Resumen de The South African heritage resources information system (Sahris): Development and challenges throughmanagement of cultural heritage resources through anintegrated web-based platformf

Clinton Jackson, Ragna Redelstorff

• The South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) is a statutory body created to implement the National HeritageResources Act No.25 of 1999 and is responsible for the identification and management of the national estate of SouthAfrica. In 2013, the South African Heritage Resources Information System (SAHRIS) was developed to create aninventory of the national estate and facilitate the management of heritage resources.The SAHRIS platform is an interactive system that provides a collaborate space through which government officials,heritage practitioners, developers and researchers can engage with the management of the national estate of SouthAfrica. Core functions include an online application system, in which public users and governement officials collaborateand communicate; an archive of heritage sites and resources; protect heritage sites and resources that are threatened bydevelopment or mining activities; a collections management system for the effective management of heritage objects.Despite its progressive efficiency, users of SAHRIS encounter challenges such as difficult navigatibility due to it serving avariety of users and applications. Furthermore, although it is a public domain and should therefore allow free access toall records, privacy of certain documents and records is important in order to protect researchers’ interests and heritageresources from loitering and destruction. The advantage of a digital system is that it is work in progress and open tocontinuous improvement.