The topic was digitalization of museums to preserve heritage
Yesterday at Jam Factory Art Center, museum workers from all over Ukraine presented the results of the project “Crisis Inventory and Leap to Digitalization of Museum Accounting” to make Ukrainian heritage accessible to Ukrainians and the world through digitalization.
The project team spoke about the creation of the Center for Museum Digitalization in Lviv and the developed program for electronic accounting of museum collections. Participants discussed the strategy of digitalization and digitization, and recommendations for applying international standards in Ukrainian realities.
“Digitalization is a complex and multifaceted process that requires a strategy. Each stage requires clear planning and coordinated work of the project team. The image itself is not a digitized object, it is all electronic waste. Our task is to link unique information about each museum object to this image,” said Natalia Dziubenko, coordinator of digitization and cooperation with museums, head of the Department of Applied Museology at the State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
By the way, the Center for Museum Digitalization in Lviv helps museums digitize collections and automate processes according to international standards.
“This is Russia’s war against our identity, history, and heritage, a war for heritage. Therefore, our big goal is a new role and understanding of heritage in society, and as a result, its careful management. We have an opportunity to preserve and open the threatened universe of our material culture for our children and the whole world,” said Vasyl Rozhko, project manager, founder of HeMo, and head of the Tustan NGO.
Currently, the project is working with five museums, where selected collections are being digitized, implemented, and tested as part of a pilot project. These museums include: The State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Tustan State Historical and Cultural Reserve, the Kharkiv Literary Museum, and the Odesa National Art Museum.
“Digitized heritage is accessible and, to some extent, saved heritage. We are proud to be among the project partners and one of the pilot museums. We believe that this is the beginning of a big leap in our industry,” said Andrii Kotliarchuk, director of the Tustan Reserve and project partner.
In addition, during the presentation, together with colleagues from the pilot museums, digitalization experts shared their experience and talked about challenges, methods, and workflows.
“We are working on tools that will facilitate the routine work of museum workers with information. In order to be able to work in a single information field and freely exchange information, it is important to adhere to standards both at the stage of digitizing a museum object and during its description. This is extremely important for museum accounting, as it forms the basis for high trust in museum information,” said Vladyslav Pioro, a specialist in the development and implementation of digital solutions in the field of cultural heritage, head of the Ukrainian Center for Museum Development, a project partner.
Video about the project on digitization of museum collections here
Project website here