Preserving heritage in digital space

Delegates were deeply impressed with the projection technology at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel exhibition space.

That motivation is increasingly evident when the 2024 Law on Cultural Heritage opens a new legal framework for the process of digitizing, connecting and exploiting heritage data in the electronic environment.

Enhancing the national heritage data platform

At the national archives system, the digitization process was deployed early and systematically, forming an important foundation for operating valuable resources in the digital environment.

Director of the State Records and Archives Department Dang Thanh Tung said that the unit is managing “an extremely large and valuable volume of national archives, including more than 30km of documents, including 2 national treasures recognized by the Prime Minister and 3 world documentary heritages recognized by UNESCO”. This source of documents fully reflects the historical, cultural, diplomatic and socio-economic processes of the country through many periods.

For many years, the Department has proactively implemented digitalization since the stage when the legal corridor was not yet complete. The construction of technical processes, standardization of operations and establishment of infrastructure were carried out step by step, helping the whole industry have a solid foundation to develop digitalization on a large scale today.

Currently, the digitalization work focuses on four key areas, including: developing digitalization standards and data standards, perfecting the national data archival architecture framework with interoperability, enhancing digital data preservation and backup storage to ensure sustainability, expanding the platform for exploiting documents serving society, creating favorable conditions for people, researchers and cultural and educational institutions to access documents.

Delegates visit the antiquities of Thang Long Imperial Citadel.

Emphasizing the three pillars of “data standards-authentication assurance-inter-sectoral connectivity”, Director Dang Thanh Tung said that unifying the description and data quality standards makes it easier to look up, share and integrate information. These requirements have been specified in the system of specialized Circulars issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on digital documents. The authenticity of digital copies is guaranteed by specialized technical and professional processes, serving both legal value and long-term exploitation needs.

Along with that, the Department promotes the development of common connection standards so that national archive data can be linked with heritage databases, museums and digital exhibition platforms, forming a more open and transparent space for exploiting documents.

In the stage of applying modern technology, the State Records and Archives Department continues to strengthen coordination with cultural agencies across the country. “The application of new technologies such as 3D, VR or artificial intelligence in preserving and promoting the value of documents requires very close inter-sectoral coordination,” said Director Dang Thanh Tung.

With that spirit, the Department has identified three key directions of action: developing a secure and synchronous connection platform; building a specialized training program on digital technology, information security, and data management; researching and promulgating digitalization process standards suitable for practice.

An important highlight is the orientation of resource mobilization for digitalization. Director Dang Thanh Tung said that the Department is promoting the tradition of cooperation between the two sectors to call on technology enterprises, research institutes and social partners to participate; at the same time, promoting the socialization of part of the funding in accordance with legal regulations. This is a direction to help expand financial and technical potential, creating conditions for the development of high-quality digital products.

In the coming time, the National Archives Center will closely coordinate with cultural agencies to propose 3D digitization of a collection of documents and artifacts to combine the construction of an online exhibition space, ensuring both information depth and visual elements. The combination of archival data and modern simulation technology helps to spread the value of documents in an attractive way, suitable for the public's habit of accessing heritage in the digital age.

From archaeological materials to digital experiences

As a World Cultural Heritage, Thang Long Imperial Citadel possesses a particularly important collection of documents, artifacts and relics, requiring modern conservation methods and more diverse approaches.

Director of the Thang Long-Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center Nguyen Thanh Quang said that digital transformation is identified by the Center as a key task in the current period. Solutions are being deployed synchronously, both to meet management and research requirements and to improve the experience of domestic and foreign tourists.

First of all, all archaeological records, research materials and technical drawings are being standardized and systematically digitized. With a large volume of documents, digitization is carried out according to standards that ensure accuracy, interconnectivity and long-term exploitation.

Along with that, the Center promotes the digitization of relics and artifacts using 3D technology and high-resolution digital images, creating a rich image database to serve scientific research, modern display, and support the reconstruction and dramatization of ancient royal court rituals in a more realistic and attractive way.

More importantly, the Center is building an integrated database as a digital infrastructure for all heritage management activities. When completed, this system will become a centralized data warehouse serving in-depth research, conservation work and communication education programs. It will also be a platform for information connection between research, exhibition and guidance departments, and at the same time support long-term management of archaeological relics and artifacts in the heritage site.

Exhibition activities are deployed in a variety of both live and online environments. In addition to physical exhibitions, the Center organizes many online exhibitions, 3D spaces, 360-degree tours and virtual tours, creating conditions for the public to access heritage regardless of geographical location.

New technology applications are being applied at many levels: simulating the space of Kinh Thien Palace, recreating solemn rituals such as the Royal Court Ceremony or the Thi Dinh of the Le Dynasty; introducing the system of relics and artifacts using 3D mapping (3D image light projection); 3D tours of the Thang Long Imperial Palace exhibition area and the 18 Hoang Dieu archaeological site with visual images and full information links.

The interpretation work is standardized and strongly modernized. Audio guides, tour guides, documentary films and automatic interpretation applications via phone help visitors actively explore and interact with information. Viewers can look up documents, view reconstructed models or interact on large screens in the exhibition area.

The websites hoangthanhthanglong.vn and thanhcoloa.vn continue to serve as open archives, where archives, research results, publications and forms of heritage education are published.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Quang emphasized that digitalization contributes to preserving, protecting and promoting heritage values in a more vivid and accessible way, creating a widespread influence in the community, especially among young people. The Center is orienting the development of a digital experience ecosystem using 3D, 360-degree, VR, AR technology; expanding online tours; digital explanations using QR codes (information lookup codes); continuing to deploy the application of interpretation technology at revolutionary relics in the heritage site, such as House and Bunker D67.

Interpretation at revolutionary relics in the Thang Long Imperial Citadel exhibition area.

In the coming period, 3D mapping technology will be researched and used to tell historical stories through feudal dynasties. With the combination of images, sounds, artistic effects and royal context, these projections will help visitors approach history through an engaging visual experience, while bringing the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long closer to the community, beyond the limits of traditional exhibition spaces.

Legacy data synchronization strategy

In order to meet modern management requirements, the Law on Cultural Heritage passed by the National Assembly on November 23, 2024 has opened an important legal corridor to promote digital transformation in the heritage sector. Associate Professor, Dr. Le Thi Thu Hien, Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage, said that the Law has affirmed the role of digital technology in protecting and promoting heritage values, while clearly defining the responsibilities of management agencies, organizations and individuals in the digitalization process.

The Law also fully addresses rights related to digital heritage data, including intellectual property rights and rights to protect digital products, creating a legal basis to promote the sharing, interconnection and effective exploitation of cultural heritage resources in the electronic environment, in accordance with the Law on Intellectual Property, the Law on Electronic Transactions, the Law on Cyber Security and other legal provisions.

Currently, the draft Decree guiding the implementation of the Law on Cultural Heritage is built with a separate chapter consisting of 10 articles, specifically regulating the development of science, technology, innovation and digital transformation in the field of cultural heritage. The key contents of this chapter include technical standards, data management processes, requirements for operating the database system and implementation steps.

According to Director Le Thi Thu Hien, this is an important foundation for building a national database on cultural heritage, operating uniformly from central to local levels and meeting the requirements of national data interconnection in the process of building a digital government, digital economy and digital society.

Along with perfecting the legal framework, the heritage digitization work is implemented by the industry according to the principles of “green, sufficient, clean, alive, unified, shared”. These principles ensure that the digitized data is of high quality, can be updated and reused over a long period of time, and at the same time supports the inventory, impact assessment and management of heritage records.

When completed, the national database will become an open search space to help heritage be widely accessible, convenient for education, research, promotion and long-term preservation. This is also the foundation for developing the cultural industry through electronic exhibitions, digital maps, sightseeing applications and heritage education products, contributing to the exploitation of cultural heritage to serve socio-economic development.

Director Le Thi Thu Hien said that promoting heritage values in the digital environment requires a combination of technology and human factors, especially respecting the role of the community, the subject of creation and preservation of heritage. Therefore, protecting intellectual property rights and the rights of artisans and communities in the digital environment is considered an important requirement to ensure the sustainability of the digitalization process, avoiding misuse or commercialization that is not consistent with cultural identity.

The poetic picture of the ancient royal palace is recreated through 3D mapping technology at the Royal Treasures Gallery of the Thang Long Imperial Citadel relic site.

At the same time, the Department of Cultural Heritage strengthens cooperation between museums, relic sites and creative enterprises to deploy modern applications such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), 3D image lighting and 3D digital space to renew the approach to heritage. These technologies help traditional arts, especially folk performances, appear more attractively on digital platforms and attract domestic and international tourists. At the same time, the tourism industry and localities are encouraged to coordinate in developing cultural tourism products associated with digital experiences, from online tours, electronic exhibitions to interactive activities and creative experiences.

According to Director Le Thi Thu Hien, digital transformation contributes to improving the effectiveness of state management, protecting and promoting the value of cultural heritage, and promoting sustainable development. Applying technology to heritage expands opportunities to create livelihoods for the community and increases cultural experiences for people and tourists in the digital context.

Therefore, digitizing heritage is opening up new approaches, helping cultural values to be preserved sustainably and spread more widely. When data infrastructure and legal framework are synchronized, heritage will continue to promote its value in modern life.

HOAI THU

Source: https://nhandan.vn/bao-ton-di-san-trong-khong-gian-so-post926403.html