SIGEC WEB Project
Documents:The current organisation of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities identifies the Regional Directorates for Cultural Heritage and Landscape as the coordinating agencies for the administration, management and protection of heritage at the regional level.
In this context, ICCD has launched a project for development of SIGEC applying a methodology with an innovative information technology structure directed at transfer of the applications towards a web-based environment.
The primary objective of this evolution in the catalogue system is to ensure availability of the necessary technological infrastructure to all bodies that operate in the sphere of cultural heritage, without requiring the purchase of specific hardware or software. The need to disseminate and make SIGEC available to cataloguing institutions as soon as possible has lead to formulation of an integrated cataloguing system, in which the regional directorates become potential centres for gathering the associated systems of all the superintendencies situated in the region.
This organisation guarantees that the users have access to central support structures, thus freeing their institutional activities from problems involving technological infrastructure (hardware, software, networks). It also provides the necessary technical-operational assistance, lightening the load at the central level. The services offered by the SIGEC centres installed at the regional directorates will be available to all bodies in their relative territories, through a Web interface. This offers two advantages:
I servizi offerti dai poli SIGEC istallati presso le Direzioni regionali saranno fruibili mediante un'interfaccia WEB da tutti i soggetti presenti sui rispettivi territori di competenza. Ciò apporterà due ordini di vantaggi:
- a progressive and significant increase in catalogued information concerning cultural properties, through input of information that is checked, standardised and supported from a single centralised databank, at the regional level;
- the possibility for efficient sharing of cataloguing information among all interested bodies, easing the heritage management work and enabling preservation and conservation interventions.
Attention should also be given to the possibilities presented for the development of regional centres for the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, which could serve as ideal places for encounter and exchange with regional, provincial and municipal institutions and with other bodies, such as the episcopal conference and the universities, which have been active in cataloguing for many years.
State of implementation
Based on the release of a first prototype, testing of SIGEC was begun in the regional directorates and superintendencies of the regions of Piedmont, Tuscany and Puglia.
A programme and schedule has been established for training and experimentation by personnel who will use SIGECWEB. The first phase will involve testing the cataloguing function, with simultaneous availability of service functions for administrative aspects.
The suggestions that arise from testing in the regions will be fundamental for the improvement and refinement of the first functions as well as implementation of new functions to respond to on the ground needs for management of cataloguing activity. Suggestions for improved implementation of functions already available on SIGECWEB will start within three months from the beginning of testing and be gathered over the course of a year. The operational plan will be contained in specific agreements with each superintendency, particularly for recovery of databases held in the various offices and for analysis of general problems in catalogue management.
ICCD will work alongside the personnel in all the regional agencies during the entire period of experimentation. All of this activity will be organized by thematic and sectorial working groups that will be able to share technical problems and solutions at the inter-regional level.
