Digitization of Cultural Heritage

- Cultural Heritage and Digital Economy

Digitization makes cultural resources an important part of the digital economy, providing a competitive advantage for cultural and creative industries that support employment and stimulate innovation potential in other fields. 

As an investment in value-added products and services, the digitization and online accessibility of cultural resources can drive innovation in areas such as tourism, education, architecture, design, publishing, advertising or gaming. 

In addition, it enables the rich cultural heritage to be clearly displayed on the Internet, promotes regional development, preserves cultural diversity, and contributes to improving the quality of life.

Digitization and online accessibility have brought greater visibility to the collections of museums, libraries and archives. This attracts not only new tourists, tourists and researchers, but also business from the regional economy. However, currently (2020) only 15% of the world's cultural heritage is available in digital format.

- Preservation of Cultural Heritage

No matter how well protected and preserved, the vast majority of ancient cultural relics and sites are naturally susceptible to corrosion due to age. In addition, there have been unexpected natural and man-made catastrophic events, such as the recent fires that engulfed the 200-year-old National Museum of Brazil and its collections and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Notre-Dame de Paris, France. 

Once a heritage site is lost, damaged or destroyed, the restoration process can be slow, if at all possible. Other obstacles could arise, such as the 2015 reconstruction of Rani Pokhari in Nepal, when contractors were found guilty of using cement instead of traditional materials to cut costs. 

Not only is this unfair to the culture and history that has been embodied in the heritage for thousands of years, but it puts the site at even greater risk if a catastrophic situation occurs again. 

In the wake of such disasters, there are growing calls and movements to digitize cultural heritage to protect them against potential hazards such as climate change, natural disasters, poor policies or inadequate infrastructure. 

In addition to moving physical objects to more secure repositories, the Library of Congress has also begun digitizing audio and video recordings from the early 20th century that it collects at the Center for Audiovisual Conservation. 

Since 2013, the Smithsonian has also actively digitized its collections with the release of the Smithsonian X 3D Explorer, which enables audiences to interact with digitized versions of the museum's 137 million artifacts, only 2 percent of which are on display. 

While technologies that can extend the lifespan of cultural heritage are developing rapidly, the process of repositioning each artifact for 3D scanning is time-consuming. Even large institutions — like the Smithsonian Institution — are struggling.

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- Cultural Heritage and Virtual Reality

With the advent of the information society and the digital age, the dissemination of cultural heritage is gradually shifting from traditional face-to-face physical presence to digital communication that transcends time and space constraints. 

Our visual experience has also changed from the creation and acceptance of traditional visual images to the invention and immersion of new wonder worlds.

Virtual reality (VR) is a representative new technology in the era of digital media. It not only realizes the digital simulation of cultural heritage from physical space to cyberspace, but also integrates the characteristics of virtual visual culture into it, so that heritage sites can get rid of the inherent bulky materials and become a lighter and more fluid space, unleashing the infinite possibilities of glasses simulation. 

VR technology not only reshapes image viewing and production technology, but also reshapes image communication technology.

The participation of VR in the digitization of cultural heritage expands the types of images in visual culture. In addition to pictures, videos and scenes, it may provide a potential dimension in the dynamic and 3D quadrant.

VR has quickly become a mainstay for exhibiting arts and cultural organizations. When looking at it as a concept, VR has the potential to simulate imaginative and existing physical environments along with their processes. 

The simulations can be tuned to a highest level of multisensorial realism in order to affect users' visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular, and even olfactory and gustatory senses.

[More to come ...]