Challenges in digitisation of cultural heritage material in the Western Cape, South Africa

South African Journal of Information Management

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Challenges in digitisation of cultural heritage material in the Western Cape, South Africa
 
Creator de la Porte, Beatrice Higgs, Richard
 
Subject cultural heritage studies; humanities; information science Archives; cultural heritage; digitisation; libraries; memory institutions; museums.
Description Background: Digitisation of cultural heritage material creates both opportunities and challenges for access and preservation for future generations.Objectives: Digital cultural heritage can be sustainably preserved and used for information and research purposes if the challenges experienced during digitisation can be identified and addressed by memory institutions.Method: A quantitative approach was used to analyse challenges for digitisation identified in the literature review. The theory of constraints was used as the theoretical framework for the study. Twenty-eight memory institutions in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan and Cape Winelands District municipalities were selected with non-probability sampling and data were collected with a cross-sectional survey, using a self-administered online questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the data.Results: The digitisation of cultural heritage material is embraced by memory institutions and a wide variety of cultural heritage material has been selected for digitisation. Memory institutions are following professional or international guidelines, but the lack of a national policy on digitisation has possible consequences for interoperability and limited access. Open access to digitised cultural heritage material is encouraged, but access for use is still limited. The challenges identified in the literature review are experienced by the memory institutions studied, especially those relating to expertise and human resources.Conclusion: Challenges in digitisation can be addressed with the knowledge of how to manage these constraints. International guidelines and policies can give directives to the management of digitisation if no national or local guidelines exist.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2019-10-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quantitative Study - Survey
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajim.v21i1.1104
 
Source SA Journal of Information Management; Vol 21, No 1 (2019); 11 pges 1560-683X 2078-1865
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1104/1545 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1104/1544 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1104/1546 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1104/1543
 
Coverage Western Cape, South Africa Information Society Era or Digital Era Staff members of Libraries;Archive; Museums-Memory Institutions
Rights Copyright (c) 2019 Beatrice de la Porte, Richard Higgs https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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