HERCULES: Studying long-term changes in Europe’s landscapes

2016

Work Package 2.3 of the HERCULES project brings together a protocol for studying the long-term changes in cultural landscapes and spatial dynamic modelling frameworks and tools. Additionally it pre ...

2014

Main authors: Carole Crumley, Jan Kolen With contributions from: Gert Jan Burgers, Kim von Hackwitz, Peter Howard, Krista Karro, Maurice de Kleijn, Daniel Löwenborg, Niels van Manen, Hannes Palang, Anu Printsmann, Hans Renes, Henk Scholten, Paul Sinclair, Martti Veldi, Philip Verhagen. Executive summary The first deliverable of Work Package 2 (D 2.1) of the HERCULES project contains the outlines of a protocol for studying the long-term changes in cultural landscapes. It is intended as a first design of such a protocol, as it has to be tested and refined further in the process of conducting three regional case studies and inter-regional comparisons within the HERCULES project. The protocol defines an innovative methodological procedure for understanding the long-term development and transformation of cultural landscapes, drawing on recent insights from geography, landscape archaeology, (historical) ecology, anthropology and information science. The procedure will be informed by the definitions and the conceptual framework developed in HERCULES work package 1. The protocol text subsequently deals with the following topics and issues: 1. A short description of its main aim and its relationship to the work being done in other work packages of the HERCULES project (Section 1); 2. An overview of the major concepts and approaches in archaeological and historical landscape research in both North America and Europe and the major issues raised in landscape history over the past decades (Section 2). This also defines the necessity of developing an integrated approach to long-term changes in cultural landscapes (Section 3); 3. A set of premises for understanding long-term changes in cultural landscapes (Section 4), as well as a number of operational principles for translating these premises to concrete starting points, procedures, methods and techniques in individual or comparative landscape projects (section 5). These premises and operational principles are based on the methodological buildings blocks of the protocol: historical ecology, landscape biography and complex systems theory. 4. Starting points for integrating landscape history with the current theory and practice of geodesign (Section 6); 5. Design of an infrastructural facility for retrieving and linking archaeological, historical and ecological data and geo-information (SDI) to support the interdisciplinary study of landscape change (Section 7). 6. An exploration of concepts and techniques in dynamic modeling that can help better and more consistently understand the long-term processes that have been operating (or still are) in cultural landscapes, including outlines and examples of a comparative case study approach (Section 8).

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2004

The Bjäre peninsula, situated in the north-west ofSkåne, has a rich cultural landscape marked by distinct Bronze Age monuments, enclosed field systems dating from the 19 century and various notable changes and consistencies in settlement pattern. This paper discusses the creation of the landscape and the relationships within it, the significance of the past to the modern landscape, the threats to the cultural landscape and the possible solutions and approaches to these solutions. The landscape of today The Bjäre peninsula is situated in the north-west of Skåne, the southernmost county of Sweden (fig. 16.1). In all the area consists of seven parishes and measures about 200km. About 14,000 BC the ice of the last Ice Age began melting and this area was one of the first parts of Scandinavia to be freed from the big ice-sheet. The enormous masses of ice had reshaped the area and these shapes have brought a special appearance to the region. In the north of the peninsula the old rock survi...

Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2021

The awareness that cultural heritage plays an influential role in shared identities and in both spatial and environmental development has significantly increased in recent years. International collaboration and treaties, such as the 'FARO-convention' in 2005 emphasize the importance of heritage in relation to aspects of human rights and demography. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that historical perspectives are essential for making well-informed choices regarding environmental challenges (e.g. spatial planning, sustainable development, climate adaptation). This increased awareness not only emphasizes the importance of cultural heritage for present-day challenges, but equally presents a new set of conditions and standards, and requires the development of new methodologies. Besides conservation, more than ever there is a need for cultural heritage to become contextualized and sustainably accessible. The organisational pinnacle of cultural-heritage conservation is world heritage: sites that are judged to contain a set of cultural and/or natural values which are of outstanding value to humanity. However, to what extent world heritage meets these newly set criteria is unknown. Nevertheless, these sites often reflect an eminent status, scientifically as well as economically (i.e. through tourism). Consequently, world heritage often enjoys interest from multiple stakeholders including governmental, scientific, public, and commercial parties, all of whom engage in contrasting activities and have different interests and needs. As a result the need for accessibility and integrated overviews of these sites is high but equally challenging. In this paper we will focus on the world-heritage site of Schokland (NL). This former island in the Dutch Zuiderzee both reflects outstanding historical and archaeological importance. We will show that the dynamics surrounding this site require tailormade conservation methodologies, which greatly depend on data integration. We present a new Historical Geographical Information System (HGIS) specifically designed to integrate cultural and geoscientific data and facilitate dynamic heritage management. Results show that such a system greatly adds to the contextualization and (digital) accessibility of the heritage site and is essential for substantiating conservation methodologies. Furthermore, it shows great research potential for diachronological reconstructions of dynamic-lowland development. The system facilitates multidisciplinary scientific analyses, integrated monitoring, and public outreach and shows great application potential for other (world-)heritage sites.

2014

Cultural landscapes are closely linked to human well-being, but they are undergoing rapid and fundamental change, often leading to the loss of landscape values. Understanding the societal transformation underlying these landscape changes, as well as the ecological and societal outcomes of cultural landscape transformations across scales are prime challenges for landscape research. Nevertheless, so far, a common understanding of cultural landscapes is missing, which has inhibited the design of effective policies to safeguard cultural landscape values. Based on the foci of the Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS), we propose a framework to manage and integrate the different understandings of cultural landscapes. Six major dimensions of landscapes emerged from recent progress in landscape research that we propose to consider when studying landscape change in relation to societal transformations: (1) social-ecological linkages in landscapes, (2) landscape structure and land us...

2006

Melnyk, Yu. B., & Pypenko, I. S. (2024). Artificial intelligence as a factor revolutionizing higher education. International Journal of Science Annals, 7(1), 5–13. https://doi.org/10.26697/ijsa.2024.1.2, 2024

Background and Aim of Study: The use of artificial intelligence and various chatbots based on it is becoming part of everyday higher education practice. The aim of the study: to explore practices and identify trends in the use of artificial intelligence-based chatbots by higher education stakeholders. Material and Methods: The survey was conducted between January and April 2024. The total number of respondents from 57 countries was 788, of whom 363 were students and 425 were university faculty. The probability sampling method was applied. Respondents were interviewed online. The questionnaire is available on the official website of the Scientific Research Institute KRPOCH using Google Forms, as well as on social networks Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. for potential participants. In addition, a selective individual online interview was conducted with respondents. Cronbach's alpha confirmed adequate internal consistency (α=0.837). Results: The role of artificial intelligence-based chatbots in higher education practice was considered. The use of chatbots among higher education stakeholders (students and faculty) was studied. A model of stakeholder behaviour was developed. This model describes two ways of solving problems: with and without the use of artificial intelligence. Trends in the use of chatbots in higher education were identified: students were 26.9% more likely than faculty to use artificial intelligence-based chatbots to prepare for classes or complete assignments at their college/university; almost all students (68.0% of 68.3% who use chatbots) edited the results returned by generative chatbots at their request; students were 30.1% more likely than faculty to edit these results. Conclusions: The new technologies of generative artificial intelligence have been the factors that have revolutionised the industry of higher education. A new "Human-AI" system has emerged that is fundamentally changing the rules for training young professionals. The study emphasizes that higher education stakeholders using chatbots should do so correctly, consider the possibilities and limitations of using this toolkit, and recognize their responsibility for the outcomes and consequences of their use.

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