Transcript ISI-IDP-Pritam - Library(ISI Kolkata)
Digital Preservation of Indian Manuscripts: a case study on International Dunhuang Project, London
Pritam Gurey
Librarian
Vidyasagar College for Women Kolkata
E-mail: [email protected]
Ph.: (+91) 9804224507
Avijit Chakrabarti
Librarian
Barasat College Barasat
E-mail: [email protected]
Ph.: (+91) 8013437767
Introduction
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society.
The Indian literary heritage is one of the world.
oldest
in the It encompasses a large body of
poetry
,
drama
are treatise on various arts and sciences found in manuscripts.
The manuscripts are important to the study of human society because they provide a concrete basis for ideas and can validate them.
Objective of the study
To know the importance of preservation of manuscripts To provide a view on the International Dunhuang Project (IDP), London To point out the challenges IDP are facing at the time of digitization To provide a view on digital preservation method from
LIFE
project
Importance of the study
Information
Historical Importance
Significance in Human Progress
Artistic Value
Psychological Aspect
Social Aspect
International Dunhuang Project (IDP)
International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is the largest and most successful project of its kind.
(paintings, artifacts, manuscripts, historical photographs & maps) All the data and images are freely accessible to all.
IDP was awarded the 2010 Casa Asia prize ‘for its
enormous task in the recovery
,
preservation
and
exhibition of information
and
images
of the manuscripts, paintings and textiles found in the Chinese city of Dunhuang and of the Silk Route’
All Collaborating Members of IDP
The British Library, London
The British Museum, London The Victoria and Albert Museum, London The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin The National Library of China, Beijing The Dunhuang Academy, Dunhuang Academia Sinica, Taipei The Institute of Oriental Studies, St. Petersburg The National Museum of India, New Delhi Ryukoku University, Kyoto Research Institute of Korean Studies, Seoul State Library, Berlin Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Berlin Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris Musée Guimet, Paris The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm The Sven Hedin Foundation, Stockholm The Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC University of California at Los Angeles Princeton University, (Gest Library and Art Museum), Princeton The Morgan Library, New York Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), Japan
Procedure
IDP: The British Library, London
Formed in 1994 at the British Library with external funds from Dunhuang and archaeological sites of the Eastern Silk Road.
Over 100,000 images representing over 20,000 items from the British Library were available online.
It is planned that 80% of the material will be available by 2013 subject to funding.
Collection of Indian Manuscripts
Language(s) / Script(s) No. of manuscripts / blockprints
Brahmi Gandhari Gupta Kharosthi Sanskrit 7,575 351 9 370 6,040
Number Digitized
7,280 351 5 370 5,924
Digitization Projects of IDP
IDP UK opened a dedicated digitisation studio at the British Library in 2000 with a grant from the Mellon Foundation.
- More than 120,000 images of British Library Central Asian collection items being freely accessible to all online.
A substantial proportion of the 6000 manuscript fragments, although stable and requiring only minor conservation for preservation purposes specialist work before they could be digitised.
needed
Challenges
Ever rising costs Funding Physical condition of objects Difficult accessibility Digital obsolescence Legal and regulatory legitimacy
LIFE Project
LIFE
(
L
ifecycle
I
nformation
F
or
E
-Literature) - to calculate the
long-term costs
digital assets &
future requirements of the preservations
of
Generic LIFE Preservation Model:
(provides a solid foundation for the costing of preservation activity)
Preservation
=
t * TEW + (t / ULE + PON) * (CRS + UME + PPA + QAA)
where:
TEW
- Technology Watch = 1 metadata officer week @ £30k annual salary = £625
ULE
– Unaided Life Expectancy of a Format
PON
– Proportion of normalization
CRS
– Cost of new rendering solution
UME
– Update Metadata = 2 metadata officer weeks @ £30k annual salary = £1250
PPA
– Performing preservation action
QAA
– Quality Assurance
Conclusion
Collection of manuscripts are spread all over the country - in different libraries, academic institutions, museums, etc. and in public collections.
Sufficient information on manuscripts is not available. Today most of them face survival threats.
◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ We strongly advocates for the national and international cooperation – ◦ to save those manuscripts from deteriorations to run projects for digitization of those manuscripts to raise funds for digitization projects to set quality and technical standards to make all content information available on the Internet to encourage the use for educational and research purpose