- Historic Scotland, CyArk and the US National Park Service are involved with the scanning of Mt. Rushmore.
- Some have questioned the politics of this association – yesterday CyArk responded informally.
- I support digital preservation, but I don’t think it can replace conservation and restoration.
I thought that I had already blogged about this project, but I can’t seem to find anything – go figure. In any case, back in early July it was announced that Historic Scotland would be supplying technical expertise to assist CyArk and the US National Park Service in a digital preservation project involving Mt. Rushmore. The Glasgow School of Art will also be involved with the project.
The story was picked up by USA Today, which is a positive overall for the laser scanning industry, but at the same time caused some to wonder about the politics of this project. Yesterday Justin Barton, a Project Manager at CyArk supplied a detailed chronology of how the project came together, and addressed the sensitive nature of having Historic Scotland involved with a US project of the importance of Mt. Rushmore, especially in this economic climate.
Local firms are going to be involved with supporting the scanning effort, and most importantly the work is getting done as there is some concern about the rate of deterioration of some of the sculpture. I must admit that although I fully support the scanning of these important historic sites, I hope that it leads to conservation and restoration, not just digital preservation. I don’t think you can compare the two.
Hello!
I think there are valid points about “Digital Preservation” versus actual “conservation” work. Although CyArk is an archive for digital preservation data, we strive to provide site authorities with useful tools and believe the digital preservation data should be used for management of historic sites. My own MA thesis was on this topic (specifically the use of 3D scanning to provide in-depth analysis of eroding earthen architecture and the adaptation of conservation efforts based on the improved understanding of the site through the 3d data). All managers of our projects have access to our SiteManager suite, an in-house geo-spatial database which is intended to allow for better management of their resources. The digital work being done at Mt Rushmore is in part for long-term conservation efforts (in addition to virtual tours, 3D modeling, etc). Specifically, the long-term monitoring of the 4 presidential busts as well as mapping out the site’s resources and the NPS’ infrastructure.
Hope that clarifies a bit!