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Abstract

Immovable cultural heritage is an essential resource in human societies that is often heavily entangled with natural heritage and presents many of the same vulnerabilities, particularly with respect to environmental hazards as they grow more common, more severe, and less predictable. The resulting physical and logistical instability related to cultural heritage resources demands a robust response, within which a digital data management system can provide both essential information in emergencies and systemic stabilisation in general. Consistent and broad access to cultural data is imperative for first responders and long-term heritage managers, and so this chapter demonstrates key concepts in effective design and proactive implementation of cultural heritage data management systems. Two of the most significant issues hindering their implementation and usage, however, are unsustainability and lack of inclusivity. These are interrelated problems, and so this chapter discusses how to incorporate the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data standard as well as the CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, and Ethics) principles in order to help overcome these issues. It looks at several examples of ‘relativistic’ databases, developed in both ‘proactive’ and ‘responsive’ modes of disaster mitigation, as well as provides a guide to some of the software available for constructing them. Finally, it explores the value of adopting strong frameworks of both theoretical and logistical inclusivity when designing a cultural heritage data management system.