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EDITORIAL612
October 2008
One-Year Anniversary
In October 2008 e_conservation magazine celebrated its first year of existence, thus it is time for us to sum up our publishing experience. Looking back at the 6 issues we have published I can see that conservators do indeed have much to say. There are so many interesting things concerning our experience as professionals that are worth being made public and our task is to do just that. It has not been easy, but I can see an ongoing evolution in our approach, which is molded and shaped by experience. I believe that during this year our team, collaborators and committee members have done an excellent job. I want to thank them for having invested continuous efforts and for helping to maintain a high publication standard. On behalf of our team, I wish to thank all authors who submitted their papers during this last year to e_conservation magazine, and for sharing their knowledge and work with other professionals in the field. Often, their collaboration has continued and become a permanent and valuable support for the magazine. Obviously without you, our readers, and the website community members the magazine would not exist. I wish to thank you all for your numerous downloads and for the positive feedback, ideas and suggestions that we have received. The one-year anniversary is also the best moment to sort out our 2009 plans. On the practical level we are preparing to implement, next to the pdf format of the magazine, the html format that will allow the content of the magazine to be read online. On a more general level we are planning to give priority to the publication of research results, wishing to make new information available in a way which is easily accessible by everyone. We came to this conclusion after seeing that there is an acute need for a better synchronization between actual performed research, access to the outcome and current conservation practices. Plenty of institutions and researchers around the world perform high profile and relevant studies using some of the most advanced technology available, however, the transition between this research and the daily conservation treatments is still a difficult terrain. I believe that by continually publishing and giving free access to information we can help to fill in this gap. Conservators are aware that conservation is not a static field but a very dynamic one. Even though we apply our best knowledge to the conservation problems we face everyday, we also tend to implement the methodologies and treatments that we are most comfortable or familiar with. This reminds me a presentation I recently attended, where the Italian researcher Piero Baglioni shared his experience in helping conservators to establish the best approach to conservation practice. He pointed out a very important aspect: often the conservator may tend to damage the work of art by introducing harmful products or methodologies for lack of a better solution in cases where some sort intervention is unavoidable. This gap between the recent technological advances and our practice as professionals must be overcome and this is what drove us in the first place to publish the magazine. Controversies aside, I believe that free information distribution to professionals in an easy to access way such as the internet is what the future should hold for us. All we have to do is to want to share and learn. Rui Bordalo, Executive Editor
Permanent link to this resource: http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/635
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