Concurrent and sustainable development of a local-scale digital heritage inventory through action research at Bat, Oman

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a concurrent implementation of sustainable inventory for the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn in the interior of Oman. Design/methodology/approach – A digital heritage inventory (DHI) was developed through an action research to realize demands of the local agent and to co-design the solution. The Ministry of Heritage and Culture of Oman, the local agent, demanded to have archaeological information of the sites shared with foreign expeditions, which had worked at the sites for decades, for efficient heritage management, scientific research, outreach, and education. To this end, the Bat Digital Heritage Inventory (BatDHI) was implemented by a combination of network-access-ready database application, open source geographical information systems, and a web-based map service to incorporate and visualize previous works, which were concurrently cross-checked and updated by ground-truth surveys. Findings – The online inventory made it possible to update information during archaeological fieldwork in real time and accelerated the decision-making process in heritage management by prompt data updates and visualization. Research limitations/implications – The DHI is extendable for other sites or regions. It should also be considered to install Arches, an open-source suite of digital heritage inventories. Practical implications – The BatDHI was implemented through the action research mentioned in the design/methodology/approach section and yielded the implications mentioned in the findings section. Originality/value – This paper is a challenging application of transdisciplinary approach to the sustainable heritage management, in which researchers and societal stakeholders collaborate for co-design of research agendas, co-production of knowledge, and co-dissemination of outcomes.