Digitization and the Digital Archive

Digitization and the Digital Archive

Collective Memory

In this TEDx talk, Jamie Robinson, photographer at the John Rylands University Library in Manchester, England, gives an introduction to heritage imaging and collection care. Robinson starts out by summarizing the history of the JRU Library archive, while showing examples of early digital images. He defines heritage imaging as “creating digital surrogates of material that requires sensitive handling”, adding that such material is mainly of historical or cultural importance and therefore relevant to research. He then moves on to explain kinds of tools and technologies that are currently used in digitization and collection care, and elaborating on the technical processes the material undergoes throughout its lifecycle. Robinson repeatedly emphasizes the significance of such technologies in various fields: for instance, digital technologies can help read documents that otherwise have become illegible, thus aiding archeologists and historians retrieve lost material.

Robinson, Jamie

12-4-2013

Laura Moeller

Video

Robinson, Jamie. “Digitization and the Digital Archive.” TEDx Video,
28:59. 4 December, 2013.