The Endangered Material Knowledge Programme (EMKP) is a grant-giving programme based at the British Museum and funded by Arcadia that supports the documentation of material knowledge systems that are under threat and/or in danger of disappearing. Scholars and community members across the world can apply for funding to undertake ethnographic research and record material knowledge systems using a range of formats, including audio-visual, 3D, photographs, text, etc. Several projects have already been funded across the globe to document the knowledge behind the making of everyday things such as money or clothing as well as more extraordinary items such as ceremonial houses or musical instruments.
With Paula Granados García, Project Curator: EMKP, British Museum
Nik Petek-Sargeant, Project Curator: EMKP, British Museum
Jacob Nii Marley, Technical Assistant, Department of Archaeology & Heritage Studies, Leventis Digital
Resource Centre for African Studies, University of Ghana (Ghana, ITP Fellow 2019)
The ultimate aim of EMKP is to create an archive of activities and knowledge systems to be available through an open access online repository. This session aimed to provide a brief introduction to EMKP to then focus on the most practical aspects of the programme, including data management (i.e. standards and representation), the concept and issues of born-digital cultural heritage and the relation between EMKP and the museum. Jacob Marley, former EMKP grantee and ITP fellow provided an overview of his project, Research and Digitization of Indigenous Gold Forging in
Ghana, to see how the issues explained come together and are addressed in this specific case study.