Curating crises: the past as a key to improving the stewardship of hazard knowledges for the future

我们的联合项目名为“策划危机”。它汇集了来自加勒比地区(西印度群岛大学地震研究中心和蒙特塞拉特火山观测站)和英国(东安格利亚大学、牛津大学、皇家学会和国家档案馆)的团队，重点研究加勒比地区火山危机的历史。在过去，环境危机(如火山喷发或地震)被欧洲科学家视为一个机会，他们可以顺道拜访，进行测量，采集样本，然后回国与其他欧洲科学家分享他们的知识。这段殖民历史留下了两笔遗产。首先，尽管欧洲图书馆、博物馆和档案馆有关于其中一些过去危机的详细报告，但其中许多信息只有能够亲自访问的人才能访问。其次，当地观察员的重要性及其观察的价值往往被忽视或忘记。我们的项目将改变这两件事。我们将使用数字技术来扫描和分享这些过去事件的记录。我们希望将这些隐藏的历史与其历史所在的社区分享--那些经历过这些事件的社区，以及那些可能在未来接触到类似事件的社区。我们将利用这些过去的事件来思考通过合作或以新的方式应对未来环境危机的最佳方式。我们还将揭示当地观察员的故事，以及他们帮助创造的知识，并与加勒比和英国的社区分享和庆祝这些环境历史。我们的项目将持续13个月。我们将研究加勒比海的三个火山岛：圣文森特、蒙特塞拉特和多米尼加，从1890年到2000年。这包括几次大喷发(1902年，1979年；圣文森特；1995年-蒙特塞拉特)，以及地震活动(1934-1939年，蒙特塞拉特)。它涵盖了一段时间，当时所有三个岛屿都是英国的皇室殖民地；两个岛屿后来成为独立的国家。我们还将研究观测和测量随时间变化的方式--并了解来自卫星的“远程”观测或自动化仪器网络的测量如何改变数据共享、解释和存储的方式。在我们的项目结束时，我们的发现将帮助我们找出调查这些和其他“隐藏历史”的例子的最佳方法，并将为我们提供新的想法，让我们共同努力了解环境。

Our joint project is called 'Curating Crises'. It brings together teams from the Caribbean (Seismic Research Centre, University of the West Indies, and the Montserrat Volcano Observatory) and the UK (University of East Anglia, University of Oxford, the Royal Society and The National Archives), and focuses on the histories of volcanic crises in the Caribbean. In the past, environmental crises (like volcanic eruptions, or earthquakes) were seen as an opportunity by European scientists to 'drop in', make measurements, gather samples and return home to share their knowledge with other European scientists. This colonial history has left two legacies. First, while there are detailed reports of some of these past crises in European libraries, museums and archives, a lot of this information is only accessible to people who are able to visit in person. Second, the importance of local observers, and the value of their observations, has often been overlooked, or forgotten. Our project will change both of these things. We will use digital techniques to scan and share the records of these past events. We want to share these hidden histories with the communities whose history this is - the communities who lived through these events, and who may be exposed to similar events in the future. We will use these past events to think about the best way to respond to future environmental crises by working together, or by working in new ways. We will also uncover the stories of the local observers, and of the knowledge that they helped to create, and share and celebrate these pieces of environmental history with communities in the Caribbean and the UK.Our project will last 13 months. We will study events in three volcanic islands of the Caribbean: St. Vincent, Montserrat and Dominica, from 1890 - 2000. This includes several major eruptions (1902, 1979; St Vincent; 1995- Montserrat), and earthquake activity (1934-1939, Montserrat). It covers a period of time when all three islands started as British Crown Colonies; and two later became independent nations. We will also look at the way that observations and measurements have changed through time - and see how 'remote' observations, for example from satellites, or measurements by networks of automated instrument have changed the ways that data are shared, interpreted and stored. By the end of our project, our findings will help us to work out the best ways to investigate these and other examples of 'hidden histories', and will give us new ideas for ways that we can work together to understand the environment.