Conservation Digital Report: Standard Documentation in Cultural Heritage

Abstract

The 'documentation', in general terms, is the need to gather informations collected for a specific topic so they can be available now and in the future. Obtaining the information is a process that involves many steps: the study, the analysis and the elaboration of the information; all these processes expand and transform the common conception of the term, as not only a mere recording of a phenomenon. In this sense, the documentation becomes an operation 'dynamic, as the basis for further considerations on the object analysed. The documentation of an artwork before restoration can be summarized in three sequential steps: - preliminary documentation to identify the problem and guide the next steps; - systematic and comprehensive documentation, to provide both global and detail vision on the artwork; - additional documentation, with further investigation and checks to be developed over time. The documentation needs, therefore, the correct setup of a systematic structure of informations into a system of classification to store the acquired data, and this process depends on the correct understanding of the theme. In order to standardize the acquisition and disclosure of information, it is therefore necessary to standardize the process of documentation as a whole, from the earliest steps of collection to the presentation of results. 'ConditionReport.it' software system allows the drafting and completion online of an actual 'condition report' for many different kind of artworks, thanks to a flexible and interactive software that can be adjusted according to the different public or private requirements, creating personalized documents. Some examples will illustrate the potential of the system as a standardization of the documentation process for conservation and restoration of different types of cultural heritage, and also as management system for data from different sources.