Pixels of the Past: The State of Digitisation

Cultural heritage, both tangible (manuscripts, archives, artifacts, built heritage) and intangible (oral traditions, rituals, languages, knowledge systems), represents collective memory and identity. Traditionally, preservation efforts have focused on physical conservation and institutional custody. However, rapid digital transformation has fundamentally reshaped how heritage is documented, accessed, interpreted, and shared.

Digitisation is no longer a supplementary activity. It increasingly influences how heritage is produced, circulated, and understood. Digital platforms expand access beyond geographic and institutional boundaries, enabling new forms of research, collaboration, and public engagement. At the same time, digitisation introduces structural challenges, including technological dependency, unequal access to infrastructure, data governance issues, and ethical concerns regarding ownership and representation.

In Indonesia, the digitisation landscape is uneven. Some national institutions and initiatives have developed structured programs and digital repositories, while many regional institutions and community-based collections operate with limited resources, technical capacity, or long-term preservation planning. Additionally, large portions of documentary heritage remain undocumented or inaccessible in digital form.

This session therefore serves as the conceptual and strategic foundation of the program by establishing a shared understanding of what cultural heritage encompasses in both physical and digital contexts, mapping the current state of digitisation efforts at different levels, identifying structural gaps, and situating national developments within broader regional and global trends in digital heritage.