Digital Representations of Cultural Heritage: Enabling the Quality to Speak for Itself

Abstract

Humanities and scientific collections institutions and cultural memory organizations around the world are incorporating advanced digital representations of their materials into their conservation practice, service to the public, and materials preservation strategy. Understanding the reliability of digital assets is key to the success of these activities. Imaging tools and methods are now available that produce 2D and 3D digital representations which carry a metadata record describing the process of their creation. The open-source Digital Lab Notebook software simplifies the creation of such a metadata record and assists in its long-term archiving and preservation. This transparent record allows users, both within and outside of collection organizations, to evaluate the quality of the representation, understand its precision, and determine its utility for their own purposes.