This document outlines the rationale, content, and structure of the SCIMEC Programme. It discusses how documentation, archives, and museums all aim to facilitate learning by recording, arranging, and presenting data. Their goal is to enable learning that leads to change. The document presents models of the relationships between data, learners, and learning agents. It describes the stages in moving from data acquisition and collection to learning and change, including envisioning, transformation, transmission, reception, understanding, knowledge, and learning. The key roles of those involved in the Programme are to be producers, organizers, and guardians of the building blocks of learning.

1. SCIMEC Programme: Rationale / Content / Shape
1.0 Common Ground: Documentation + Archives + Museums.
Whether one is talking about: Museums, Archives or Documentation, the base of all three is
Data. They effectively lie along a continuum:
Your Pathway Documentation  Archives  Museums
Continuum Recording  Arranging  Presenting ......
Why is this so?
Because there is but one end objective to all of this: LEARNING.
What is the answer to the question:
‘Why do we document, archive and have museums?’
Ans. TO LEARN.
And what is the purpose and the effect of this learning?
Ans: CHANGE of ourselves and our environment: which is why the human race has
developed and evolved and dominated its environment ... we are built to be hungry for
learning. I might paraphrase Mr Darwin loosely, and suggest that the power behind Natural
Selection is LEARNING: those that learn and develop / adapt as a result survive!.
YOU, in your chosen careers, are to become part of this process.
YOU are producers, recorders, organisers, presenters and guardians of the:
BUILDING-BLOCKS of LEARNING
Perhaps you haven’t seen yourselves that way before.... but think about it for a minute....
you will play your part in the University of Life whether you are working with world-experts,
academics, school-teachers, students or tourist visitors.
And talking of Universities....here’s my old one: Bournemouth University (England):-

2. Discere Mutari
Est
To Learn is to Change
Bournemouth University Crest
Illustrations.
Let me just give you a little example or two that connect data to learning...
45 years ago, the BBC was just starting to use video-tape, but it was desperately expensive.
They tried it out and made a recording of an early chat-show where a couple of local
reporters were interviewing four unknown youngsters from the North of England who had
just made their first record. As they were so expensive at the time, the videos were kept
safe....so safe, in fact, that they were ‘lost’ until this year when someone had the shock of
his life: he put the tape on, and the youngsters just happened to be called John, Paul, George
and Ringo....otherwise known as: The Beatles. For historians and sociologists trying to
understand the 60s culture, the media and the development and evolution of popular music,
the video has been a revelation. Clearly the more we understand about our past and how we
got here, the better equipped we are to deal with today and the future.
Even more obscure and ancient archives can also shed light on important matters. Recently
a historian laboriously looking through records of Elizabethan England (Elizabeth 1st..... 17th
Century) found mention of a certain Mr William Shakespeare, giving his address in
London (which was not known before), details of his involvement in a court case and some
critical information about the family with whom he was staying as a guest which leads
certain scholars to think they can now deduce the identity of his ‘Dark Lady’ mistress. All
from a ‘boring’ court record. Some of the most mundane and ordinary data can become
vital insights even hundreds of years after the fact! Sometimes it is only years after that we
can see the significance of such things.

3. 2.0 So, if you are all involved in the process of learning - what exactly IS learning?
Learning is essentially the willingness to seek out and make sense of information by applying
our intellectual capacities for analysis and evaluation such that this information is understood
and becomes valuable knowledge by means of which we can transform both ourselves and
our environment. If you like: the information is the kindling wood, our interest and
intellectual capacity the spark that ignites the fire, and learning the heat, light and beauty
that results with the power to transform dark into light.
Q. What, then are the components involved?
A. A human with an interest and an inquiring mind PLUS (at a very minimum) data.
NB. Clearly a teacher is NOT always required..... but as you will see below, if the interest of
the individual is not matched by sufficient learning capability and the gulf between the raw
data and learning is particularly wide, then the inclusion of an agent (such as a teacher) in the
learning process may be appropriate as shown below:
FIG 1. Data, the Learner and the Learning Agent
Direct Relationship
Data Data User (learner)
Mediated Relationship
Learning Agent
e.g. Teacher / Virtual Learning Environment
Of course, Museums and archives often have staff or interactive ICT devices like ‘Walkman’
presentations and artefact interpretations by computer triggered by motion sensors which
detect when a person approaches a particular artefact and starts the appropriate commentary.
In future this will perhaps be provided via people’s mobile-phones: as they walk around a
museum they will be given a commentary which is perhaps not only in their own language,
but which is attuned to the distinctive needs of the nationality (artefacts and battlegrounds of
war may be interpreted very differently for the ‘winner’, ‘loser, or non-partisan visitor,
perhaps.

4. Fig 2. The Data – Learning Continuum
There are essentially 7 fundamental stages here:
1. Envisioning
2. Data Collection Documentation
3. Data Transformation & Archives
4. Transmission
5. Reception
6. Learning Museums
7. Ownership
Although Documentation and Archiving are often restricted to the first three stages and
museums generally concerned with the next three, ALL have to have a vision of the entire
process and aims and objectives and have to work and link together seamlessly. The
application of this learning and ultimate ‘ownership’ thereof is, however the province of the
user of the collected, transformed and communicated data. Yes, of course, some museums,
particularly the larger ones, operate across ALL of these stages.
Fig 3: From Data Acquisition to Learning
‘Envisioning’ Stage: the vision of the service and for whom it is to be provided: its ultimate aims and
objectives and the means to achieve this mission.
‘Data’ Collection Stage
Data Definition  Methodology for Acquisition  Collection  Recording  Custodianship
‘Transformation’ Stage
Access & Dissemination Strategy  Data Organisation as Information  Formatting & Encoding
Information for Presentation: Access & Dissemination 
‘Transmission’ Stage
Promotion/Notification  Transmission via Medium/Media 
‘Reception’ Stage
Reception by ‘Target’  Perception  Decoding 
‘Translation’ Stage (Making Information into Knowledge)
Analysis  Interpretation  Evaluation  Synthesis  Conclusion => Knowledge 
‘Learning’ Stage
Application of Knowledge  Reflection  Learning    
CHANGE

5. KEY to terms used above:
Data = raw, unarranged figures/words/ artefacts with the potential to become information
Information = data which are duly organised, clustered and meaningfully arranged
Encoding = converting the information to be transmitted into a form which renders its
transmission possible (images embedded in a Word or PDF document or an audio .WAV file)
Transmission = the promotion, access / dissemination (dependent upon inward/outward
perspective) necessary to set the right information, in the right format at the right time, in
front of the right people to achieve the desired objective.
Reception + Perception = the receipt of the encoded data via the human senses.
Decoding = the process by which the recipient of the information transmitted ‘unpacks’ and
accesses what has been received and perceived: is he able to see it exactly as was intended?
Understanding = development of the relevance, meaning, significance and potential value of
information through intellectual processes of analysis, interpretation, evaluation and synthesis
(involving the following linked processes)
• Analysis = breaking down the data into appropriate components to which tools can be
applied to give it meaning.
• Interpretation = seeking to understand what the data analysis signifies: what it means
• Evaluation = placing a value (absolute and particularly relative) upon the particular
data set under analysis
• Synthesis = threading together the elements of data analysis and evaluation to begin to
build an overall picture of what is being examined.
• Conclusion
Knowledge = application of the understanding of the new information to existing bases of
knowledge to contextualise and valorise it with the potential to be applied.
Learning = confidence in the application of new knowledge to existing and new situations
Change = the outcomes of applying such learning in practice.
You may not have thought of it like this, but this is the overall process in which YOU are
involved. You may be engaged as a specialist in perhaps just one element of the process (e.g.
digitisation of archive materials, marketing and promotion of the museum, artefact
interpretation for school-aged non-specialists etc), or conceivably in many of the elements as
they are all related and the learning will only come about if each component has been
successfully addressed (e.g. Development and Visitor Services Manager of a newly found
archaeological site). Your future career trajectories will tend to be of one of two types:
• Specialism. Moving deeper and narrower within your particular field of expertise.
• General Management. Taking a broader, overview of a range of specialist functions
in order to integrate the whole product or service.

6. 3.0 Why English???
The above conception of your studies as critical linked elements between Data and Learning
will be used as the structural and logical ‘glue’ for much of your studies in the use of English
within this unit as the tutors believe that, even if your pathways and specialities are
academically separate, within the workplace environment, you will find your various roles
often mutually dependent, overlapping and complementary. It is therefore vital that you
appreciate each other’s respective roles. We will therefore be looking at the whole of this
process – sometimes altogether and sometimes within our documentation, archive and
museums specialities.
Why English???
• Because your Masters programmes have determined that this IS critical enough
to be a compulsory rather than an optional unit.
• Because professional academic research and personal interest in the historical is
NOT confined to national borders: the community of interest is international and
global. By virtue of history itself (the scale of the British Empire, the recent global
power and reach of the USA, the development of HTML and the internet etc) English
has effectively become the de facto Lingua Franca of international business and
communication. English is often THE lens through which global debate takes place
politically and professionally. This is not to say that French is of a lesser importance,
but rather that the majority of international/global interest is likely to be served via the
lens of English.
• The higher you move within your profession, the more likely you are to be
engaging in professional activities such as the reading and writing of journal
articles, attendance at conferences and seminars, the regular exchange of
information internationally, collaborations for research funding etc. At such levels, as
you progress, your need to be able to understand and express yourself in English is
likely to grow significantly. Lack of a basic English capability at such levels may
limit your ability to engage with and participate fully with others.... this could act as a
brake on your career progression.
• Artefacts themselves seldom ‘speak’... they often need interpretation and
explanation, most often via words. Any establishments with aspirations to offer more
than a merely local/regional/national facility/service will have to consider foreign
language. More often than not the principal ‘common denominator’ language is
likely to be English.
So, as your tutors, we are trying to be sensitive to what we know to be your career needs.
Between the two of us we have considerable experience of heritage and museums both
professional and personal. TJ was Research and Development Manager of the regional
Tourism office covering the whole of the South of England working with Museums, cultural
and heritage sites and events, helping them secure funding and develop and promote their
visitor services (such as interpretation) and has subsequently taught Tourism Management for
yours. EC-J specialises in English Literature around the period of Shakespeare and has a
considerable interest in Museums and Galleries.

7. 4.0 The Basic Structure of the Unit.
We have 20 weeks together:
12 in Semester One / 8 in Semester Two.
We have rooms 308 and 311 at our disposal for the TWO seminar groups on Tuesdays
1400-1600. 308 is a computer room and 311 a ‘normal’ classroom. We will thus potentially
swap groups between the rooms from time to time in order that everyone can have a fair share
of online access (of which we intend to make much use).
We intend to follow broadly the structure shown below (although we reserve the right to make
changes as considered appropriate dependent upon your pace in the unit, intervening events,
and potentially interesting subjects which may themselves emerge during the course of the
programme.
In terms of assessment, we do not intend to have a formal exam after the course, but will use
one of the slots in the last block of two weeks for a written, in-course, individual test of some
kind. We will also usually be producing output as part of most blocks which may be assessed
on an individual or team basis. You will be given further instructions on this at the beginning
of each block.
We intend to proceed on the basis of ‘topic blocks’ which will normally last three weeks
and which are shown on the following page.
Our intention is to take the English that you do have and apply, develop and hone it within
contexts entirely relevant to your future career paths and contexts. We hope that not only will
you become more confident in your use of English, but you will also develop your subject
knowledge.
What do we want of you?
• Your attendance. Teaching and Learning are two sides of the same ‘coin’, but the
former is the input and the latter the output. This learning is a job that only you can
do. Teaching can help, but it cannot do the learning for you. Most of the learning will
go on in interactive classroom sessions: if you are not there - you will not learn.
• Active Participation. Come to class interested, motivated and prepared to participate.
It is only in the participation that you will learn: your tutors and your colleagues are
depending upon YOU! This is a partnership.
• Professional approach. You are Masters Students, but we consider you to be young
professionals already and we expect this to show in your attitude to your work and to
things like assignment deadlines.

8. SCIMEC Activity Schedule
Block Block Topic/Indicative Content
Semester One
1 WK1. The CLAM: Quick Placement Test, plus unit introduction, rationale,
assessment and scene-setting lecture. SCIMEC resource introduction:
Introduction http://www.tonyversity.com/students
WK2. Working with the www and Word: the power of hyperlinking and
image. Prepare presentation in teams on role of Archiving / Documentation /
Museums.
WK3. Presentation of project explaining your Archiving / Documentation /
Museums ‘worlds’ and career aspirations to the other teams. Feedback on
content, use of English and presentation technique.
2 WK1. Theme: Preservation and Conservation:
Envisioning WK2. PROJECT: Preservation and Conservation: why do we do it and who
do we do it for? Preparation.
WK3. Presentation of above projects. Feedback on content, use of English
and presentation technique.
3 WK1. Theme: Today’s News is Tomorrow’s History.
Tomorrow’s WK2. PROJECT: Analysis, Evaluation and Review of the role of Press
History agencies and news groups. (inc: Reuters, Associated Press, BBC, ITN, CNN)
WK3. Presentation of above projects. Feedback on content, use of English
and presentation technique.
4 WK1. Theme: How have /are /will new technologies changed
Technology /changing/change the face of Documentation, Archiving and Museums?
WK2. PROJECT: Case study development of the above
WK3. Presentation of case studies. Feedback on content, use of English and
presentation technique.
Semester Two
5 WK1. Theme: Websites: the Fundamental Forces of Functionality;
Website Usability and Content and their measurement in terms of efficiency,
Design & effectiveness, economy and equity/equality
Analysis WK2. PROJECT: Preparation of an analysis and evaluation of
Documentation / Archive / Museums website quality
WK3. Presentation of the above analysis. Feedback on content, use of
English and presentation technique.
6 WK1. Theme: Employment on the International Market – CVs, covering
letters, recruitment and selection.
Employmen WK2. PROJECT : CV and Covering letter preparation/production
t WK3. CV and Covering letter review/correction (with the aim of ALL
students being able to produce and refine their own cvs in English for future
use)
7 WK1. End of Course Test. (Individual, written)
Test & WK2. Generic Feedback on End of Course Test. Plenary Discussion.
Feedback Review of Unit.