Digitization, conflict and crisis: Institutional urgency and digital cultural heritage

Although the digitization of cultural heritage has become a routine activity in heritage institutions, with fully embedded workflows, standards and procedures, the world in which digitization sits is rapidly changing. Environmental change and geopolitical tensions are disrupting societies, displacing people and their cultures, and affecting those tasked with preserving the records of human society. Here, I explore the digitization of heritage content, particularly its selection criteria, at a growing time of conflict and societal change underpinned by the climate crisis. I demonstrate that there is room for intervention in both digitizing heritage which may be imminently lost, and sourcing data for climate science. Choices regarding what should be prioritized for digitization – and what should be deprioritized – come into stark relief if we imagine flood waters rising, soldiers outside, and fire within our walls. Adding a sense of urgency to cultural heritage digitization asks fundamental questions of its purpose, changing our perception of digitization, with resourcing and sustainability implications. I aim to make a critical intervention to help Gallery, Library, Archive and Museum (GLAM) institutions recalibrate their selection, prioritization, and digital preservation policies for digitization for the current socio-political climate, while considering the purpose of collections digitization, and why we believe we are digitizing them.