I would like to start by acknowledging the Photographic Materials Group of AIC for supporting my attendance at the Annual Meeting. I have been a beneficiary of all the wonderful work PMG does, and this scholarship adds a line to my list. Also, I would like to thank my fellow co-organizers of the Pre-Session, Data Viz for Conservation Whiz, Maggie Wessling and Sarah Reidell. I am infinitely appreciative of their vision, team spirit and good humor.
Data Viz for Conservation Whiz in Pre-Session and Automation, Conservation, Preservation in the Concurrent General Session, together, compiled a broad array of topics connected by the common thread, data. The sessions explored topics from practical to philosophical in nature, applied to a broad range of activities from preventive practices, survey, treatment, and documentation. While the breadth of the topics confirmed a data-driven approach is relevant in many aspects of our work, I was struck by the single take-away: Data automation is powerful, yet, human eyes and brains are integral for its beneficial use.
On the practical end of the spectrum, the lineup of case studies featured data tools including ResearchSpace supported by Linked Conservation Data (database, data network), Bayesian Network (probabilistic graphical modeling), R (statistics, visualization), FileMaker Pro (database), Microsoft Power BI (visualization), Qualtrics (survey builder), CHARP Art Care (environmental monitoring), and Tableau Public (visualization). Some offered a quick tour of the tool and tips, while others expanded on the reasoning behind the selection of the tool, and how visualization informed their decisions. Many of these tools are free and easy to learn with tutorials widely available on the Internet. In addition, many presenters shared resources that are available in the Library tab of the AIC Annual Meeting Community.
On the philosophical end, presentations covered ethical concerns, such as fair representation of facts, privacy, guidelines for inclusive visualization, and the challenges involved in migrating legacy documentation into structured data. Further, perhaps more complex questions were discussed in response to presentations on Linked Conservation Data, such as the conservation professionals’ general hesitancy to open up their records to unquantified audiences.
Despite the common conception that data is inflexible and impersonal, these concerns arise because of the opposite notion: Data is not neutral.
Having a clear vision of what one wants from the data and the ability to fine-tune based on experience and reason is critical for success. Visualization tools are often enlisted with the ultimate goal of communicating with the stakeholders to advocate for cultural heritage items under our care, be it treatment priorities or funding to improve building envelope. Even something like light exposure guidelines, which are built on a somewhat hard-and-fast rule must be informed by circumstances and each artwork’s unique needs. Data can be nuanced. In reverse, when consuming visualization, we must exercise caution and good judgment.
Mary Wilcop (Carnegie Museum of Art) asked in her presentation, Using Data with Humans: Successes and failures of data storytelling in the realm of conservation: “We live in the world of data-driven stakeholders. So, how data literate should we become?” This is a choice conservation professionals have to make. And we must choose in favor of higher literacy, and do so consciously. Not everyone needs to learn a computer programming language, but we should acquire a basic literacy so we know how to store and consume data in a way that benefits our mission today, and those of the future generation. As the voices from the audience pointed out during a Q&A, many conservation professionals are aware of the importance of data literacy, and we can start by taking baby steps - if we know what those steps are. (Yes, simply scanning those hand-written reports into PDF counts!) These sessions took a stab at answering that need. We need a collaborative effort to educate ourselves and each other. Picking up another language does not come naturally to all of us, but I sensed excitement and comradery in the audience for taking the next step.
Both Data Viz for Conservation Whiz (Pre-Session, 5/14) and Automation, Conservation, Preservation (Concurrent General Session Track 1, 5/16) were recorded, and they will be available to all Annual Meeting registrants through October 31. I encourage those who missed the sessions to tune into recordings and visit the AIC Annual Meeting Community Library for resources, and start taking baby steps.