Digitize and destroy, or digitize and preserve?

Notes will be taken at https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wikiclubwest

Event information

Digitize and destroy, or digitize and preserve?

  • When:  to
  • Location: BiblioTECH, 1st Floor, State Library of Western Australia
  • Who: WikiClubWest
  • URL: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Digitize_and_destroy,_or_digitize_and_preserve%3F
  • Summary: The question: does digitization provide all the answers for the modern archive — or are there limitations?
  • Notes edit

    Introduction to WikiClubWest and the other clubs around Australia, and some of the strategy process.

    "Digitize and Destroy" is intentionally provocative, trying to draw attention to the destruction that does go on, not that we have position of advacting it. Wikimedia has a complex role with libraries, because it doesn't have collections of its own. Innitiatives like the Internet Archive are of great value, but also non-digital collections are important even if they're never to be digitized.

    Discussion about the reduction in the importance of books in libraries. Books can be removed, and no one will mind?

    Redundancy and obsolecence of books, and how they're being replaced by the internet.

    Wikipedia is providing information, and books are relegated to citations/references. So libraries perhaps have fewer books, poeple go to the internet to find things. This means non-online sources are less viewed, and so collections get used less. This doesn't at all mean they're less important.

    Talked about the context of these round-table discussions being an attempt to get the Western Australian Wikimedia community to think more about our place in the global movement, and the global movement's context in GLAMs worldwide. These discussions are a part of the broader 2030 strategy process, from that point of view.

    Digitized and online items are not immune to to destruction. Sometimes it's better to host things on the large sites (e.g. Flickr) becaue they're less susceptible to things like funding changes.

    The open and trackable (as in 'changes') nature of wikis support fact-checking.