Digital Preservation of Cultural Heritage

Introduction

Traditionally, if we want to recall some of those beautiful or not so beautiful childhood memories we would need to have a conversation with mom or dad. As time progressed we relied on the good old photo albums well packed away and guarded on that special shelf that you are not allowed to touch without permission. Today Facebook, Picass and Instagram reminds us of moments ‘this time last year’. With time we have devises creative and more sustaining ways to preserve and recall our special

Image: https://ec.europa.eu

moments.

The same analogy can be applied to the world of Cultural Heritage; countries and communities have migrated towards utilization of digital technology for the preservation of their history and fortifying the digital kingdom of information for the next generation. In the cast of photographs and documents the digitization process includes converting this traditional media into electronic format with the use of cameras and scanners. (Sohal, 2017)

Cultural heritage is brought alive with the introduction of digital media, museums and galleries are now able to reach new and younger audiences, eager to learn and captivated by the virtual and augmented realities that culture is now presented to them. (European Commission , 2020)

The Concept

According to UNESCO as cited in (en.unesco.org, 2019) Heritage is “our legacy from the past, what we live with today and what pass on the future generation” Heritage is something of value that is, or is intended to be based on to the next generation.

The concept of cultural heritage speaks to sites, objects and intangible things that have historic, scientific, aesthetic or ethnological value to a people or individual- just like those special moments we spoke to earlier.

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Reference

en.unesco.org. (2019). Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/themes/information-preservation/digital-heritage/concept-digital-heritage

European Commission . (2020). Retrieved from Digitial Cultural Heritage : https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digital-cultural-heritage

Sohal, G. (2017). Digital Preservation of Cultural Heritage: A Case Study of Dev Samaj.