Resources

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has recently published a revised version of their storage standard for reflection prints. The standard’s scope includes both traditionally printed photographic images as well as modern digitally printed images. It does not include recommendations for documents printed with digital output systems (see ISO 1799 Information and documentation -- Document storage requirements for archive and library materials). The original ISO 18920 standard was published in 2000.

From the 1950’s through the 1980’s, photocopiers created a copy of text or an image by reflecting light off of the white areas of the original (which had been laid face down on the glass platen) onto a charged drum. This reflected light neutralized the charge on the drum so that when oppositely charged toner was applied to the unexposed (and still charged) areas of the drum it would stick. The toner was then transferred from the drum to the paper and fused by heat and pressure to create the final copy. Laser printing is an updated version of this process.

Graph Expo, which was held last September, was a showcase for the commercial digital print industry with attendees coming from more than 80 countries. The products shown at this event are not the desktop and office printers but the large format and digital presses found in commercial printing shops.

This past August 23-26, IPI held its first Aesthetics, Craft, and Care of the Fine Art Digital Print Workshop at our lab in Rochester, NY. Eight participants from North and South America, Europe and Asia attended this lecture and hands-on workshop. They explored the unique aesthetics of the fine art digital print and developed a better appreciation for the distinguishing characteristics of these objects.