scholarly journals From papyrus to megabytes: conservation management of archival and photograph collections

1970 ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
István Kecskemèti

Conservation and conservation management is a dynamic process. It includes many disciplines that involve keeping the collection accessible for the future. Conservation management includes dedicated disciplines such as applied conservation and natural science, analysis, building and storage management, reformatting, politics and exhibition. Networking can be seen as an important tool as a conservation manager needs to keep up to date on new information dedicated to safeguarding the collection. 

2020 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
J. R. McNeill

Abstract Among the ongoing revolutions in historical research is the flood of new information about the past that comes not from written documents but from the natural sciences and archaeology. What might this mean for the profession of history, and for our training and institutional practices? How might it affect our research and interpretations of the past? Which fields of history will be most and least affected? I argue for a cautious embrace of the new data about the past coming from the paleosciences, offering a few examples of the promise and perils presented by the work of our natural science and archaeology colleagues. With each passing year, the proportion of our knowledge of the past that derives from the kinds of documents we have learned to read and interpret will shrink, and the proportion that derives from what to most of us are unfamiliar sciences will mount. This has implications. First, the deeper past might make a comeback. The last century or two are the best documented and will likely be least affected by the flood. The intellectual excitement may tip toward the study of earlier centuries where relative significance of information in other formats is greater. Second, the ways in which we train historians may need to change. A possible partial guide to our future as historians is the experience of precolonial Africanists, who are accustomed to research without written documents.


2014 ◽  
Vol 687-691 ◽  
pp. 4906-4909
Author(s):  
Yan Li Wang ◽  
Ji Meng Du ◽  
Sai Sai Xu

Because of a vast amount of business process, difficult tracking, low turnover efficiency, processing of logistics management information behind time and with antiquated means, the application of advanced RFID technology in the field of logistics and storage management is proposed to solve the above problems on the basis of analyzing the shortages. In this paper, the logistics warehouse management information system based on RFID is conducted. The working flow and process structure of the logistics and storage arc given on the basis of analysis of the traditional logistics and storage service flow. The integral framework of the logistics and storage service system based on RFID technology is established. This thesis mainly does research about the pattern of RFID application in warehouse, the system framework and the information flow. On the base, it designs the information system and realizes its function module.


2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yifat Gutman

This article examines a strategy of peace activism that gained visibility in the last decades: memory activism. Memory activists manifest a temporal shift in transnational politics: first the past, then the future. Affiliated with the globally-circulating paradigm of historical justice, memory activist groups assume that a new understanding of the past could lead to a new perception of present problems and project alternative solutions for the future. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and discourse analysis among memory activists of the 1948 war in Israel since 2001, the article examines the activist production of counter-memory during active conflict. Using Coy et al.’s typology of oppositional knowledge-production, the article shows how the largest group of memory activism in Israel produced ‘new’ information on the war, critically assessed the dominant historical narrative, offered an alternative shared narrative, and began to envision practical solutions for Palestinian refugees. However, the analysis raises additional concerns that reach beyond the scope of the typology, primarily regarding the unequal power relations that exist not only between the dominant and activist production of oppositional knowledge, but also among activists.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Maier

One of the most fundamental insights into the nature of our subjective perception of the world around us is that it is not veridical. In other words, we tend to not perceive information about the world around us accurately. Instead, our brains interpret new information through a host of innate and learned mechanisms that can introduce bias and distortions One of the best studied mechanisms that guide – and distort – our perception is the psychophysical Weber-Fechner law. According to this empirically derived, mathematically formulated law we tend to put more emphasis on smaller deviations in size while underestimating larger changes. The original formulation of the Weber-Fechner law takes the shape of a logarithmic function and is commonly applied to somatosensory perception such as the weight of an object. However, later work showed that the Weber-Fechner law can be generalized and describe a large variety of perceived changes in magnitude that even go beyond the sensory domain. Here we investigate the hypothesis that our perception of data associated with the spread of COVID-19 and similar pandemics is governed by the same psychophysical laws. Based on several recently published studies, we demonstrate that the Weber-Fechner law can be shown to directly affect the decision-making of officials in response to this global crisis as well as the greater public at large. We discuss how heightened awareness of the non-linear nature of subjective perception could help alleviate problematic judgements in similar situations in the future.


Check List ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Coutinho Kurtz ◽  
Elisa Araujo Penna Caris ◽  
Fabio Rubio Scarano

Swamp forests are associated with hydromorphic soils and are naturally fragmented in their distribution. Several local phytosociological surveys on the woody flora of these forests have been conducted in southeastern and southern Brazil. We present here a comprehensive floristic list based on these surveys, including 77 families, 211 genera and 518 native species. The richest families were Myrtaceae (78 species), Fabaceae (47) and Lauraceae (38). The richest genera were Eugenia (24), Myrcia (24), Miconia (21) and Ocotea (20). The woody flora of these swamp forests has great heterogeneity, with most species occurring in one or few sites. Their flora is formed by a few flooding specialist or tolerant species, common in many sites, and many other species that come from the surrounding vegetation. Considering the high degree of deforestation in southeastern and southern Brazil, including swamp forests, the floristic patterns presented here can be useful for the future efforts of conservation, management and restoration of these forests.


Author(s):  
Glen M. Cooper

In its original Babylonian and Egyptian contexts, astrology was the interpretation of celestial signs and omens sent by the gods as warnings to rulers and the elite. Roman fondness for Stoicism fertilized the growth of astrology in the Greco-Roman world, which developed into a natural science, fully integrated with the prevailing cosmology. Astrology became popularized, and anyone who could afford some level of the service knew basic features of his natal chart. The chapter explains the various forms and purposes of judicial or divinatory astrology: “mundane” (heavenly effects on regions), “genethlialogical” (heavenly effects on a life from its birth or conception), “horary” (heavenly effects on the present moment), and “catarchic” (heavenly effects on the future). The chapter also provides an historical sketch of classical astrology, from Babylonian origins through the major surviving handbooks, and an elaborated ancient example of a natal chart (of the emperor Hadrian), its methods, and interpretation.


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