# digital heritage

> digital media in the service of preserving cultural or natural heritage

**Wikidata**: [Q21087315](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21087315)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_heritage)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/digital-heritage

## Summary
Digital heritage refers to digital media used to preserve cultural or natural heritage. It encompasses efforts to digitize, store, and share historical artifacts, traditions, and knowledge using modern technology. This field plays a critical role in safeguarding global heritage for future generations.

## Key Facts
- Digital heritage is classified as a subclass of both archival science and heritage.
- It includes crisis digital heritage, which focuses on preserving cultural assets during emergencies.
- The term has aliases such as "التراث الرقمي" (Arabic) and "digitální dědictví" (Czech).
- Indexed under UNESCO Thesaurus ID: concept8030 and ANZSRC 2020 FOR ID: 430204.
- Has dedicated Wikipedia articles in multiple languages including English, French, Arabic, and Czech.
- Related professionals include computer scientists and university teachers like Rikard Steiber, Wally Smith, and Xavier Rubio Campillo.
- Wikidata item count shows sitelinks across 8 major platforms.
- Microsoft Academic ID was previously assigned but is now discontinued (ID: 2779185724).

## FAQs
### Q: What is digital heritage?
A: Digital heritage involves using digital technologies to capture, preserve, and disseminate cultural and natural heritage. Its purpose is to ensure long-term access to historically significant materials through digital means.

### Q: How does digital heritage differ from traditional heritage preservation?
A: Traditional heritage preservation often relies on physical storage and analog methods. In contrast, digital heritage uses digital formats and tools, enabling broader accessibility, replication without degradation, and global sharing.

### Q: Who works in the field of digital heritage?
A: Professionals in this field typically include archivists, computer scientists, archaeologists, and university researchers. Individuals like Xavier Rubio Campillo and Wally Smith contribute significantly through research and teaching.

## Why It Matters
Digital heritage ensures that valuable aspects of human culture and nature remain accessible despite threats such as conflict, climate change, or decay. By converting tangible and intangible heritage into digital formats, institutions can democratize access, support education, and enable deeper scholarly analysis. It also allows communities to reclaim and represent their own histories with greater autonomy. As more content migrates online, digital heritage becomes essential infrastructure for memory institutions like libraries, museums, and archives worldwide.

## Notable For
- Being formally recognized within academic taxonomies like ANZSRC and UNESCO vocabularies.
- Including specialized subcategories such as crisis digital heritage aimed at emergency responses.
- Having multilingual representation in public knowledge bases like Wikipedia.
- Linking closely with archival science practices while incorporating modern computational techniques.
- Featuring contributions from interdisciplinary experts including archaeologists and computer scientists.

## Body
### Definition and Scope
Digital heritage refers to digital media created or curated for the purpose of preserving cultural or natural heritage. It bridges disciplines such as archival science, information technology, and museology.

### Classification and Relationships
- Subclass of:
  - Archival science – concerned with organizing and maintaining historical records
  - Heritage – general category encompassing legacy items and traditions
- Includes:
  - Crisis digital heritage – focused on urgent documentation and protection during crises

### Multilingual Terminology
Aliases reflect international engagement:
- العربية: التراث الرقمي
- Čeština: digitální dědictví

### Academic Recognition
Indexed under authoritative classification systems:
- ANZSRC 2020 FOR ID: 430204 ("Digital heritage")
- UNESCO Thesaurus ID: concept8030

### Online Presence
Wikipedia coverage exists in several languages:
- ar, az, ca, cs, en, fa, fr, mk

### Professional Engagement
Key figures involved include:
- **Rikard Steiber**: Computer scientist and manager
- **Wally Smith**: University teacher and computer scientist
- **Xavier Rubio Campillo**: Archaeologist, computer scientist, and academic born in 1981

### Technical Identifiers
Various databases reference digital heritage:
- NL CR AUT ID: ph1150276
- Google Knowledge Graph ID: /g/113qbhdg4
- Former Microsoft Academic ID: 2779185724

## Schema Markup
```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Thing",
  "name": "digital heritage",
  "description": "digital media in the service of preserving cultural or natural heritage",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11306456",
    "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_heritage"
  ],
  "additionalType": "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q746236"
}

## References

1. [Source](https://vocabs.ardc.edu.au/viewById/316)