Cultural Heritage Digitization in Serbia: Standards, Policies, and Case Studies

Abstract

The paper identifies necessary steps to create a national information system for management and preservation of cultural heritage documentation. The Republic of Serbia, where the digitization of cultural heritage is recognized as a segment of cultural development and officially accepted as one of the methods for preservation and presentation of heritage documentation, is taken as a case study. The paper describes the evolutionary path of the digitization process in Serbia and analyzes the importance of the adoption of a legal framework and establishment of national standards in the process of achieving the uniqueness in cultural heritage long-term sustainable documentation management and preservation across cultural institutions.

Nondestructive characterization and artificial intelligence recognition of acoustic identifiers of ancient ceramics

“…The identi cation and management of cultural relics can be more e cient and accurate through the unique identi cation code of cultural relics [1,2]. At present, the identi cation of cultural relics is mainly in the form of their name, category, number and descriptive information.…”

Cultural Events Classification using Hyper-parameter Optimization of Deep Learning Technique

“…By implementing digital documentation, cultural heritage can be quickly promoted and maintained. Several benefits of digital cultural heritage can make possible (a) transformation of heritage objects into the digital form [6], (b) quickly access to digital heritage [7], (c) indexation of historical heritage contents and extraction of their information [8], and (d) permanent preservation of digital objects [9]. Concerning all of those benefits, classification methods play an essential part.…”

Digitisation and Data Management of Archaeological Heritage in Serbia (1991-2020)

“…It should be mentioned that during this period, the term 'digitisation' was not used, nor did project participants declare themselves as experts in digitisation (Mijajlović 2002, 25). They were archaeologists, museologists, archivists, librarians, IT specialists and mathematicians, and with their common efforts, they tested the possibilities of interdisciplinary cooperation in creating an infrastructure for storing and presenting cultural heritage in electronic form (Ognjanović et al 2019). Only at the beginning of the 21st century, under the influence of the European Union and owing to the efforts of the National Centre for Digitization (NCD) (Ognjanović et al 2019), did the term digitising cultural heritage enter a wider range of usage (see European Commission 2000).…”

“…The reason is that before 2009, the field of digitising cultural heritage in Serbia did not have foundations in a strategic document. The new Law on Culture (Zakon o kulturi) was not established until 2009, and this is why digitising was understood more as a project and less as a regular activity (Ognjanović et al 2019;Aćimović 2016, 46).…”

“…The Law on Culture was accepted in 2009 and expanded in 2011. It defined the process of digitisation as a matter of general interest in culture and it opened the way for implementing various software solutions for designing electronic registers, databases and the development of information systems within institutions of protection (Ognjanović et al 2019). It especially influenced the process of digitisation of cultural heritage to be recognised in the future division of funding.…”