TEHIC-Handbook_of_best_practices

4. Mapping the profession of heritage interpreter 51 As far as we are concerned, in order to place heritage interpretation within the frame- work of this heritage management conceptual map we refer to the basic version of three stages, according to work by González et al. (2014, 12 ff.). 1 An initial assessment of the original meaning based on regulated disciplines (history, biology, geology, anthropology, art...) that generates an interpretation of the original meaning and significance of the interpretive object: What is it? What are its conditions of existence? Why is it there? What is it for? When or how was it generated or made? and so on. All this allows us to document the item, to know it better and to make an inventory thereof. 2 Heritage assessment is carried out on the basis of this initial assessment and the current circumstances around the item: state of conservation, originality compared to other items in the same area or of the same kind, social and spatial context in which the item is located, potential for the socio-economic development of the community, etc. Such assessment aims to ensure the preservation of the item over time and to give it a value and a role in today's society, keeping it for future or social use in its dif - ferent possibilities: with the item’s initial configuration, as an original, consolidated, restored, or refurbished item, or with a new purpose, etc. 3 Enhancing : Social use requires adaptation works, such as consolidation, refurbishing, maintenance, and so on  3 , as well as a work to convey meaning (education, interpre - tation, etc.) with a view to its preservation and social appreciation. All these tasks are based on the assessments delivered in the previous stages. From a theoretical point of view this logical arrangement does not preclude an oper- ational order whereby the work of several stages is conducted simultaneously, as there is constant feedback from one job to the next, and it does not preclude the latter stage from drawing on the previous one. It does not, for example, prevent the interpreter from having to research or document more specifically a particular asset on which he or she is working. Nor does it hinder the development of heritage work outside the professional or regulated sphere (the community, associations, or stakeholders) or the participation of the general public. This scheme just attempts to describe the structural and relational position of heritage interpretation within the heritage management chain, from a profes- sional point of view, by pointing out that in heritage management, initial basic knowledge is interwoven with what we might call technical knowledge and transfer of results to the society in which heritage interpretation is placed. 3 There can also be protection without public access, or with very restricted access, as in the case of some caves or sites in a fragile state of preservation.