{"id":1137,"date":"2017-09-18T15:43:42","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T14:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwofc.com\/ofc\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2023-02-11T08:08:02","modified_gmt":"2023-02-11T08:08:02","slug":"u4-1-the-basic-approach-with-no-digital-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwofc.com\/ofc\/2017\/09\/18\/u4-1-the-basic-approach-with-no-digital-support\/","title":{"rendered":"U4.1 The basic approach \u2013 with no digital support"},"content":{"rendered":"

A key element of the OFC approach is the organisation of a collection of things. Understanding how to go about this, and being able to actually do it effectively, are essential pre-requisites for a successful OFC project. The following 11 step process is one way of doing it:<\/p>\n

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  1. Be clear about what specific categories of stuff you want to deal with.<\/li>\n
  2. Figure out why you want to keep each category.<\/li>\n
  3. Take the opportunity to reassess what you really want to keep\/collect going forward.<\/li>\n
  4. Decide where the best place is to store each category.<\/li>\n
  5. Be clear about the specific space you are going to use for storage.<\/li>\n
  6. Decide how you will set out, equip and organise the storage space.<\/li>\n
  7. Do a quick sort of each category into sub-categories.<\/li>\n
  8. As you do the quick sort, set aside the stuff you want to throw away or dispose of.<\/li>\n
  9. Decide exactly how you will store each sub-category.<\/li>\n
  10. Go through each sub-category in detail, organising as required.<\/li>\n
  11. Set up the storage space\/containers\/equipment and store the sorted sub-categories.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The short 2 page description of Practical approaches to Order from Chaos<\/a> provides a more detailed description of each step.<\/p>\n

    If one was to undertake a lot of OFC projects – especially if they were to be on behalf of other people – it might be worth creating some checklists of requirements and activities. The requirements could be in the form of a Service List<\/a> specifying what is required (for example, are photos required of each object); and the activities could be in the form of a Process List<\/a> including items such as, Inspect site\/artefacts, Assemble kit, Define end layout etc. The Service list and Process List in the links above assume that the work is being undertaken as a service at a price. However they can be modified to suit your own requirements.<\/p>\n

    Two other approaches which provide alternative perspectives on organising collections are documented in the following books:<\/p>\n