IWG Content policy

The Imaging Wiki content policy extends the existing AIC Wiki Guidelines and takes inspiration from the BPG Wiki community guidelines and the Wikipedia Policies and Guidelines. Its intent is to describe standards that all contributors and editors should normally follow to ensure uniform support, maintenance and development of the Imaging Wiki contents.

Purpose and scope

The Imaging Wiki serves as an open, collaborative online platform dedicated to documenting, sharing, and disseminating information, techniques, workflows, resources, and case studies related to imaging in cultural heritage conservation. Its primary goal is to support conservation professionals by providing a centralized, accessible, and up-to-date knowledge base.

Scope of content

Content within the Imaging Wiki shall focus specifically on imaging techniques, equipment, applications, and related topics pertinent to the examination, documentation, and conservation treatment of cultural heritage objects and sites. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Specific imaging methodologies (e.g., Visible Light, IR, UV, 3D, RTI),
• Detailed workflows and protocols for imaging applications,
• Equipment descriptions, usage guidelines, and practical considerations,
• Case studies demonstrating the application of imaging methods,
• Interpretations of imaging results within conservation contexts,
• Glossaries of terms relevant to conservation imaging,
• Ethical considerations and health & safety guidelines related to imaging.

Exclusions

The Imaging Wiki is not intended for:

• Promotional or commercial content (e.g. direct advertising for products, services, or individuals),
• Personal opinions, speculative theories, or unverified claims,
• Irrelevant or off-topic information.

Core content principles

Openness and development

The Imaging Wiki contains free content that anyone can use, edit, and distribute. All contributors and editors agree to freely license their work to the public: no single individual or defined group of people own an article. Any contribution can and may be edited in part or in its entirety and be redistributed.

Neutral Point of View (NPOV)

Contents must be written from a neutral point of view, presenting information fairly and without bias. All significant viewpoints on a topic should be represented proportionately and without endorsement.

While the Imaging Wiki focuses on conservation practice, it should present information objectively, avoiding advocacy for a particular method or product unless it is widely accepted best practice or if differing professional opinions are presented fairly.

Verifiability

All information presented in the Wiki must be verifiable. This means that readers should be able to check that the content is reliable by referencing credible, published sources.

Contributors must cite reliable, authoritative sources for all substantive claims. Examples of reliable sources include peer-reviewed journals, reputable books, established professional guidelines from conservation organizations (e.g., AIC, IIC, ICOM-CC), recognized conference proceedings, and trusted institutional publications.

Critical or potentially challenged information should be supported by in-line citations to specific sources.

Original research

The Imaging Wiki can include statements based on the author's personal experience and training. These should focus on how techniques were applied and what was observed, rather than presenting new theoretical conclusions not yet published elsewhere.

While detailed descriptions of specific case studies or workflows from a contributor's direct experience are valuable and encouraged, they must be presented factually and objectively, and ideally be verifiable by professional best practices or demonstrably reproducible.

Contributors should focus on summarizing, evaluating, and synthesizing information that has already been published by reliable sources, rather than creating new arguments or interpretations.

Quality, clarity and professionalism

Accuracy

Contributors are responsible for ensuring the factual accuracy of their submissions. Errors should be corrected promptly or flagged to the IWG leadership board at AIC.ImagingWG@gmail.com.

Clarity and readability

Content should be written in plain, fluent, unambiguous, and specific language. Generalizations and verbosity should be avoided.

Technical jargon should be explained or linked to the Wiki's glossary, while footnotes may be used for clarifications. The target audience is conservation professionals: a certain level of assumed technical understanding is acceptable, but complex concepts should be articulated clearly.

Tone

All contributions must maintain a professional, respectful, and objective tone. Personal attacks, derogatory language, or unprofessional conduct are strictly prohibited.

Consistency

Content should adhere to the IWG Wiki Style Guide for formatting, terminology, and general presentation to ensure a consistent user experience.

Redundancy

Content should fall within the page’s subject. When the content of one page overlaps with the subject of another, minimize redundancy by referring to other existing pages across the AIC Wiki or by proposing the creation of a new article.

Copyright and licensing

Adherence to the AIC Wiki licensing policy

All content contributed to the Imaging Wiki must adhere to the AIC Wiki's established content licensing policy. Contributors are responsible for ensuring they have the right to share any content (text, images, media) they upload, and that it can be released under the specified license (e.g., Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported, as used by the broader AIC Wiki, or a different license if adopted by IWG Wiki).

Attribution

Proper attribution must be given to original sources and creators, especially for images, diagrams, or extensive quotations.

New contributors are added to the general list of contributors in the landing page of the Imaging Wiki.

No infringement

Contributors are asked to not upload copyrighted material without appropriate permissions or when it falls outside of fair use/fair dealing provisions.

Contribution and editing

Contributors

Contributors include – but are not limited to – conservators, photographers, scientists, and professionals with the shared interest of conservation imaging. Membership to AIC is not a requirement. Contributions consist of addition, removal or edit of information to any extent. The content can be freely edited via tools made available by the IWG.

Editors

Editors are users who can implement the proposed changes to the Imaging Wiki pages following the IWG Wiki Style Guide, and ensure that the content policies are respected. They actively review, edit, and curate content, mediate discussions, and guide other contributors to foster a high-quality, reliable, and professional knowledge base for the conservation imaging community. Editors may also be contributors.

Collaborative spirit

The Imaging Wiki is developed and maintained by volunteers and thrives on collaborative editing. Contributors should assume good faith and engage in constructive dialogue on the Community Discussion Portal to resolve disagreements.

Conflict resolution

In case of content disputes, contributors are encouraged to first discuss issues on the article's discussion page. If resolution is not achieved, the matter can be escalated to the current IWG Wiki Coordinator for mediation.