Digitization and the Collection Sustainability

Abstract

This study focuses on the efforts and projects to create and sustain the digital transformation of the museum collection in the Grand Egyptian Museum project. GEM is considered one of the cultural enlightenment projects where Egyptian heritage truly meets the latest technological innovations. GEM's one-of-a-kind and valuable collection will be displayed under overwhelming themes and narratives that will depict the ancient Egyptians' life, customs, death, and rebirth beliefs, which they performed and lived for almost 5,000 years. Egyptian cultural materials are spread across all of Egypt and managed by hundreds of museums; the task of digitization is a common challenge for all these museums. The study relied mainly on the quantitative method. The literature review and systematic observation were examined to study the trend toward the sustainability of GEM museum collections. Digital sustainability and digitization in Egyptian museums are constrained by limited knowledge capacity, fundraising resources, and ICT infrastructure. Faced with these constraints, the Grand Egyptian Museum has addressed these challenges with an interdisciplinary approach through collaborative planning, management, digitization, and digital presentation of its collections.