PORTABLE METHOD / 8 FIELDS

Build an online note.

A practical record for remote viewing when a digital image reveals detail and hides scale, reverse or display context.

Illuminated Egyptian manuscript fragments

Keep frame, object, metadata and source in the same note. Zoom is useful only when the route back to the institution remains visible.

Start the note

View

Name full object, detail, reverse, installation or reconstruction. Record crop and orientation.

Scale

Use dimensions, ruler, sign size and zoom level. Screen size is not object size.

Surface

Describe fibre, wood, glaze, pigment, metal, repair, glare and compression before technical names.

Field

Copy title, identifier, date, material, provenance and image caption exactly.

Metadata

Record creator, image date, file type, license, source URL and local derivative trail.

Route

Follow one link from object image to record, archive or visitor page and state what each link answers.

Compare

Use one second view only after the first note. Keep identifiers beside every crop or reverse.

Limit

End with the layer the screen cannot show and a dated next question for the institution.

FIRST PASS

Name the frame.

Write full object, detail, reverse or installation before reading the image. A crop can clarify a sign and erase a support.

SECOND PASS

Restore scale.

Use dimensions, file metadata and a known sign or ruler. Keep zoom level separate from the physical size of the object.

FINAL PASS

Attach the source.

Keep title, identifier, credit, license, access date and the missing layer beside the local view.

Three rules

Frame the view. Restore scale. Credit the source. Add the date and viewing condition when colour, glare or compression affects the reading.

Portable output

One object code, two screen states, one metadata trail and one honest limit. The note should be repeatable by someone who opens the same source later.