Executive Summary
Introduction
Methodology
Findings and Analysis
Recommendations
Conclusions
Introduction
Museums and their conservators serve as the guardians of invaluable objects from the past. Without their careful and meticulous work, the public would not be able to appreciate and learn from these objects, effectively losing a means of personally connecting to the past. To help conservators retain the ability to perform their job effectively, and thus allow for the continuation of these connections, it is important for their institution to have an efficient conservation documentation process (CDP) in place. This process encompasses the act of creating, editing, and handling archives as well as the other lifecycle processes an object may undergo during its time at the museum. This requires the attention of not only the conservator, but also staff vested in the management of the data produced in order
to be successful.
Te Papa Tongarewa, the national museum of New Zealand located in Wellington, is one such museum that serves a vital role in preserving history, especially the history of New Zealand. This includes displaying many objects created by Maori both in the past and present. With a collection of over two million objects that span five areas of study, it is crucial that the museum utilizes a robust CDP capable of managing such a tremendous workload. In addition to the unique size and scope of the museum’s collection, Te Papa also lends and tours its objects all over the world, which requires the CDP to also be flexible and mobile.
As technology continues to develop and the size of the collection continues to increase, the staff at the institution have recognized the need for an updated version of their CDP. Currently, the conservators complete their condition reports digitally, but often have to first create them on paper as well as print out and hand annotate any associated photos due to limitations with their digital infrastructure. Other problems with the current CDP include inconsistent processes between staff members for executing the CDP, and barriers in communication between the departments involved. The goal of this project was to assist Te Papa in improving their CDP to aid in the management of their condition reports while increasing communication throughout the institution. The hope of the project was to aid the museum in working efficiently and continuing to preserve their objects for future generations to enjoy.
Back to Top
Methodology
To accomplish the project goal the team created the three objectives listed below. This section of the executive summary explains how the team achieved these objectives using the following methodologies.
- Identify current issues with the conservation documentation process
- Research existing solutions to the identified issues
- Develop an improved model of the conservation documentation process
Identifying Issues
To identify the common themes in the CDP and the core issues presented in those themes, the team performed a case study on condition reporting, a series of semi-structured interviews with museum staff members, and observations on staff interactions. The team defined theme to mean a subject of interest. The team also defined issue as the standard term used by staff when discussing any type of problem with the CDP, and core issue as a broader encompassing definition of multiple specific issues. The team completed the case study on a non-collection object to help the team outline the steps of creating a condition report as well as to generate a better understanding of how that particular process worked in practice. The semi-structured interviews inquired about the interviewee’s job responsibilities, view of the current CDP, preferences in working style, and hopes for the improved CDP. The purpose of the observations was so the team could observe how staff members worked with one another, especially between staff members that work in different departments. The culmination of the data helped guide the team in their research on existing solutions.
Research Existing Solutions
For objective two, research existing solutions, the team focused their research on addressing the core issues identified in the previous objective. The team interviewed outside institutions to inquire about their CDP and determine if any features of their methodologies would be applicable to improving Te Papa’s CDP. In addition to conducting these interviews, the team performed research to identify existing solutions that had notable concepts or features that addressed some of the core issues.
Develop an Improved Model of the Conservation Documentation Process
Before the team could develop the improved model of Te Papa’s CDP, it was important to first create the existing model of the CDP. The team defines the model of the CDP as a collection of business process documents (BPD) that outline the condition reporting process and the life-cycle stages an object may undergo during its time at the museum. A BPD is a written document that outlines the people, tools, and steps required to complete a process. To create this model, the team outlined the current CDP.
The team first created a series of initial outlines of the processes that make up the CDP by using data from the interview responses as well as consulting with the Conservation Manager. After completing the case study and the interviews, the team created a survey for the CDP stakeholders to complete, which asked them to rate the importance of each of the previously identified themes on a scale from one to five, one being least important, and five being most important. The team distributed this survey to museum staff following the conclusion of a presentation of the team’s initial outlines of the BPDs. Once the team created the current model and received all survey responses, they highlighted the steps within the CDP that presented core issues for the staff. The team then paired the highlighted core issues with existing concepts, methodologies, and features identified in the previous objective that could address the core issue, creating the improved model of the CDP.
Back to Top
Findings and Analysis
Identifying Issues
The team had the opportunity to perform and analyze eleven interviews with twelve interviewees. The team conducted one interview with two staff members simultaneously, and conducted the rest of the interviews with one staff member at a time. In total the team interviewed eight staff members working in Conservation, two staff members working in Information Technology, and two staff members working in Digital Collections and
Access. From these interviews the team identified five major themes mentioned throughout the responses: mobility, imaging, access, communication, and process.
After identifying these themes the team analyzed the interview responses and their observations to generate a list of core issues associated with each theme. The list tallied the number of responses associated with the core issues, and from this the team discovered that the problem of familiarity with other staff members was the most frequently noted core issue in the interviews. This is important to note because at the start of this project the team had envisioned technology as the primary issue. Given the response data, however, it became clear that the issues went deeper than a matter of technology being out of date. Other core issues included difficulties with understanding the museum’s digital asset management system, limited Wi-Fi, and a communication in the process of handling information from old reports.
Research Existing Solutions
Once data collection was complete, the team then moved on to researching existing solutions. The issues identified from the case study, interview responses from both Te Papa staff and outside institutions, and observations guided the research for existing solutions. In total the team identified ten pieces of software that addressed some of the core issues that required technological solutions. The main types of software the team analyzed were digital asset management, picture annotation, file exchange, speech-to-text, and project management.
In terms of addressing core issues that required administrative solutions, the team identified possible remedies such as quarterly meetings and targeted trainings. Holistically, the team’s observations and interview responses led the team to deduce that the major problems hindering the system were mostly communication based.
Develop an Improved Model of the Conservation Documentation Process
With the core issues and existing solutions identified, the team was able to create the improved model for the CDP. To create this model of the CDP, the team first worked with the Conservation Manager to outline the current processes for creating, editing, and handling condition reports, as well as the seven life-cycle stages that objects undergo during their time at Te Papa. These seven life-cycle stages are acquisition, registration, housing, exhibition, loan, publication, and tour.
The team presented these outlines to a set of museum staff for their feedback on the outlines, and then distributed a survey at the conclusion of the presentation to the members of each stakeholder group. This survey, as mentioned above, requested the staff rate each of the themes for importance on a scale from one to five. From the responses to this survey the team discovered that, when averaging all of the responses across all departments and all themes, the most important theme to the staff was access with an average rating of 4.62, followed by mobility with an average rating of 4.52, and communication with an average rating of 4.51. This data helped the team to prioritize the themes so that Te Papa could implement the team’s recommendation strategically based on need if necessary. After creating the BPDs from their initial outlines and addressing feedback from the update presentation, the team highlighted steps with core issues in the processes and paired the core issues with existing solutions or recommendations that addressed that core issue. The team also spoke with key contacts at the museum to ensure that they correctly correlated the steps to the appropriate core issues and recommendations. Upon completing the project, the team delivered eight BPDs to Te Papa, which included the recommendations.
Back to Top
Recommendations
Upon completing the analysis of the collected data, the team developed a list of recommendations to address the problems the staff members had with the current CDP. The following list is not the complete list of recommendations, but rather a shortened list of some of the most important recommendations.
- The team recommends the museum to look into implementing Wi-Fi in the conservation laboratory. This alleviates issues concerning mobility as well as access to files while away from a wired desktop.
- The team recommends looking into ways to increase off-site mobility including data cards, virtual clients, and mobile devices. Often, staff members work on objects while away from a wired desktop to create reports off-site. These recommendations may help the museum distribute information more quickly and more efficiently than the current process.
- The team recommends improved training sessions for employees. This recommendation serves to increase education and awareness of the programs, tools, and security at Te Papa.
- The team recommends increasing communication between staff members in different departments by implementing meetings with the different departments together on a regular basis. This is to ensure that staff members from all departments are aware of not only their tasks but of the tasks of other staff members. This also aids in giving staff members a greater understanding of the limitations of their facility in order to formulate solutions for the future.
- The team recommends the museum provide more accessibility to annotation software. During interviews with staff members and the case study, one of the main concerns was the difficulty of annotating images to communicate damages to others. Currently, only one computer in the conservation laboratory has Adobe Photoshop accessible on it. This recommendation aims to increase the productivity of staff members by allowing multiple users to work with the software at the same time.
- The team recommends the museum incorporate outside concepts from existing software. By using the concepts identified from the example software provided by the team, the Information Technology staff can upgrade the digital infrastructure to address the needs of the conservation staff. The consideration of incorporating these concepts could increase productivity among staff members, communication between departments, and effectively make the CDP more efficient. The team created a table of possible concepts, the problems they address, and the software in which the concept exists later in this report.
Conclusions
After the completion of this project, the team provided the museum with a series of improved process documents accompanied by a list of recommendations to provide Te Papa staff with the tools and data to move forward with improving their CDP. While at first this project appeared to be a technology issue, it soon became clear that the problem was much deeper. By performing the semi-structured interviews, case study, and survey, the team was able to discern that access to software, the mobility to work away from wired devices, and communication between departments were some of the core issues hindering the CDP. By identifying existing solutions and recommendations such as upgrading the Tory Street conservation facility Wi-Fi, providing mobile devices, and implementing a meeting with the stakeholders on a regular basis, the team hopes that the museum will be able to move forward and work more efficiently in the future, ensuring that Te Papa’s collection remains a part of fostering the public’s personal connection with their past.