Conservation Digital Report: standard documentation in Cultural Heritage

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. The main features of this system are:  more than 1,600 pre-set technical entries for different objects, constitutive materials and relative deterioration, to be combined in case of complex operations: frames, leather, paintings on canvas, gilding, plasters, installations, polimateric works, kinetic works, latex-rubbers, paper materials, wax materials, glassy and ceramic materials, plastic materials of synthesis, sculptures and wooden boards, textiles, looms, stone, mosaic, book;  to add and make changes independently to the structure of database and customise it as needed, according to the different public or private requirements;  to manage multiple condition report for each work and historicized in time;  specifying information, compiling and printing in multiple language;  by using the “Collaborative” feature of the software the person in charge of the condition report can identify “collaborators” and “guests”, the former able to gain access to the condition report assigned for the compilation of the information, the latter able to gain access for consultation only;  the management of multiple views of the artworks, with the ability to identifying on each view points of interest and to draw custom graphical layers to highlight area of degradation or of restoration, all directly on-line (without the use of additional graphics software), and then export these entries in PDF format;  documentation available in HTML format, which can be viewed also through mobile devices (smartphones and tablet) by reading a QR codes; ability to export documentation to standard PDF documents;  available Mobile APP capable of photographic surveys and to add notes on the state of conservation of an artwork directly on the smartphone/tablet even in off-line mode, and then synchronize the data to the system;  ability to attach to the documentation 3D models in OBJ format, and to view them directly in the browser (and therefore no need to install the visualization software) and export of views generated from the models in the system for further processing. 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.