Professional notes

Musemn Management and Curuto~sbip (1992), 1 I, 3 13-327

Professional Notes

Comtwters I: The &unch

Often we hear of computers doing something we can scarcely believe, that common sense would seem to forbid. The wonder of data compression comes to mind. Somehow the astronomical numbers of bits needed to represent a two- or three-dimensional image are, it seems, stored in a fraction of the space they should fit1 and-what today is more to the point-transmitted over lines that simply do not have the carrying capacity or ‘band- width’ for the job. For example, one reads of video telephones using voice grade copper wires. The ‘breakthrough’ involves very efficient compression of the bit stream or, in the case of video, the corresponding wave form, and equally rapid decompression at the receiving terminal. This is logical, not elec- trical, engineering. In other words, the compressed stream consists of fewer bits, not the same number of bits, each one physically shortened. Furthermore the transmitted data stream is not just a little abbreviated but many times shorter than the original.

Where is the catch? Can data per se really be compressed? Can ten bits in some way ‘contain’ one hundred? Certainly not in every case. The I&bit string ‘0101010101010101’ represents the positive integer 21,845; and there is absolutely no way to express a number of this precision using fewer than 16 bits or five decimal digits. Ergo, data do not compress; or, at least, there is a limiting density beyond which they do not compress without some irreversible loss. Yet, there is an exception of sorts. The number 10,000 can be expressed as ‘104’, the number 65,536 as ‘216’. Indeed our first example can be written ‘S(‘O1’)‘. These are, of course, special cases in that a r&e can be given in lieu of the literal value. To say a rule can be given is the same as to say a

pattern exists and has been discerned in the data. For most bit strings, however, there is no apparent pattern.

The data streams of interest in this connection are the very big ones that take up space in storage and a lot of time in transit. These include the data that represent visual and auditory images. An image is, by definition, orderly. As transformed to a bit stream for computer processing the order may not be obvious; but, behind the bits, there lurks an image, hence a pattern. Does this imply compressibility? Yes and no: it depends upon what is required. Must it be possible to reconstruct the original perfectly? Must every image of scale X be compressed in time Y to size Z, or may some be compressed more than is possible for others? May some take longer than others to compress?

A two-dimensional image is represented digitally as a rectangular array of ‘pixels’, ranging in size from 512 X 512 (or even less) to several thousands on a side. That is, from perhaps a quarter million to a few millions of pixels. Each pixel can be described by one bit (i.e. black or white) to often 24 bits: one eight-bit byte for the intensity of each of the three primary hues. Thus the string length can range from about 250 thousand to the order of 100 million. The problem is to shorten it without losing information.

For example, try this simple case. Take a stark black and white image (e.g. an express- ionist woodcut) represented by an array of one-bit pixels. That is, one byte for every eight consecutive pixels. Now suppose we transform this to a code in which each byte is read as a number from zero through 255. Starting, arbitrarily, at the upper left, if the first 27 pixels happen to be black, then the first byte will be the number 27 (‘00011011’). But if the first pixel is white, then the first byte is zero (no black pixel(s) at the upper left); and the second byte represents the

0260-4779/92/03 0313-l 5 @ 1992 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd

314 Professional Notes

number of consecutive white pixels. When more than 255 consecutive pixels are the same the next byte is zero (i.e. no change), followed by another count of the same colour-and so on to the right end of the bottom row. In this code each byte represents a colour change. If there were a dozen changes, on average, per row for 512 rows, that would come to 6,144 bytes or 49,152 bits, compared to 262,144 in a 512 x 512 array: a compression ratio better than five to one. As a further refinement, it might be stipulated that only bytes zero through 254 are treated as above; but, if the count is 255, then the folfowing byte will be taken as a multiplier. Then two bytes can stand for as many as 65,280 (255 X 256) consecutive pixels of the same colour, perhaps the whole sky. This exercise is unreal but it illustrates a principle. The scheme does support perfect reconstruction of the original with no loss whatsoever, but the ratio of compression depends critically upon the nature of the image. If the average sequence of pixels of the same colour is the same as the byte size (eight in this example) then there can be no compression. If the number is even less, then the data wiif actually expand! In general, any system that allows perfect reconstruction will compress some data more than others, the simple more than the intricate. The latter, after all, contain more informdtion per unit size, and it is information that resists compression. Schemes that support perfect reconstruction may be useful in saving storage space but never for real-time trans- mission, where every ‘frame’ must be the same size and arrive on time.

Methods in actual use are based upon mathematical transforms, defined as ‘change of form, as an algebraic expression or geometric figure, without altering the meaning or value’.’ We have thus far taken for granted the transformation of a two- dimensional image to a bit string and discussed further ‘transforms’ with no change to meaning. It is a commonplace that a wavy line such as the groove in a mechanical phonograph record can be transformed to a bit string (i.e. digitized) for computer processing, that the process is reversible, and that the original sound can be reproduced from either form. In the same

way any bit string can be transformed to a wiggly line, indeed to an endless variety of them, depending upon the rule that is used; and these transformations, too, are reversible. Thus any digitized image can be represented by a wiggle.

Many compression techniques employ the Fourier or Hartley mathematical transforms, named for their inventors. Both are based upon Fourier’s discovery, almost two cen- turies ago, that any wavy line can be described as the sum of a series of regular waves (sinusoids) added together or, as it were, stacked one on top of another until the top of the heap assumes the required shape. The advantage in this is the fact that it takes only three numbers to describe a sinusoid: frequency (wave length from crest to crest), amplitude (wave height) and phase (how far each sinusoid must be shifted right or left in the stack to achieve a particular form). Three numbers mean rather few bits per curve. The total, for the whole list of curves, may be a small fraction of the image’s bit count-provided it does not take too many sinusoids. How many, then, will be wanted? Any number, alas, if we insist upon perfect reproduction of the original, but not very many for a fair approximation.

These fair approximations are, in fact, considered improvement of the image, and the Fourier and Hartley analyses are em- ployed less to compress than to enhance. This is accomplished by omitting (or ‘filter- ing out’) many sinusoids that are presumed to represent more random ‘noise’ than meaningful information. Oddly enough, this process is very effective even though a little information must surely go out with the trash and a little junk be saved. Just how a complicated curve is analysed to find the component, phase-shifted sinusoids and how, once they are found, the good are segregated from the bad this writer has no idea. The important facts are (1) compression is great, (2) the size (number of bits) of the compressed image can be independent of the nature of the original image, and (3) perfect, ‘warts-and-all’ reconstruction is not the objective.

By far the most spectacular compression ratios are claimed for systems (often with specialized hardware) using ‘fractal trans-

Professional Notes 315

form image compression’. Fractal patterns are generated by recursively applying some rule to an initial value. In the case of picture processing, the value is a location Gn the picture plane, expressed by a pair of numer- ical coordinates. The rule, which is often very simple, yields another location, which is the starting point for the next iteration. The procedure can be repeated indefinitely. Strangely, what begins as a random scattering of dots eventually develops into a pattern and this pattern has the remarkable property of self-similarity at every scale. This means that any part of it, however small, examined under magnification, looks just like the whole thing, and so does any tiny part of that, ad infinitum,

These patterns, now familiar as television ‘special effects’, may uncannily resemble (or, at least, evoke) those of nature: clouds, breaking surf, forests and fronds of fern. Thus the infinitely detailed image of the infinitely intricate, ideal (albeit imaginary) spleenwor? emerges through iteration of one extremely simple step. All that is required to transmit this image is to communicate the rule, a few lines of programme, In practice a set or ‘library’ of rules may be stored at the receiving station so that only a reference- ‘use rule 17B’-need be sent, Since the output can be any number of bits, the compression ratio can be thought of as infinity.

That, however, is only for the imaginary fern. Is there, perhaps, another rule that calls forth Whistler’s Mother? Clearly not, since the work of art lacks the fractal’s signature,

self-similarity. What, then, have fractals to do with compression? The answer is disillu- sioning from one point of view, miraculous from another. What these systems do is first to map an image into regions that are relatively uniform in visual texture. The map is just a linear diagram like those children’s puzzles in which an image is discovered by connecting numbered dots in order. This makes just a few numbers to transmit. For each enclosed region of the map, a fractal- generating rule is selected for texture and a small pallet of colours added. In essence a paint-by-the-numbers diagram is sent. These systems can and do regenerate images at video speed. The miraculous aspect is that, with the razor sharpness of fractal resolution, the screen image, a mere paraphrase of the original, can be utterly convincing to the eye. It is perfectly adequate for recognition, facial expression and pornographic applications, but not museum quality reproduction. Nor is it touted as such. In fact the term ‘lossy’ has joined the technological glossary to characterize the relationship of output to input under high compression.

NO&S

1.

2.

Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language (second edition) (Spring- field, MA: Merriam-Webster). Cf. A. K. Dewdney, ‘Mathematical recrea- tions’, Scientific American, 262, 5 (May 1990), ihs, p. 129.

DAVID VANCE

Conservation I: ARCH Foundation Introductory Course on the Documentation, Stabilization and Conservation of Works of Art

In Croatia today there is no institute for the training of conservators and restorers of works of art and monuments. Such training

as is available is limited to a practical internship which does not include any specific program or offer an examination for professional qualifications. ARCH (Art Res- toration for Cultural Heritage), in coopera- tion with the ‘Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Croatia’, is planning a four week course in Zagreb (26 October-27 November 1992) with the purpose of providing a substantial number of Croatian restoration students (about 36) with a grounding in the most updated and reliable know-how on the conservation of (movable) works of art. The

316 ProfessionaL Notes

duration and the format of the course have been programmed in accordance with the 1989 guide-lines regarding basic training workshops issued by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). In addition there will be lectures on the history of conservation and on the international principles and ethics stressed in the ZCOMOS Charter of Conservation (Venice 1964). The practical courses will focus on the proper ways to handle, transport and store art objects, the assessment of their condition, and the methods of documentation available (written and photographic). Trainees will learn the basic tenets of conservation, namely the stabilization of deteriorating objects. Considering that about 1 ,OOO,OOO museum objects and at least 3,000 important Croatian works of art have been hastily moved to safe places during the war and that many others are awaiting restoration, the ARCH courses will come not a moment too soon.

Courses in the following fields have been requested and they are listed below in order of priority needs:

(1) Documentation, art handling, inventory; (2) Stabilization of wooden sculpture

(polychrome and other); (3) Stabilization of paintings on wood and

canvas; (4) Stabilization of stone (sculpture,

polychrome, architectural); (5) Paper, books and rebinding; i61; pies;

eta ; (8) Glass, porcelain.

Themes to be addressed in the lectures are:

History of conservation; The different stages of conservation; Assessment of condition, and methodol- ogy of documentation; Causes of deterioration; Environmental concerns;

(f) Technology of materials and equipment; (g) Art handling.

ARCH has carefully selected the teaching conservators. These specialists possess proven didactical and technical skills. The course project will have a common denomi- nator and a homogenous program, therefore all participating teachers will first be briefed and provided with a common orientation by the ARCH coordinators in respect of the strategies, conservation and documentation format, and the restorers/teachers will be assisted by three local restorers. The Direc- tors of the two Croatian Institutes involved in the organization of the course, Vinko Strkalj and Mario Braun, have advised the ARCH project coordinator to limit the number of participants to a maximum of 36. This limitation is imposed for practical reasons and mainly because of the difficulties of finding young art students with the necessary interest, predisposition and skills to become future restorers. It is also advis- able to avoid overcrowding that can be disruptive and generate confusion. Partici- pants will be selected by V. Strkalj and M. Braun on the basis of their previous studies, their work history and their interest in conservation. The understanding of one of the foreign languages used at the course will be a plus towards their admission, but three assistants to the teachers will be selected for their ability to understand and translate the teachers’ languages and for their knowledge of conservation terminology. During the fourth week, each group of students will work on individual and group case studies and final reports.

For further information please contact the ARCH office: Villa Favorita, CH 6976 Castagnola. (tel: 41 91 513933 or 41 91 513735; fax: 41 91 524781)

FRANCESCA THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA


Conservation II: ‘A Gyre and Gimble in the Wabe with the MTI’s Slithy Toves’ : Conservation Qualifications and the Museum Training Institute

After studying the Museum Training Insti- tute’s consultative document (whatever that may be) entitled, A New Q~a~i~ic~t~on Framework for ~~~s~~rns,’ I could not help but think of Alice’s bewilderment upon reading ‘Jabberwocky’:

It seems very pretty’, she said when she had finished it, ‘but it’s rather hard to understand!’ (You see she didn’t like to confess, even to herself, that she couldn’t make it out at all.) ‘Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas-only I don’t exactly know what they are!‘*

The compilers of this consultative document all seem to have attended George Orwell University for they have done their best to create a brave new world which is as neatly compartmentalized as the Titnnic.

Professor John Last, one of MTI’s prime movers, informed the participants at the ICCROM Ferrara Conference held in November 1991 that, ‘The Museum Training Institute, once established, rapidly became the Industry Lead Body and provisional Industry Training Organisation for the museum world.’ Mercifully, the world to which he refers is a microcosm whose borders end at the White Cliffs of Dover, The terms ‘industry lead body’ and ‘provisional industry training organisation’ certainly have a highfaluting ring to them, and might cow the timid into believing that their users must know what they are talking about since they use language commonly bandied about in the boardrooms of Vickers and Imperial Chemical Industries.

In the introduction to their consultative document the MT1 compilers inform the unfortunate reader that the organization has undertaken ‘to develop a new series of qualifications for museum and gallery per-

sonnel’. That qualifications for whatever profession you might care to name are from time to time adjusted to meet changing situations, reflect developments, or answer specific needs is sensible. No profession, if it wants to survive, can afford to move through time without moving with it. Changes are inevitable and as long as they are good, logical and realistic no one should become overly upset. We are told that MTI’s ‘new qualifications are designed to fit within the government’s overall framework which re- quires these to be used on clearly specified occupational standards of competence’. This seems to be reasonably straightforward, but then we are told that: ‘These standards then become the building blocks for the qualifications.’ This is much like saying that the bricks used to construct a bridge will also be responsible for its design. Whatever, one wonders, happened to the architect? In other words, the importance of having a clearly defined idea of what is required by a certain profession-conservation in this case-has been totally neglected by the MTI’s compilers.

Such a basic omission might be excused if the consultative document had been pro- duced by a group of civil servants who, by the very nature of their oft-times bureaucra- tic ivory towers, are frequently given to concocting grandiose plans which are far removed from reality. This is not, as I understand it, the case with the MT1 since the people involved have experience in the museum field. One suspects that the MT1 compilers were too anxious to please their employers/sponsors, the Office of Arts and Libraries and the Department of Employ- ment. The concept of ‘building blocks’ is clearly the fundamental rationale behind the MTI’s thinking about how a profession is to be conceived. Instead of considering the whole, the MT1 has concentrated on the parts and the result is much like looking at a broken mirror. The image, in this case the conservation profession, is not seen in its entirety, but exclusively in facets.

In the section entitled ‘About the Qualifi- cations’, the MT1 consultative document compilers, not surprisingly, explain that: ‘National Vocational Standards consist of a number of parts’. These parts, or facets, are


called ‘units’ and units ‘describe an area of occupational competence which is valuable at work’. ‘Units’ are further fractured into ‘elements’, ‘performance criteria’, ‘range indicators’ (a term borrowed perhaps from Darth Vader’s navigator), ‘knowledge requirements’, and ‘performance evidence and assessment’. ‘Knowledge requirements’, they tell us, ‘describe what a member of staff would need to know in order to demonstrate competence. It may be that for different occupations a greater depth of knowledge is required. In most cases these have yet to be written for MTI standards.’ No one in full possession of his/her wits can deny that a greater depth of knowledge is required to be a surgeon than a dustman, or for that matter a museum director in contrast to a warder. The MT1 compilers’ naivete in this may be a misplaced attempt at being egalitarian in the work place (shop floor is more in line with such terminology as ‘industry lead body’), but it exposes their total lack of comprehension of fundamentals. Each profession re- quires a specialized knowledge and it is exactly the extent of a person’s knowledge- and let us not forget experience-which makes him/her exceptionally well-qualified, well-qualified, qualified, or not qualified for a given profession.

The questionnaire designed by the MT1 amply reflects its designers’s inability to form an intelligent, well-conceived overview of the conservation profession. Furthermore, like most questionnaires, it is off-putting in the utmost. Busy people simply do not have the time to answer carefully such lengthy forms, even ones which are far more clearly formulated than the MTI’s ‘Draft Standards Conservation’ questionnaire. There are fourteen questionnaire forms in all, and for each one there are ‘key areas’, ‘key functions’, ‘units’, and ‘elements’. One encoun- ters ‘Key Area 2”, ‘Key Function 22’, ‘Unit 221’, ‘Element 221 l’, ‘Unit 221’, Element 2213’, and so on ad n&Eseam. A brief illustration of the disorder of their building block gradated system will be amply suffi- cient. The museum inquisitors begin with an ‘Element’ without a number, then jump to ‘Element 2201’, proceed to ‘Element 2202’, do a real salto in fungo to ‘Element 2211’ (elements 2203 to 2210 were possibly lost on

the range indicators used by Darth Vader’s navigator?), etc. One, however, should not become all that flustered by this confusion since exactly what they are attempting either to explain or to assess was unclear at the outset and becomes increasingly obscure as the questionnaires follow one another in dreary succession. Hopefully, the compilers will never turn their hands to drafting a new and revised set of instructions for the game of mah-jongg.

To assist the unsuspecting, but soon-to- be-frustrated, pollee the MT1 questionnaire compilers included a mappa mundi of ‘museum occupational functions’. As might be expected, this map has been sub-divided into three parts: “Key Area’, Key Function’, and those ever-ubiquitous ‘Units’. A look through the MTI’s mappa mundi provides further evidence that the cartographers have failed to grasp the geography-of-the world thev are attempting to define. Under ‘Key Area 2. Curate and manage collections/items’ they have placed ‘Key Function[s] 22 Pre- serve and maintain items, collections and structures (Conservation); 25 Handle, move and accommodate item(s); 26 Protect material evidence held by the institution.’

Of course, one can give the concept of curatorship such a broad interpretation that it includes almost all the functions required to run a museum, but for clarity’s sake it may just be better to draw the limits somewhat more stringently. This will require a far more lucid idea of what a curator/keeper’s tasks are than the MT1 compilers’ catch-all building block list of duties implies. They have given the area of conservation to the curators while it has been generally recognized by the international museum community that conservation is a separate area of expertise from curatorship, in other words a different profession altogether. That curatorship and conservation are inextricably wedded no one would think of denying. Both disciplines depend upon one another, need one another and neither can function properly without the other’s assistance, support and full co-operation. That some museums place conservation hierarchically under the curators is a management decision which does nothing to change the fact that conservation is an independent profession. The wisdom,


or lack thereof, in placing conservators under curators is totally neglected by the compilers.

Since the MT1 compilers are so concerned with structures-so much so that the vener- able Thomas Aquinas might just have felt a twinge of jealousy at their ability to split hairs and balance angels on pinheads-it is astonishing they did not consider such basic organizational matters which would reflect a logical placing of different professions within one ‘corporate body’. One can legitimately expect far more from an ‘industry lead body’. They have also given policy making and management to curatorship. Again, it depends on how large are the holes in one’s industrial net, but in the international museum community the general tendency is to place policy making and management firmly with the managers, i.e. the director(s). Curators do have to manage their collections and to a limited extent will be responsible for developing policy, which will obviously have to be in line with the over-all policy laid down by the director. A great deal of interaction is involved in running a museum, but the MTI’s building blocks remain just that and never come together to form a coherent structure.

Under ‘Key Area 3 Make available communicate and interpret material evidence and visual culture of people their history and the environment (for the purpose of learning and enjoyment),’ the compilers attempt to fill in their mappa mundi with education land. ‘Key Function 32’ covers exhibitions, and the educators, we are informed, are in a museum to ‘Enlighten, educate and inform through exhibitions using material evidence and visual culture etc.’ Exhibitions, of course, belong in the first and fundamental instance to curator land. The MTI’s range indicators were on a major malfunction when their cartographers attempted to fill in this already thoroughly charted country. Curators possess the type of specialized, professional knowledge required to put together well- conceived, purposeful exhibitions. And, let us not forget scholarship. Perhaps the MT1 compilers prefer the type of exhibitions, which one sees with disturbing frequency these days, which are thought up by trendy educators and are geared to pander to the tastes of the ill-informed and infantile.

This last remark is not intended to antagonize museum educators who have an important place in museums and can make valuabie contributions in assisting the public, especially children, to understand and enjoy what they are looking at. But, the point is that like the director, curator, conservator, or whomever, the educator has his/her place in a museum’s organization, and that place is certainly not being in charge of exhibitions. Everyone who has ever worked in a museum knows that exhibitions demand the highly co-ordinated co-operation of many disciplines. Exhibitions, ideally, begin with the curator who should have the over-all responsibility for them, but they also require the specialized expertise of conservators, designers, technicians (called preparators in the United States), registrars and educators to be achieved successfully. Under ‘Key Area 2’, however, which deals with curatorship, the word ‘exhibition’ is not to be found. Neither for that matter is the word ‘scholarship’, but then scholarship is not a concept which readily fits into the type of terminology, let alone thinking, used by ‘industrial lead bodies’.

Returning to the ‘Draft Standards Conser- vation’ and the fourteen questionnaires, one can only suppose that the compilers compre- hend conservation in fourteen gradated steps, the implication being that, given enough financial resources, a museum could employ fourteen different people, each one with their own building block. Undoubtedly, the MT1 compilers will accuse me of misreading their document, and if that is the case, I can only reply that they offered precious little assistance to the user in getting their message across. Or, perhaps they see conse~ation as a profession which can be entered by stages. First you grab one building block, put it on your table and reach for the second when you are satisfied the first one is in its proper place. After playing with all fourteen building blocks the little toddler can then clap his/her chubby hands and proudly shout, ‘Look, mom, I’m a conservator!’

Whatever their system is intended to provide, it completely neglects the fact that conservation already exists as a mature profession and that its professionals are capable, or shouId be capable, of carrying out


all of the ‘Key Functions’, ‘Units’, ‘Ele- ments’, ‘Performance Criteria’, ‘Range of Variables’ and whatever else is included in their convoluted industrial lingo. A few minor points they forgot to include as part of a conservator’s responsibilities are management, planning, training (of the conservator), teaching (by the conservator) and research. This is more than a slight oversight and reveals again the MT1 compilers’ complete lack of comprehension of the profession.

What they seem to be getting at is a system which will allow less qualified people to carry out functions for which they have neither the training nor experience. This, of course, is ‘cost efficient’ and such a term is certainly music to the ears of ‘industrial lead bodies’. That the conservation profession is undergoing major changes at the moment cannot be denied, anymore than that conservators will have to devote ever more of their time in the future to preventive, rather than active,conservation. This in turn will place ever greater demands upon the management qualities of conservators. That preservation assistants are, and will be increasingly, needed can also not be denied. Exactly what such assistants should know, how, where, and by whom they should be trained, and where the limits of their responsibilities end is a matter being seriously discussed in many countries at this very moment. The building block system propagated by the MT1 is certainly not the way to approach this most serious of issues. It demands a carefully thought out overview of the conservation profession in its entirety with a clear definition of educational requirements and professional obligations and accountability at all levels of competence.

Ferrara that the prime movers believe their ideas deserve an imperial destiny. They have all the requisite arrogance of 19th century evangelical missionaries let loose on the innocent natives of British East Africa and they see their system as one which should be adopted by the European Community at large. They have also been less than candid in admitting that there is much criticism of their initiative in their own country by museum and conservation professionals. Furth- ermore, they have been highly unsuccessful in countering criticism of their higgledy- piggledy system. This is none too surprising when you pause to remember that, ‘You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time’. And on the subject of time, it is time for the British museum and conservation communities to stand up to this initiative before it becomes a harrowing reality due to a lack of organized, voiced resistance. Certainly the professionals can muster Alice’s courage when she dared to contradict the Red Queen: ‘A hill can’t be a valley, you know. That would be nonsense. . .‘.3

Notes

For all quotations from this document, the reader is referred to “‘A new qualification framework for Museums:” A Consultative Document, Draft Standards Conservation,’ Museum Training Institute, July 1991, no pagination. Comfort, however, can be taken in the proliferation of ‘units,’ instead of page numbers. The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll (New York: The Modern Library, n.d.), p. 155. Ibid., p. 163.

It was clear from the MT1 presentations in M. KIRBY TALLEY, JR

Documentation I: RECOMDOC ‘92 Sinaia, Romania, 4-6 May

of the late 1980s. Recent initiatives and opportunities were discussed at a conference organized in Romania in May 1992 and titled RECOMDOC ‘92: Regional Conference on

1992 Museum and Cultural Heritage Documenta- tion. The idea for this conference grew out of discussions at the I991 CIDOC (the Interna-

There has been an upsurge of collaboration tional Documentation Committee of the between museum documentation specialists International Council of Museums) Confer- in Eastern Europe since the political changes ence in Copenhagen, attended by two

ProfessionaL Notes 321

representatives of the Romania Information principles of museum automation and the Center for Culture and Heritage (Ecaterina use of the Art and Architecture The- Geber and Irina Oberlander Tarnoveanu). saurus. With the support of the Romanian Ministry of Culture and the Museums and Collections At the conclusion of the Conference, it was Board, the Center then took the lead in agreed to continue to encourage collabora- calling together colleagues from throughout tion between documentation specialists with- Romania and elsewhere in Eastern and in individual countries and across Eastern Central Europe and further afield.

Over 80 participants from 10 countries Europe, concentrating on specific projects with practical goals. The proceedings of the

gathered in Sinaia, 100 km north of Conference will be published during 1992. It Bucharest, in the Carpathian Mountains. The is intended that the discussions will be three day conference was structured into five continued during the 1993 CIDOC Confer- main segments: ence in Ljubljana, Slovenia (IO-16 September

international and national initiatives, with

workshops-supported by the Getty Art

a survey of documentation practice in

History Information Program-on the

European museums and papers about major documentation projects in Europe and north America; museum initiatives, including a number of reports on computer applications in Romanian museums and concurrent ses- sions on different discipline areas; standardization projects and opportunities, including interchange issues and the development of data standards; system demonstrations, including in- depth reviews of the prototype of an interactive multimedia project concerning the Romanian sculptor Constantin Bran- cusi:

1993). In addition to the stimulating discussions,

many of the overseas participants were fortunate to have tours of Peles Castle (the former royal residence in Sinaia), Bucharest and the surrounding countryside. These gave a fascinating insight into the country and its museums, including the major problems faced by the Bucharest museums after the damage caused during the revolution and in the current economic pressures.

For further details of the Conference and the Proceedings, contact: Irina Cios, Infor- mation Center for Culture and Heritage, Ministry of Culture, Piata Presei Libere 1, 71341 Bucharest PO 90 33, Romania. (Tel +40 0 175 170; Fax +40 0 594 781.)

ANDREW ROBERTS

Documentation II: Museum Documentation in Slovenia

In the year since the formation of the independent state of Slovenia, the new Slovenian Museums Association has been actively supporting the coordination of documentation initiatives in the country. A Museum Information and Documentation Centre has been established in the Slovenia Ethnographic Museum, to advise on documentation. Its priorities include the design of data standards and the support of the use of the MODES computer package,

which has been adopted by over 40 museums. Earlier in 1992, three outside specialists visited Ljubljana to give lectures on documentation issues: Mary Case, Reg- istrar, Smithsonian Institution; Dr Leonard Will, Head of Library and Information Services, Science Museum, London; and Andrew Roberts, Chair of CIDOC (Interna- tional Documentation Committee of the International Council of Museums). Andrew Roberts also discussed arrangements for the 1993 conference of CIDOC, to be held in Ljubljana from IO-16 September. This will include a pre-conference tour to a number of regional museums and centres and a series of post-conference training workshops. The


core conference will concentrate on the Mikuz, Slovenski etnografski muzej, Preser- theme East meets West, considering nova 20, 6100 Ljubljana, Slovenia (Fax +38 documentation initiatives and collaborative 61 218 844) or Andrew Roberts, CIDOC projects across Europe and further afield. Chair, 53 Shelford Road, Cambridge CB2

For more details about Slovenia or the 2LZ (Tel 0223 841181; Fax 0223 842136). CIDOC Conference, contact: Marjeta ANDREW ROBERTS

Insurance: Risk Management Techniques: Choosing What Not to Insure

Several years ago a newsletter on insuring only the most valuable objects in a museum collection brought a call from a very well respected mid-western Registrar who was incensed that we should recommend segre- gating any part of a collection for special attention since one of the most basic precepts of collections management is that all collections objects are sacrosanct and all must be given the highest priority when it comes to risk management.

In a world of unlimited funding and unending resources she would, of course, be right. But such choices are not always easy. In the end, the goal of most professionals is to be able to demonstrate that every possible step has been taken to fulfill their fiduciary responsibility to do what used to be legally termed a ‘prudent man’ job of providing risk management for the objects in their care, custody or control.

The first job is the most basic: inventory your collections. It is surprising how many museums have not got a complete inventory of the objects in their safekeeping. After that, the most important risk management consideration is the amount of security surrounding each object. It should be remem- bered that insurance is not the best protection for the collection, it can only compen- sate for loss. The best protection is perfect security, and insurance is only one element of the risk management picture. When perfect security is either unaffordable or unobtainable, many people think first of buying insurance against possible loss. Some- times, however, the cost of providing cover-

age for full collections values is prohibitive and in that case, consideration could be given to ‘scheduling’ only certain objects for insurance.

Generally among museums, art museums have the best record for inventorying and valuing their collections objects. They usually insure their whole collection at fair market value for each object at the time of any loss. There are many other kinds of museums that also insure this way, and such museums usually have good inventories and other documentation. However, for those museums that do not have perfect control, the method of using insurance to solve risk management problems by insuring only certain, presumably more important, objects by scheduling them, works quite well. A schedule of only those items it is intended to insure is a very precise method of limiting what is covered. For purposes of premium determination, it is necessary to establish a value for each of the inventoried items scheduled for insurance. Even if the value established is neither a current nor an especially accurate one, any paper trail is better than none in the event of a loss and a scheduled amount, if agreed to by the insurance carrier, is the amount recoverable in the even of a loss.

Whether all collections objects are insured or only certain scheduled ones, there are a few ways to elect not to cover certain kinds of losses. (Remember that choosing not to insure something is in effect ‘self-insuring’ against loss.) Asking a lender to a museum exhibition to keep his or her own insurance in effect, or making the museum venue for your exhibition provide the insurance at that location are obvious choices. Another would be to accept a deductible amount per loss or to raise the deductible amount one may already have. One well-endowed museum

Professioml Notes 323

has a US $~~~~~~ deductible per loss whether insure. Every historical society has its ‘box of the loss is to an owned collections object or buttons’ or other objects for which the best to an object borrowed for exhibition. While risk management is merely to store it on a other museums may not want to be exposed to this kind of cash outlay in the event of

high shelf and treat it with benign neglect. One may not want to insure an object for

loss, choosing to not insure smaller Iosses is a very viable choice and one that can effect

which proper security cannot be provided. For that matter, it may not be possible to get

important premium savings in many cases. an insurance carrier to insure such an object. In addition to choosing not to insure small

losses, coverage can be limited so that whole One major west coast museum has acquisi- tioned into its collection an earth sculpture

classes of collections objects are ‘self- that is unattended in the middle of nowhere insured’. For example, one might choose not in the Nevada desert. It was a real problem to to insure losses to outdoor sculpture. Many convince underwriters to insure it. museums do not insure objects that they think are relatively invulnerabfe to loss.

In many ways, deciding which objects not to insure is a more difficult task than

Objects that are so large or cumbersome as to deciding which to cover. If it can be be impossible to hide probably do not need demonstrated that a good faith effort has to be insured for theft (but it would still be been made to provide risk management for sensible to evaluate whether insurance collections objects, just by making the against loss by fire or some other peril is determination of how best to employ risk needed). Sometimes there is concurrence management resources, a curator will have among curators and staff that there are done what it takes to fulfill his/her profes- objects in the collections of little or no sional obligations. artistic, historical or scientific significance. These are objects one may choose not to CARL G. ALLEN

Reproductions: The Bridgeman Art Library

With the considerable overall increase in art publications and art associated prodwcts, a large number of museums and art galleries are now contracting out the licensing of their reproduction rights to the Bridgeman Art Library. This organization was founded in 1X&?, with one of the original motivations being to help museums and art galleries administer this aspect of their collections. In the past, the majority of museum publication departments were seriously underfunded and understaffed and in consequence their dispa- rate collections were being under-utilized. Staff photographers were few and far between, and often the collections had to be photographed by outside photographers who retained the copyright in the transparency. This was certainly bad for financial reasons but was also bad in practical terms, since no master transparency was retained

and paintings could be subjected to considerable risk through frequent re-photography.

The formation of a centralized art library where all the collections were fully cata- logued and information was immediately accessible was not only good for picture researchers, but it also generated considerably more business for the museum involved. With cutbacks in publishing, the average picture researcher did not have the time or the resources either to source numerous different collections or, as was their frequent complaint, to chase them up when customar- ily they failed to deal with requests within the required period of time. The Bridgeman Art Library not only provides the financial outlay to photograph a collection but also invests heavily in marketing it. The Library takes space in publications ranging from advertising directories to art newspapers and it also has stands at trade fairs such as the Frankfurt and London Book Fairs and Art Expo in New York. If museums and art galleries were to promote themselves indi-

vidually, the cost would be prohibitive and, since the Library represents over four hundred organizations, somewhat ineffective by comparison.

Although the costs of both marketing and administering a collection are reflected in the 50 percent agency fee retained by the Library from revenue raised, in the opinion of the majority of museum directors using the Library it is markedly less than they would have to spend internally on making an effective job of administering the reproduction rights themselves. Again, the recom- mended scale of reproduction fees published by the Group for Museum Publishing and Shop Management in the July 1992 issue of The Museums Journal highlights a striking lack of awareness of what the market will bear. Many of the fees quoted, for example in the areas of advertising, cards, jigsaws, books, newspapers and front covers, are significantly lower than the fees recom- mended by the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (BAPLA) for exclu- sive rights and even, in some cases, less than the half-share which the Library passes on to the museums which it represents. Conse- quently in these areas certain museums are not only saddled with administrative responsibilities and overheads, but also at best are making less money and sadly, in some cases, actually losing it. Such loss of potential revenue is surely not the best way to compete with commercial picture libraries, undermin- ing, as it does, pricing principles rather than attracting clients.

The Library is tortunate to have been one of the first to invest in a specialist computer expert who devised a specific programme to meet its needs. Through careful examination and constant reassessment over the years, virtually every aspect of the Library’s routine has been computerized to increase the speed and efficiency with which its librarians can deal with the requests. Bar Codes on the transparency sleeves allow transparencies to

be read by optical scanners for booking out and in, and for delivery notes to be printed out automatically. This considerably reduces the very high administrative burden which is the bugbear of most museum publication departments since these are still, almost without exception, run on manual systems. With telephone calls, faxes and personal visits from clients throughout the world, the eighteen members of staff are under constant pressure to deal with an enormous number of requests, many from media clients such as newspapers and television companies which require immediate action.

Not surprisingly, the Bridgeman Art Library also has a strong voice on trade organizations such as the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies and in negotiations with major clients. For example, two members of the Library were recently instrumentai in negotiating a new price structure for reproduction rights with the British Broadcasting Corporation. The picture market can be as cut-throat as any other financial market, and so by placing the financial negotiations in the hands of a good agent a museum curator is assured that these copyright negotiations are dealt with by professionals who are experts in the field. Furthermore, with large companies and conglomerates now undertaking new projects in electronic publishing such as CD ROM and CD-I, it is becoming increasingly apparent that they prefer to deal with one central source. Since the Bridgeman Art Library is now generally regarded as the largest centralized source of its kind in the world, it has been fortunate to have been offered contracts for a number of these exciting new projects. It is also in a position to monitor new developments in the picture market and is able to influence not only its own future but also that of the museums and art galleries which it represents.

HARRIET BRIDGEMAN

Security: Integrated Protection Patients and Pictures

of

In museums today communications and security requirements are becoming specialized industries of their own. At the same time the funds available to meet these needs are under increasing pressure. The most advanced systems must therefore be able to incorporate more than one function and be able to do this in a way that delivers clear information to the right people. Radio systems for staff communications and exhibit security have been achieving a higher profile in recent years. Advances in technology mean that reliable radio systems exist for a wide variety of applications. Pictures can be individually protected using radio, nursing home patients can call for help with bedside transmitters, and industrial or art gallery staff can carry body-worn units-a portable panic button.

Until recently any site requiring more than one of the above radio systems would probably have had to install two separate networks, an expensive proposition. This was due to the problems of integrating information at the response end from systems using different frequencies. Aid-Call is the company which pioneered radio alarm systems for people living alone, and as radio alarm experts they saw the potential of a wireless system which would offer increased flexibility by combining frequencies and presenting all call information on a single user-addressable ‘Call Processor’. Now into its second decade as a market leader, Aid-Call has successfully installed systems which integrate several functions. Aid-Call’s three radio systems are ‘Nurse-Call’: bedside transmitters for patients; ‘Art Security’: small, movement sensitive, transmitters for pictures, display cases and sculpture, and ‘Loneworker’: hand-held/body-worn transmitters for single-manned sites, gallery staff et ai. Due mainly to range requirements, these systems use different frequencies, and Aid-Call has pioneered a unique single Central Processing Unit, or Call Processor, which can process and analyse Call informa-

tion from systems using up to four different frequencies-the CP2OOO.

The secret of successful integration of systems on different frequencies is in the intelligent software built into the CP2000 which scans all receivers on a split second rotation. The receivers store the data transmitted on the carrier wave and offload it into the system when asked. The CP2OOO Call Processor incorporates the most advanced microchip technology and can monitor, analyse and respond to up to 200 simul- taneous calls. A large easy-to-read colour display gives indication of the type of call and the transmitter number. A secondary display panel on the CP2OOO shows any other calls and reshuffles them into order of priority. Staff can easily access additional information at the touch of a button. A computer memory will store details of the last 1000 calls and this information can be printed out to supply hard copy. There is an AM/PM time display and a back-up battery that will give up to eight hours life in case of mains failure.

The Aid-Call transmitters that are installed for use with the ‘Nurse-Call’ system are wall-mounted call points. These are available with push-button, pear-push switches or pull-cord triggers. An increasingly popular option are Aid-Call’s lightweight pendant and wristlet transmitters which are, at just over 1.5 oz, extremely versatile and exceptionally light. These units also have the greatest available range. Some of Aid-Call’s transmitters come with an inertia facility, which, when turned on, monitors the carrier for movement. Should no activity be regis- tered for a period of roughly 1 minute an initial audible warning is sounded. The carrier then has the opportunity to move, failing which the transmitter will signal automaticallly.

The Art Security system consists of small radio transmitters the length and width of a credit card which are easily attached to the back of picture frames and objects. Any serious disturbance of a piece will be detected, ensuring that the alarm is instantly raised through radio signals to the CP~OOO. Transmitters can signal up to 2 km and a weatherproof version is proving extremely popular with owners of garden sculpture.


Another advantage of a detection device that easy to install, requiring no unsightly wiring does not require mains electricity is that which disfigure displays and damage walls or previously unprotected properties such as buildings. Protection is constant, even when barns, warehouses and any vulnerable build- the public are on the premises, and exhibi- ings can now be protected. This system is tions can be easily rearranged while still already used by several national museums being covered. The Aid-Call system can be and many important houses open to the adapted to individual circumstances and will public, and multi-frequency users in the monitor other potential hazards. Wire-free United Kingdom include the National Trust fire alarms, sensors on important machinery and the National Maritime Museum. to detect mechanical malfunctions and zone

Various forms of alarm can be sounded areas can all be provided. and transmitters can be grouped for approp- The attraction of radio has always been its riate response. ‘Nurse’ calls could perhaps be flexibility; now it is possible to see that radio passed automatically on to pocket pagers can also perform two or more jobs at once. whilst ‘Art’ calls could sound sirens. Should For further information contact Aid-Call no responder be present the whole system plc, Moreton House, Moreton Hampstead, can be remotely monitored at the Aid-Call Devonshire TQ13 SNF, UK. 24 hour station. Radio systems are quick and HUGO WILLIAMS

Temporary Exhibitions: What’s On Tour?

Once upon a time, when you wanted to know what exhibitions were touring, you relied on personal contacts and the ‘grape- vine’. You also scanned a multitude of bulletins and catalogues, although these never arrived when you wanted them, and were always out of date when they did. Now-or at least in the near future-you will have MagNet, to provide summaries of exhibitions which are available for hire in the United Kingdom and where you might contact their makers.

MagNet is an on-line database. The advantage of a database is that it can be searched easily and quickly. On MagNet, you can look for exhibitions by theme, type of exhibit, period of showing, size, the degree of protection required, or cost. The advantage of being on-line is that museums and galleries have direct access to the database. For the exhibition maker, this means that information can be written directly into the database, so avoiding the delays and mistakes of printed bulletins. Entries can also be revised as often as necessary, so that an initial outline can progress through detailed contents to the last

remaining hiring periods. As far as the exhibition taker is concerned, information is available as soon as it is in the database. The delays associated with collating, publishing and mailing a printed bulletin are avoided. Information is as up-to-date as the maker can keep it, and the taker has the information it wants, when it wants it.

So, how does it work, and what will it cost? There is a single database, to which makers and takers alike have access by linking their personal computers to the telephone system. Because computers and telephones use different languages, a user must have a modem (cost around f2OO) which translates computer language into phone signals and vice versa. There is a subscription charge (260 a year), and then charges for using the system. Entry into the central computer costs 6p a minute, and the telephone link between it and your computer is charged at 3p a minute. Connections are cheaper than normal long-distance calls, because the system uses British Telecom’s Dialplus network, itself a part of Global Network Services.

MagNet does not carry any visual information. To be able to do so would have required a different technology and a much higher cost. MagNet was devised to make the first contact between organizer and venue,


and at this stage, visual evidence is less valuable and relevant than details of size, availability, security requirements, cost, etc. A potential venue would naturally contact the organizer for more detailed information, including visual material. MagNet is being developed for the United Kingdom’s Museums and Galleries Commission by Cultural Heritage Information Consultants and GreenNet. The first prototype has been operational since May 1992, and is being tested by a small pilot group of users within the UK, with a view to finalizing the database and preparing a manual by Septem- ber 1992. One of the aims during this testing period has been to simplify both procedures and instructions, in the hope that curators

unfamiliar with the technology will find little difficulty in using MagNet. As very few museums and galleries will have the equipment in the short term, UK takers will be able to request print-outs from the database. In the long term, MagNet has the potential to become the single source of information on all exhibitions touring regionally, nationally and internationally.

For further information, please contact Mike Sixsmith, Travelling Exhibitions Offic- er, Museums and Galleries Commission, 16 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SWIH 9AA (Tel 071-233 4200; Fax 071-233 3686; E-Mail GN-MGC).

MIKE SIXSMITH

Date post:	04-Jan-2017
Category:	Documents
Upload:	dangdung
View:	212 times
Download:	0 times

Professional notes

Documents