The ADIT Association emerged as a natural response to the challenges that emerged in the humanities in the early 1990s, when the idea of ​​"computerization" of museum activities was in the air.

In 1993, at the invitation of the CIDOC Documentation Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), representatives of two major Moscow museums (L. Ya. Nol from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and A. V. Dremaylov from the Moscow Kremlin Museums) participated in the annual CIDOC conference held in Ljubljana. Firstly, exposure to the experience of using computer technologies in foreign museums and secondly, the interaction between various specialists from many countries within the committee served as the impetus for the creation of a public organizational structure in Russia that would perform roughly the same functions as CIDOC at the national level. The initiative group (A.V. Dremaylov, L.Ya. Nol, D.G. Pertsev) initially envisioned ADIT as a club, whose main functions were mutual information sharing, participation in education, conferences, and international contacts.

The proposal to establish the Association was first announced at the conference "Computerization in Museums" (State Darwin Museum, Moscow, April 9-13, 1996), which essentially served as the first broad forum in the field of museum informatics. Key decisions regarding organizational matters, the holding of seminars and conferences, and other matters were made at the conference.

In May 1996, the Founding Conference of ADIT was held at the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. A number of important steps were taken at the conference, the most important of which were the approval of the ADIT Regulations and the beginning of the collection of material for a future database of specialists. The speech of the President of ICOM Russia at the conference was extremely significant. I.A. Rodimtseva, who emphasized the timeliness of the ADIT public organization's creation, said:

Finally, the final point was reached in June 1996, when the ICOM Russia Presidium granted ADIT the status of a commission on museum informatics. Thus, the foundations of a professional association were laid, whose activities, forms, and events are focused on the informatization of the cultural sphere. Leading specialists in this field received a platform to promote their ideas and work results, as well as discuss them with interested professional audiences.

ADIT Activities

Initially, ADIT was conceived as a club:

• Mutual information;
• Participation in education;
• Conferences;
• International contacts.

The conference, as a key format, includes:

• Meetings (plenary, sectional)
• Computer festivals
• Seminars
• ADIT Schools
• Schools of schools
• ADIT clubs
• Master classes
• Regional seminars 

ADIT sections at the EVA conference

ADIT sections at the INTERMUSEUM forum