Seminar on the Documentation of Cultural Properties – “Documentation of Cultural Properties for Protection and the Principle of Image Compression”
To obtain fundamental data for their research, protection, and utilization, the documentation of cultural properties and artifacts through both texts and photographs is an important activity for museums, fine art museums, and municipal governments managing cultural properties. The Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems is actively discussing methods for documenting cultural properties as well as the compilation of a database to organize and utilize these documentations. To this end, we conducted a seminar titled “Documentation of Cultural Properties for Protection and the Principle of Image Compression,” on September 21st, 2021, in the seminar room at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties while following the appropriate countermeasures against COVID-19 infection.
Mr. NAKANO Noriyuki (Senior Specialist of the First Cultural Properties Division, Agency for Cultural Affairs) delivered a lecture titled “Documentation of Cultural Properties for Protection.” He explained the importance of documenting cultural properties to ensure their protection and reiterated the areas of special care that must be taken into consideration during the documentation process, based on the abundance of materials with actual cases. In addition, Dr. IMAIZUMI Shoko (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University) delivered a lecture titled “Concepts and Basic Technologies of Image Compression” as the second session in the series on “Digital Image Compression from the Basics of Images to Moving Images.” She explained digital image compression, the processes involved, and finally, the basic technologies and techniques of major compression formats for still and moving images, such as JPEG and MPEG.
The significance of documenting cultural properties continues to increase as it is crucial to securing opportunities for research and appreciation in the current situation wherein it is difficult to access cultural properties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to actively disseminate useful information for documentation, preservation, and publication of cultural properties by providing lecture-style and hands-on seminars.