Behavior

omputer-based art that is interactive or time-based has unique behaviors that must be documented if the work is to be preserved accurately. The ideal way to document behavior starts with the artist. Conducting an artist's interview or questionnaire is becoming increasingly common practice in collecting institutions.

These interviews include such questions as:

· What is the work's production history? · What software, hardware, and operating system were utilized to create the work? · What is the essence of the work? What absolutely must be maintained through the preservation process in order for the work to be considered intact? · What specific changes are acceptable, if they are necessary to keep the work alive? · What are the physical and conceptual boundaries of the work? What can be considered its essential components versus components that can be replaced (e.g., video playback decks that become obsolete)? · What are its important behaviors and what is the essential "look and feel?" What characteristics, if lost, would require the work to be considered "dead?"

This information will be critical in the event of obsolescence of an artwork's original media.

Another useful component of documentation is how an audience interacts with a work. Interviewing audience members, recording screen shots with still photography or video, copying a work's directory and subdirectory structure, and using diagrams or a brief narrative to summarize particular interactions or exchanges with the work are all helpful for future implementation. (Keep in mind that this kind of documentation adds its own preservation needs.)

Other forms of documentation are important as well. Collect ancillary materials related to the creation, exhibition, and critical reception of the work, such as exhibition guides, press books, or photographs of the installation or exhibition.

For additional information on documenting new media and computer-based art, and currently developing description standards and schema, take a look at the V2_Organisation's Capturing Unstable Media project, the Danube University Krems' Database of Virtual Art, the Guggenheim Museum's Variable Media Network, and Rhizome's ArtBase.