In addition to these changes, the icons that represent the pieces of art were updated. Previously, the pieces were represented by small, dark circles on the screen; they have been switched to the PreserVenice icons that are used to represent the different types of public art.
3.5.
Priority Analysis With the public art catalog fully integrated into the Venipedia wiki site, the next area of
focus for our group was to develop a means for the preservation and restoration of individual pieces. To work toward this goal, it was necessary to establish a prioritization system detailing which pieces are most in need of attention. Past IQP project teams had created prioritization charts for individual types of art, but it was not until 2007 when one system was established for every type of piece. Using their work as a basis for our own, we sought to improve upon their priority system for decorative sculpture, and to extend it to functional pieces as well. In designing their system, the 2007 group based their work off of a 1993 paper written by Professor Fabio Carrera entitled “A Computerized Catalog of Outdoor Art in Venice with Automatic Estimation of Restoration Costs.”57 Published in the proceedings of that year‟s International RILEM/UNESCO Congress, the paper laid out his thoughts on the subject to which he has dedicated much of his time in Venice. This paper, in addition to another paper published in 1997 entitled “What cultural heritage do we preserve and why?”58 served as the backbone for their system. Our reason for adapting the 2007 team‟s system was that it allowed for each type of public art to be compared on the same scale. The system itself acts as a great equalizer, allowing all pieces to receive the same treatment from future evaluators. It is also very basic, relying on a zero-to-four scale to rate pieces in five separate categories. But it is the simplicity and directness of this system that allows for its effectiveness. As with the 2007 team had done, we incorporated several large “meta-attributes” detailing with the main areas of interest for a particular piece. These “meta-attributes” of state of conservation, vulnerability, social and historical importance, artistic value, uniqueness and emergency criteria are broken down further into subcategories, or “attributes”, in the sections 57
Fabio Carrera, “Computerized Catalog of Outdoor Art in Venice with Restoration Costs” in Conservation of Stone and Other Materials, ed. M.-J. Thiel, 831. 58 Fabio Carrera, “What cultural heritage do we preserve and why?” (PhD diss., Massachusetts Institute for Technology, 1997).
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