The introduction and rapid spread of personal computers in the early 1980s had an effect on the way archaeological site inventories could be managed. The pioneering work conducted by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and the American Center of Oriental Research resulted in JADIS, a FoxPro database, and revealed the potential of using smaller and less-expensive systems to handle databases of potentially unlimited size. Similar systems with updated hardware and software were developed in Israel, Lebanon, and later in Egypt and Qatar. This paper looks at the way various countries have approached documentation and inventorying of archaeological heritage and how they have responded to the evolution of technology and the availability of tools, such as the Internet and GIS.

It is common knowledge that—with the exception of calamities such as fire, earthquakes, and floods—monuments decay in a gradual process and very often major damage is the result of minor damage that has not been repaired in due time. Regular attention and maintenance can slow down the process of decay or, in specific cases, even partially prevent it. That is why an organization was founded in the Netherlands, in the Flemish Region of Belgium, and elsewhere in Europe with a goal based on the very elementary belief that prevention is better than cure, but in this case applied to cultural heritage. Monumentenwacht offers a systematic inspection system focusing on maintenance and preventive conservation and has developed a database for member, object, and inspection information. After almost twenty years of experience, the organization is now in a phase of professionalization of applied technology to develop an integrated condition-reporting database. The question is whether this new system will reach its goals and generate the necessary benefits for users and stakeholders.

[EN] Documentation of cultural monuments and sites often includes a thorough analysis of their condition through
\ntime. This paper addresses the benefits of using multispectral imagery such as visible, near-infrared, and thermal
\ninfrared imagery in combination with terrestrial laser scanning to assess the state of preservation of a sandstone
\ntomb, the Djin Block No. 9 in Petra Archaeological Park in Jordan. The combination of the different multispectral
\nbands (visible, reflected near-infrared, and thermal infrared) and enhanced combinations of them yielded comprehensive
\ndata to analyze with maximum reliability the state of preservation of the monument with state-ofthe-
\nart photographic and 3D surveying techniques

Heritage Recording and Information Management in the Digital Age (SMARTdoc-heritage) Mario Santana Quintero (bio) and Ona Vileikis Executive Summary The international symposium SMARTdoc-heritage, which was held on November 19-20, 2010 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (USA), provided a wide cross-disciplinary platform for educators, professionals, heritage institutions, and managers of heritage places to share, exchange, and explore new approaches, best practices, and research results in the area of digital heritage recording, documentation, and information systems. This event was organized by the Historic Preservation Department at the School of Design (University of Pennsylvania) with the collaboration of the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC, KU-Leuven) and the University College St. Lieven. Supporting institutions included the Kress Foundation, Sardegna fund, UNESCO World Heritage Center, UNESCO Chair for Preventive Maintenance, Monitoring, and Conservation (PRECOMOS), ICOMOS Scientific Committee on Heritage Documentation (CIPA), ICCROM, and the International Society on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM). This symposium, initially planned by Robin Letellier and Frank Matero, was dedicated to Letellier's unique vision and tireless effort to promote heritage conservation through research, teaching, and public service. It expands Letellier's work with the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), which eventually led to the two-volume publication of Illustrated Examples: Recording, Documentation, and Information Management for the Conservation of Heritage Places produced by the GCI. Concepts and Results The rapid rise in new digital technologies has revolutionized the practice of recording heritage places. Digital tools and media offer a myriad of new opportunities for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information about heritage sites. But with these new opportunities, there are also many conflicts about the appropriate level and degree of recording and documentation knowledge required by conservation professionals. Research and applied uses of digital media in documenting and recording heritage sites have created an urgent dilemma in education and practice within the global heritage conservation field. UPenn, KU-Leuven, and their partners have played a leading role in this area of cross-disciplinary research and practice. SMARTdoc-heritage was envisioned as a platform to offer a unique opportunity for educators, professionals, heritage institutions, and managers [End Page 157] of heritage places to share, exchange, and explore new approaches, best practices, and research results in the area of heritage informatics. The symposium drew the participation of over 250 professionals, academics, and students from Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Pakistan, Spain, Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela. The symposium included two internationally recognized keynote speakers, and more than twenty oral presentations were offered in five thematic forums. Speakers represented preservation organizations across the world: B. Kessler Foundation, Bryn Mawr College, ES Srl Progetti e Sistemi, the Getty Conservation Institute, Indian Trust for Cultural Heritage, Heritage Recording Unit of Canada's Heritage Conservation Directorate, Historic American Buildings Survey, Integrated Conservation Resources, Muhlenberg College, Pantel, del Cueto & Associates, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation-KU Leuven, UNESCO, University of Primorska, University College St. Lieven, University of California at Merced, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, and World Monuments Fund. A report of each forum was presented during a roundtable session, allowing for audience responses to the issues and topics addressed during the symposium. Additionally, a poster session with over fifty submitted contributions was held at PennDesign's lower and upper galleries and five posters were awarded recognition. Papers have been selected for publication in the current and next issue of Change Over Time. Along with the posters and presenters, exhibitors from leading commercial firms demonstrated hardware and software for recording heritage places. The symposium was recorded using advanced digital video. Keynotes The symposium began with two keynotes speakers, with Francois LeBlanc serving as the event's opening keynote. LeBlanc led the Getty Conservation Institute's Field Projects during the development of the RecorDIM initiative. Leblanc argued for the increasing need for more and better recording, documentation, and information management of our cultural heritage. He stressed the alarming rate in which heritage disappears due to natural and human causes. He also presented a remembrance speech on Robin Letellier, one of the most inspiring specialists in this field during the...

Although the efficacy of digital media as a replacement for traditional silver-based media is still being debated and the United States Department of the Interior (HABS) standards for high-level documentation still specify silver-based materials, the field is in a state of transition. The great majority of site documentation is currently captured digitally, and all retrievable images from the Library of Congress are currently delivered digitally. Digital cameras have evolved to the point where image quality can meet even the highest HABS standards at a cost that is comparable to traditional materials. For professional photographic practitioners, it is time to propose digital standards for HABS-level work that will ensure high image quality, accuracy, and integrity of digital information and retrievability of archival images over the long term. At the same time, it makes sense to propose less rigorous standards for field notes, National Register nominations, area surveys, and the like, to guide preservation professionals who use photography in their work. This paper examines the elements of lens, camera, recording material, image adjustment, image storage, and retrieval, comparing the specifications of traditional film practice with digital counterparts currently available. It then proposes new standards to allow for further advances in digital technology that are both mindful of international practice and cost effective.

Dedication:Robin Letellier (1944-2007) Francois LeBlanc (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Francois LeBlanc (right) with Robin Letellier discussing the RecorDIM initiative. (Mario Santana Quintero) [End Page 166] Robin Letellier passed away in Philadelphia on April 20, 2007. He graduated in architecture in 1969 from Laval University in Quebec City, Canada. One of his first jobs was to prepare the as-found drawings of the Dauphine Redoubt, an early-eighteenth-century masonry building built by the French in Quebec City. From that day on, he continued to be passionate about recording and documentation and went on to become one of the leaders in this field not only in Canada, but internationally. His career blossomed during the more than thirty years he spent working for Canadian government agencies responsible for the conservation of National Historic Sites. During that time Robin was also enthusiastically involved in international activities through the ICOMOS-CIPA Heritage Documentation international specialized committee. In those days, though Robin was a young professional, he was considered to have avant-garde ideas about heritage recording. He was a pioneer in Canada and internationally in the development and application of stereophotogrammetry and laser scanning as well as social programs such as "Family Album," a children awareness program for documenting their families' histories. Early on he was of the opinion that recording specialists—"the providers"—were not connected enough to "the users" of documentation products and services. He dedicated the later part of his life to the RecorDIM Initiative (Recording, Documentation, and Information Management) that brought together many of the world's leading specialists and produced a number of innovative tools and applications contributing to the advancement of the field. During his time at the University of Pennsylvania, Robin and then program chairman Frank Matero discussed plans to convene an international symposium dedicated to exploring contemporary practices of heritage recording and documentation. That symposium and the papers selected for publication are dedicated to Robin Letellier and his steadfast vision. [End Page 167] Francois LeBlanc Icomos, Canada Francois LeBlanc François LeBlanc is a specialist in heritage conservation. A graduate in architecture from Montreal University, LeBlanc specialized in heritage conservation at the University of York in England and in Ottawa, Canada. From 2001 to 2007, he was head of field projects at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles, directing projects in more than twenty-five countries. He is the former chief architect of the National Capital Commission in Ottawa (1992-2001); he was vice president of the Heritage Canada Foundation (1983-92), director of the International Council on Monuments and Sites' Secretariat in Paris (1979-83); chief architect of historic sites from the French period at Parks Canada in Ottawa (1971-75) and Quebec City (1975-79). He has served on the executive board of ICOMOS and as president of ICOMOS Canada. He has also served on the board of the Association for Preservation Technology International (APTI) and was inducted into the APT College of Fellows in 2003. Copyright © 2011 University of Pennsylvania Press