Conservation workstation

In Finland computers have not been used in the documentation of
art-conservation in spite of the exact data content in the profession.
The second generation ADP-system of the Aine Art Museum will include the
automated conservation documentation system. The project is
co-ordinated with the conservation department in the Finnish National
Gallery.

The general aim in changing and modernizing the data- and information
system is to improve the productivity with the existing personnel. For
art-conservation the new system should increase productivity for instance
by decreasing the documentation time.

Traditionally the conservator first conserves the object. After that the
procedures are written down in the conservation report. Thus the work is
done twice; mostly also in two different places. The second time the
linguistic description of the object is given new characteristics in
writing.

It would revolutionize the productivity of the conservation if the
documentation happened simultaneously with the work. Hypermedia database
offers a ready solution for preservation of the information. The only
difficulty in the simultaneous documentation of the work is to create a
suitable user interface.

For the solution of this problem we are gathering opinions about a
well-fitted workstation from the conservators. In your opinion and
experience what should a conservation workstation look like? We look
forward to hearing from you.

Liisa Hanninen-Pelz, Conservator
+358 698 432 607 Liisa Hanninen-Pelz
Yrjo Nurkkala, Project Manager
+358 698 432 435 Yrjo Nurkkala
Fax: +358 698 432 586
The Aine Art Museum
Torikatu 2
FIN 95400 Tornio
Finland

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:55
                Distributed: Wednesday, January 18, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-8-55-006
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