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International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part BS. Istanbul 2004 
that bring together a unique set of skilled experts that 
have a passion for heritage recording tools and 
technologies. 
However, the main weaknesses identified during the 
Outreach Workshops related to the fact that: 
e The majority of Symposium participants are 
‘Information Providers’ 
e CIPA Symposia are too technical oriented 
* Only a minority of participants are 
‘Information Users’ from ICOMOS, 
ICCROM, UNESCO and other Conservation 
Organizations 
* The activities of Heritage Recording, 
Documentation and Information Management 
are not always integrated to the ‘conservation 
Process' of cultural resources 
* There are significant “GAPs” that need to be 
addressed with regards to the availability of / 
access to heritage Recording, Documentation 
and Information Management guidelines, 
technical manuals, training and information 
dissemination 
These workshops brought CIPA to reflect on its 
activities, to question its operations and to work 
towards re-structuring itself with a new Framework 
of activities. 
2000 — ‘Bridging the Gap’ Concept 
The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) and 
CIPA's WGI explored possibilities for 
cooperation, which began with the CIPA 
Symposium in Gothenburg. 
In 1998, the GCI showed a particular interest in 
WGI activities outlined on CIPA’s website. It also 
expressed an interest in a manuscript produced by R. 
Letellier entitled ‘Heritage Recording, 
Documentation and Information Management 
Guidelines for World Cultural Heritage Sites’. 
Following dialog on these interests, conservation 
specialists from the GCI were invited by WGI to 
attend CIPA’s Outreach Workshop 3 in Porto de 
Galinhas, Brazil, in September of 1999. As a result, 
the potential of CIPA’s unique knowledge base and 
framework of activities was recognized. 
During ICCROM's November 1999  GraDoc 
Seminar on graphic documentation for mural 
paintings, dialog between the GCI and WGI 
initiated the idea of ‘Bridging the Gap between the 
Information User and the Information Provider’. 
This idea became a MUST as the GAPS between the 
Users and the Providers of information became 
obvious to seminar participants (see ‘Results of 
Working Groups’ and in particular Group’s 3 
‘Critical Evaluation pertaining to Digital Heritage 
  
   
Recording’ discussions (see pages 291 to 298 of the 
GraDoc publication — ICCROM February 2001). 
At both the Brazil workshop and the GraDoc 
seminar, the pressing need for heritage recording 
guidelines, technical manuals, training and 
information dissemination was clearly expressed. 
Consequently, during 2000 / 2001, dialog between 
the GCI, CIPA and ICOMOS led to develop the 
"Bridging the Gap' idea mentioned above, which 
was proposed during the Postdam CIPA 2001 
Symposium, and became the following Syear 
RecorDIM Innitiative (see RecorDIM Vision 
    
  
    
     
   
    
      
Diagram in appendix A). 
1. THE RecorDIM INITIATIVE 
In broad terms, the RecorDIM Initiative can be 
defined as: 
An international 5-year (2002-07) partnership (or 
goodwill alliance) between international heritage 
conservation organizations working together to 
bridge the gaps that currently exist between the 
information users ( conservation specialists of all 
trades, project managers, planners etc.) and the 
information providers (photographers, heritage 
recorders, photogrammetrists, surveyors, etc.). 
It has also been described to be: 
A 5-year window of opportunity for conservation 
specialists at large, to address concerns and needs 
relating to the activities of Recording, 
Documentation and Information Management 
(RecorDIM)(see list of needs that resulted from the 
RecorDIM Roundtable-1 meeting, which are 
provided on pages 911 of the report entitled 
‘Bridging the gap between the Information User 
and Provider’ at: 
http-//extranet.getty.edu/eci/recordim/reports.html 
It should be mentioned that RecorDIM is not an 
organization, but a Syear initiative providing a 
platform for all that are interested in bringing 
conservation practices to an other level of 
standards. 
2. DEFINITION 
To facilitate dialog between RecorDIM Partners 
and to ensure consistency in task group dialog and 
reporting, RecorDIM definitions are provided 
hereafter. The definitions are taken from the 
Heritage ^ Recording, ^ Documentation and 
Information Management Guidelines for World 
Heritage Sites manuscript that was developed in 
the mid nineties with participation from ICCROM, 
ICOMOS, CIPA and UNESCO.