Our history is invaluable; it is a definite need to preserve them for our future generations. American author John Michael Crichton says, “If you don’t know history, you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it’s part of a tree.” So preserving historical and cultural artifacts is necessary, and digitization is the aptest solution. Digital Archivers have taken the role of Vishnu (*He is one of the most significant deities in Hinduism. Vishnu is conceived as the Preserver or the Protector), the preserver making historical artifacts immortal. Let’s see what the intricacies of archiving historical artifacts are! Read On.
What are historical and cultural artifacts?
Wiki Says: “An artifact or artifact is something made or given shape by men, such as a tool or a work of art, especially an object of archaeological interest.”
A near-perfect definition for cultural artifacts was defined in www.dlib.org. It says, “Culture is something we do, a performance which fades into memory then disappears, but the record of culture consists of artifacts which we make, which persist but inevitably decay.”
Although digital artifacts are profoundly different from physical artifacts, digit archiving helps in long time preservation and compact storage.
The artifacts of historical and cultural value are entering the digital realm. The advantages of digitizing these valuables are;
- With the help of today’s technologies, making multiple copies of the same work proves cost-effective and budget-friendly.
- Distributing the digitized copy to many people at a second is now possible.
- Saving the work efficiently and relatively inexpensive is possible through digitization.
- Organizing becomes more accessible, and the search becomes a fair game.
- Easy availability on the tip of your fingers.
- Creating a compact version of otherwise enormous cultural and historical artifacts is no more an arduous task.
The 3 Important Steps in Digitizing Historical Artefacts Are;
Three primary activities are vital for creating, using, and sustaining digital heritage, namely a) digitization, b) access and c) preservation.
- Digitization: This is the basic process of converting analog objects into digital form. For the new things that do not have an analog original but are digitally born, this step is replaced by the process of creating this object as it is.
- Access: This not only means that the users can “see” an object – but first of all, they should have efficient and intuitive resource discovery tools.
- Long-Time Preservation: The third part assures the long-term preservation of digital objects – which guarantees that digital objects created in the past are available now and in the future. This means that the things are physically intact and can be rendered and used.
Two significant challenges faced by digital archivers while dealing with historical and cultural artifacts are:
- Digital documents are represented in code, and at the same time, the code is meaningless unless transmitted and meant well. Thus, it is only through in-depth knowledge of technology and with a tinge of creativity and professionalism can an archiver achieves irrefutable preservation of artifacts.
- Another critical challenge for digital archivers is to be keen on rights over the originals and keeping the authentic source intact. Only an expert digital archiver knows the tricks and tips to preserve historical artifacts efficiently.
Due to the intricacies in archiving historical and cultural artifacts, it is always best to entrust your archival needs to an external archival organization like Tyrus technologies. At Tyrus, we have facilities for data capture, data retention, data storage, document management & regulation, and document scanning. Tyrus has helped to digitize many historical and cultural artifact projects at an affordable cost, and we have seen the perfect smile on all our clients.
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