British Museum Techncal Research Bulletin
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The British Museum has published in printed form their second volume of its Technical Research Bulletin. Articles from the first volume are now available, covering a wide-ranging .

Via ConsDist List.
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from The Harvard Crimson -
Novelist Funds Scientist Position
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A rare but nonetheless significant gesture which hopefully could see more emulators. Though an esoteric subject ("Does conservation science really exists?"), the impact would certainly be useful in the long-term.
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from The New York Times -
Cheeseburgers Get Into the Mix in the Italian Debate on Museums
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Following from an earlier post, the appointment of a former businessman as the top-most authority on heritage and cultural matters in Italy has sparked very strong reactions. Now, why is that not surprising?

Bu the more worrying aspect is the appointee's view on cultural heritage:

"Italy’s cultural patrimony is a 'strategic asset like oil, with zero costs because it’s there,' Mr. Resca said. 'Of course, you have to protect it, and care for it, but it has a value that we can leverage and develop.'"

Sure, try telling museums, conervators, heritage professionals and staff that they have "assets" that are "zero-cost" and these should be exploited. Is this a circus or what?
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from The Guardian -
Fear of McMuseums as burger boss gets culture job
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"Mario Resca, 62, who worked as Italy manager for the fast-food chain for 12 years before moving last year to relaunch a state-run casino, has been appointed to squeeze more revenue out of the country's museums, part of a shake-up at the culture ministry."

Enough said - prepare for the demise of human civilisation as we know it...
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from The Guardian -
Google Earth brings ancient Rome to life
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A project that started more than 30 years ago, as actual plaster models of ancient Rome, which was continued into the digital realm a decade ago. Perhaps it is time for UNESCO to consider starting a new category of Digital World Heritage Sites?
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from NUS Museum -
Newsletter, Issue 4, 2008
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WARNING: Shameless plug ahead!

I did a recent e-mail interview with NUS Museum - after moving there earlier in the year - which is now published online (on page 12 of the PDF issue). While downloading the issue, do have a look at the various interesting articles and exhibition reviews included in the newsletter - a vast and refreshing improvement over the usual dry and uninspiring corporate communications stuff that one has come to expect from museums.

Link via NUS Museum.
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from BBC News -
Bid to rescue Berlin Wall artwork
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A somewhat unorthodox approach to preservation - by re-creating, from scratch in some instances, mural paintings done in commemoration after a historic event - costing some US$ 3 million. Are we still stuck in that era which must see tangible preservation as the only "authentic" or "valid" approach? And who's paying?
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from i came i saw i come i see -
out of the blue - what's your hallmark
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An interesting account, arising from a visit to the Baba House Museum along Neil Road, on the historic use of architectural colours and also the tradition of hanging clan name insignia.
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from The Chronicle of Higher Education -
University Libraries in Google Project to Offer Backup Digital Library
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Though initially driven by commercial interests, the digitisation of books could see social spin-offs if we can wait long enough for copyrights to expire. An interesting aside, the project to share digital version of scanned books is called Hathi - Hindi for "elephant" - as:

"The name resonated really well because elephants remember, elephants are large, and elephants are strong,"

And one might add, they are social creatures, too.

Link via Educause Connect.
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from CultureGrrl -
Sharon Waxman's "Loot": A Definitive History of the Antiquities Wars
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A new book that chronicles the recent past events that made some of the heavy-weight museums look like petty thieves - through no fault of theirs.
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from The Guardian -
Guardians of the past uncover green lessons for the present
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When the preservation of "traditional" knowledge shows modern-day research a thing or two.
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from The Independent -
Return of the fallen Madonna
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This is the stuff that paintings conservators live for. In addition, any residual argument for retaining the "patina" of age on paintings should now be seen as misguided or even erroneous.
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