Project Objectives
The objective of the project is to identify the critical gaps between those who provide the recording and documentation tools utilized in conservation and the conservation professionals who use them. To meet this objective, the project includes:

• organizing international roundtables of experts to identify the gaps between recording and documentation tools providers and users;
• supporting a five-year (2002–2007) international and coordinated effort between partner institutions who agree to take on responsibility for bridging some of those gaps;
• creating effective task groups to bridge the gaps.

Project Overview
Between 1995 and 1999, a series of outreach workshops conducted by the ICOMOS/ISPRS Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage (CIPA Heritage Documentation) identified critical gaps between those who provide recording, documentation, and information management tools and professionals in cultural heritage management who use the tools. Providers tend to be highly technical practitioners without expertise in cultural heritage, while users are most often conservation managers unfamiliar with current documentation techniques.

In response to the findings of these workshops, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) and CIPA Heritage Documentation together created the RecorDIM Initiative partnership.

In March 2002, members of the RecorDIM Initiative convened a two-day meeting of information providers and users for a roundtable discussion of heritage recording, documentation, and information management. During the meeting at the Getty Center, participants discussed needs and strategies for improving communication between tool providers and users. From this meeting, a list of areas of focus for the RecorDIM Initiative was developed. These included:

• improving communication in documentation, recording, and information management;
• integrating documentation, recording, and information management activities into the conservation process;
• increasing resources for documentation;
• defining, developing, and promoting documentation tools;
• making available specific RecorDIM training/learning programs.

A report on the meeting is available.

Since then, the GCI has agreed to take on the responsibility of bridging the following gaps:

• a publication on principles and guidelines for recording, documentation and information management of cultural places;
• a handbook on the same subject;
• a Web presence for the RecorDIM initiative;
• participation in training programs on documentation (ARIS-05).

The GCI has also indicated its intention to participate in task groups that may be created to bridge the gaps in training and education on this subject.

In May 2003, the GCI brought together a group of experts to develop materials for recording and documentation of cultural heritage sites. The participants produced a table of contents and general outline for a publication on guidelines for the recording, documentation, and information management of cultural heritage.

In October 2003, the GCI and CIPA Heritage Documentation (a RecorDIM Initiative partner) organized Roundtable 3 in Antalya, Turkey. The RecorDIM Initiative was presented to 200 participants and keynote addresses were made during plenary sessions. Also in October, GCI consultant Robin Letellier convened a task group meeting in Zimbabwe during the ICOMOS Special General Assembly. The ICOMOS scientific committees were invited to join the RecorDIM Initiative and create task groups to bridge gaps between the committees themselves, as they all engage in documentation activities.

In December 2003, the GCI participated in task group meetings in Sri Lanka with two international scientific committees of ICOMOS. The ICOMOS International Committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage discussed the creation of a task group on terminology for underwater archaeology and the ICOMOS International Committee on Mural Painting also discussed the creation of a task group.

A RecorDIM Partners meeting was organized by the Centre Raymond Lemaire in Leuven, Belgium, in March 2004 to review progress and to create new task groups. Roundtable 4 was organized by CIPA Heritage Documentation and the GCI in Istanbul. A short report (3pp., PDF format, 96KB) on both meetings is available.

During 2005, a partners meeting was held in Paris. Task group meetings and presentations were made during the ICOMOS General Assembly in Xi'an, China, and Roundtable 5 was held in Torino, Italy, September 27-October 1, 2005.

During 2006, a partners meeting was held in Rome, and Roundtable 6 was held in Nicosia, Cyprus, in conjunction with the CIPA Heritage Documentation international conference. This year's symposium was a joint event focusing on e-Documentation and Computer Graphics. It was organized by CIPA Heritage Documentation, VAST (Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage), Eurographics Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage, and Euro-Med on IT in Cultural Heritage. With more than 250 participants and hundreds of papers (all published before the delegates arrived in Nicosia), the event set an example to follow.

More than thirty professionals representing both users and providers of heritage information participated in the two-day RecorDIM Roundtable 6 meetings. There were two parts to the roundtable: presentations and discussions on how international standards are created, and progress reports from task groups. Participation and interest on the issue of standards was high and reflected a real need in this community of professionals. A task group on heritage information standards was proposed and a large number of participants offered to serve on it.

During 2007, Heritage Information for Conservation–Guiding Principles and Heritage Information for Conservation–Illustrated Examples, publications being prepared by the GCI, should be completed.

Also during 2007, the GCI and ICCROM will be offering its training course on Architectural Records, Inventories and Information Systems for Conservation (ARIS-07), to be held in Rome from September 12 to October 12.

The partners in the RecorDIM Initiative maintain a working Web site for project documents, links to other sites of interest, scheduled events, and other information. This site includes the RecorDIM Info Warehouse, which was created during 2004 and offers useful links to recording, documentation, and information management Web sites.

Last updated: December 2006