Conceptualisation and Institutionalisation of the Concept "Digital Cultural Heritage"

This article was prepared as part of the state assignment by the Southern Branch of the Russian Research Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Research Theme 3.00 "Digital Heritage of Russia: Status, Content, Forms and Methods of State Guard: Juridical Analysis". The article aims to analyse the content of the concept "digital cultural heritage" at different stages of its existence, as well as to identify ways and forms of its institutionalisation at the international and domestic levels. The study is based on the works of domestic and foreign scholars, the normative documents of UNESCO and of other international organisations, materials of international forums devoted to the analysis of the problems of digital cultural heritage preservation, study and popularisation. Factual information is also used. The structural and semantic relations between key concepts related to the field of digital heritage are revealed through the structural systematic method. The historical genetic method allowed the authors to retrospectively consider changes in the content of the concept "digital cultural heritage". The semantic accents that arose in the scientific and theoretical comprehension of the concept under consideration are revealed by comparative analysis. The authors tracked the change in the meaning of the term "digital cultural heritage" from the 1960s until today. The key problems associated with the functioning of this concept in the regulatory sphere are identified. The most important semantic positions that determine the functioning of digital cultural heritage in society are studied on the basis of UNESCO documents. Russia's activities in ensuring the development of culture in a digital format are analysed. The problems of the most important academic forums devoted to digital heritage study and preservation in Russia are considered. The authors also consider the formation of digital humanities in Russia and in the world, the activities of its research centres, as well as projects related to its development. The main problems related to digital heritage as a new format of culture are detected. As a result of the study, it has been revealed that, in its initial use, the concept "digital cultural heritage" basically meant digitised works of art and texts, but, later on, it included everything originally created in digital format and considered as having a certain cultural value. It is shown that digital cultural heritage is a complex sociotechnical system that includes interacting digital objects, subsystems for their creation, storage and use, as well as groups of people maintaining or using them. The authors stress that UNESCO documents are crucial in the institutionalizing of digital cultural heritage. The Russian Federation recognises UNESCO's rule-making and coordinating role and strongly supports its work in terms of ensuring the development of culture in digital format. Preparation of a scientific basis for the institutionalisation of the concept under consideration is carried out at international forums.

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