director across the eight Foundational projects
- Cross-disciplinary practitioners from UK and internationally will have access to the research via project pages on the Tate website, linked through to the wider programme's website
- All the above having access to the final report that will advise on recommended next steps and lead to more informed organisational decision-making.

It is hoped that, specifically, the project will benefit people of Asian and African descent working in and/or visiting heritage organisations who will have access to a broader and more resonant set of interpretations. In testing how heritage organisations can work in fruitful collaboration with these key stakeholders Provisional Semantics will contribute to the creation of a genuinely representative national collection.