Cultural heritage, from tradition to digital treasure

The construction of a digital database on cultural heritage is receiving attention, aiming to create a treasure trove of detailed information on tangible and intangible values. This is not only useful in conservation work but also creates a foundation for maximizing the potential of heritage in the cultural industry.

Efforts to digitize valuable sources of documents Dr. Chu Thu Huong, Institute for Monuments Conservation, said: The Institute has built a fairly large database of information about monuments and monument conservation work, and at the same time made efforts to digitize the document system in many different forms. Statistics up to December 2023, the number of documents currently stored in the Institute for Monuments Conservation's archives is about 3,000 records of documents about thousands of monuments nationwide, survey data on monuments by region and locality is stored on paper, tapes, audio and video discs, films, etc.

Digital data contributes to preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage. Photo: VR360

This data source contributes significantly to providing a database on relics and relic conservation for the cultural sector. For example, hand-drawn drawings of Cham towers, communal houses, pagodas, and temples made in the 1970s and 1980s have become extremely valuable historical sources of relics, because some of them no longer exist or have been greatly changed. Every year, the Institute for Monument Conservation digitizes thousands of pages of documents to add to the data bank and contribute to the construction of the cultural sector's database... As one of the pioneers in preserving intangible cultural heritage through collecting text documents, recording videos, and recording moving images of various cultural forms, after more than 25 years, the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts now stores a large amount of data on moving and still images, scientific reports on intangible cultural heritage of Vietnamese ethnic groups: 5,688 video tapes of various types; 980 photo albums with 91,648 photos; scientific reports: 791 projects. The Institute has digitized more than 700 scientific reports, 1,154 scientific and documentary films and 40,000 photos, and is creating a database of intangible cultural projects... On December 2, 2021, the Program to Digitize Vietnamese Cultural Heritage for the period 2021 - 2030 was approved under Decision No. 2026/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister. On that basis, agencies and units have initially digitized and standardized existing data of museums and relic management boards nationwide to gradually form a shared database of the industry. Currently, some Departments of Culture, Sports, and Tourism such as Hai Phong, Khanh Hoa, Cao Bang, Dak Lak, Hanoi, Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang... have proactively developed plans to digitize cultural heritage in their provinces and cities to adapt, protect, and promote the value of cultural heritage. Some typical projects have been implemented such as digitizing cultural heritage in Hanoi, Hue, and Hoi An... creating online data warehouses to help the public easily access and learn. Linking, sharing, creating big data on cultural heritage According to statistics from the Department of Cultural Heritage by December 2023, the inventory results nationwide currently have about 40,000 historical - cultural relics, scenic spots, nearly 65,900 intangible cultural heritages of 63 provinces and cities... In particular, Vietnam has 8 cultural and natural heritages, 15 intangible cultural heritages, 9 documentary heritages recognized by UNESCO. With such a huge and valuable treasure of cultural heritage, building a management information system, a database to store digital data, which can be connected and shared nationwide will be a necessary measure to preserve and promote the value of national cultural heritage.

Digital data contributes to preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage

Recently, cultural management agencies have been making efforts to digitize cultural heritages, from historical relics, scenic spots, to intangible cultural heritages such as festivals and folk arts. However, this process requires large resources in terms of finance, human resources and technology. According to a representative of the Department of Cultural Heritage, there is currently no specific policy and directive document on building national data for agencies and units in the industry to build a nationwide data network system on cultural heritage; there has been no comprehensive study on existing databases and development of data standards for future industry-linked data systems. Digitized data is currently stored in many places without any connection or data sharing mechanism. The issue of copyright and related rights for products related to cultural heritage disseminated on cyberspace also needs to be considered... Dr. Chu Thu Huong believes that, with a wide range of sectors, the cultural sector requires the integration and sharing of general data and data from many sectors. Therefore, the Institute for Monuments Conservation in particular and other research and management agencies in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in addition to efforts to build sectoral databases of each unit, the sharing and integration of data from different sectors is extremely important so that departments, sectors and divisions can support each other in research and management. Currently, in addition to data on cultural heritage managed by the Department of Cultural Heritage, there are also a number of units under the Ministry and data in localities. Dr. Duong Viet Huy, Department of Science, Technology, Environment, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism commented: basically, linking and sharing data requires a mechanism from state management agencies, on that basis, technology platforms will support the formation of a database system on cultural heritage in the form of big data. For this linking and sharing to be successful and effective, in addition to mechanisms, policies, and standardization of technology platforms (on linking and sharing), there also needs to be investment in resources with a reasonable roadmap. The draft Law on Cultural Heritage (amended) stipulates: digitizing cultural heritage and digitizing data and documents to serve the construction of a national database on cultural heritage; building and developing information systems and implementing digital transformation activities in the field of cultural heritage; Research, apply advanced scientific and technological achievements, digitize cultural heritage, digital transformation in activities to protect and promote the value of cultural heritage... When the draft Law is passed by the National Assembly, it is hoped that it will create a foundation to promote this field. Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/di-san-van-hoa-tu-truyen-thong-den-kho-tang-so-post395732.html