Purpose and audience of PaRC
PaRC aims to preserve and make accessible historical and contemporary knowledge of parks, leisure and open space through both salvage and re-publication of existing documents (Document Repository) and creation of original explanations and stories (Narratives). A feature of modern life is that an inquirer can access vast volumes of information at a web-fingertip – but it comes without context or verification.
The target audience includes:
To keep faith with the intentions of the founders of the Trust Fund, original writing such as in the Narratives will be constructed from a public interest rather than a commercial mindset.
Scope
The terms ‘parks’ and ‘leisure’ are defined broadly. A working definition of ‘park’ is ‘An area of public land largely open to the sky and designated for nature conservation and/or public recreation’. A working definition of ‘leisure’ is ‘The creative expression of one’s natural talents and passionate interests for the sheer intrinsic joy of the experience, be it physical, mental or even spiritual.’
PaRC will include writings on planning for the purposes of protecting parks and open space, but not ‘town and country planning’ in its own right. It includes environmental criteria for identifying and managing areas for leisure but not environmental policy or conservation practice in its own right. Scope is explained in more detail in the PowerPoint presentation made at the Vic/Tas launch on 9 June 2023 and the accompanying paper on the scope of accessions. See links on the narrative on the launch.
.
Overview of Process
PaRC is to be built up progressively by a team of volunteers with expert knowledge, known as Content Creators. Some Content Creators will contribute on an ad hoc basis, perhaps for a single article, some will remain active in the long term.
All original Narratives will be validated (peer-reviewed) by at least two other experts before or after initial publication, then amended continuously after endorsement. They will normally be bylined. See the flyer and the Call for Authors for further details.
Categories
On both the Document Library and the Narratives sites, keyword searching will operate across a number of fields in the metadata record, including title, abstract, keywords and the broad category field.
Dictionary and style
To ensure consistency in the use of key terms, a glossary is available. This is a work in progress and Content Creators are invited to improve it. A style guide when writing original Narratives is also available.
Drafted by Geoff Edwards 10.6.21 Referee 1…… Referee 2……