About Project Profile

 

Taiwan Digital Archives Expansion Project
A Brief Introduction Taiwan Digital Archives Expansion Project

Origin
Since 1998, the National Science Council has successively launched three projects: The “Digital Museum Plan”, the “National Digital Archives Plan” and “The Cooperative Plan of International Digital Libraries”. The “National Digital Archives Program” was formally launched in 2002. This plan combines the digitization projects by institutions such as the National Palace Museum, the National Central Library, the National Museum of History, Academia Historica, Taiwan Historica, the National Museum of Natural Science, National Taiwan University and Academia Sinica. All of these institutions are in the process of digitizing their treasures. These digitization projects emphasize academic expertise to ensure the production of high quality digital archives and to propagate broader use of the digital archives on the national level. The goal of these digitization projects is to preserve the cultural heritage and to establish a public information network for digital resources. The open recruitment project aims to involve the public in the establishment of digital content. By integrating the digital achievements of various project organizations and the open recruitment project, we hope to provide the general public with even more variegated content. Over 100 databases and websites have been established and managed by the participating organizations; these digital archive websites are accessible to the public free of charge. Furthermore, since 2008, the “National Digital Archives Program” and the National Science and Technology Program for e-Learning” have been combined into the “Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program”. Most of the archival content of the “National Digital Archives Program” has been established with the cooperation of experts and scholars of the relevant fields. The presentation, resources, and metadata of these digital contents are all highly academic and educational.

In recent years, the government has worked to implement the principle embraced by the slogan “striding toward globalization by developing Taiwan’s potential”. Under this goal, leaders of the digitization projects have worked to raise academic standards, integrate technical resources, develop industrial technology, promote innovation and enhance the cultural value of the digital materials. Such efforts are instrumental to increasing Taiwan’s competitive edge. Strenuous efforts have been made to promote and enhance the quantity and quality of the “Digital Content Industry” so that Taiwan will become the central nexus in Asia for the development, production, and design of digital contents, thus also stimulating the development of other related knowledge-based fields of production. In recent years, digital e-learning and the digital home have not only received increasing attention but also have become core features of modern life. Digital television is already broadcasted and widely used. Forging ways to achieve the establishment of superior digital contents has become a major concern in digital television, digital products and digital e-learning alike. Digital archives can rectify the past shortcomings in digitization. Digital archives and the digital e-learning projects will allow digitization efforts to reach even higher levels of perfection. Moreover, the fact that Mandarin Chinese is gradually becoming the major language in the internet world, together with the current Chinese language learning fever in Europe, America, and Asia all mean that Chinese digital content websites will become ever more influential in future years. Thus, this is a good opportunity for Chinese content providers to demonstrate their capabilities. Furthermore, as a multi-cultural society including aboriginal culture, Chinese traditional culture, as well as Japanese and Western cultural influence, Taiwan is endowed with the cultural and historical resources to serve as a fertile hub for cultural innovation. Taiwan’s cultural potential is most clearly demonstrated by the flourishing cultural developments since the lifting of martial law in the late 1980s. Through the development, integration and expansion of the digital archives, the cultural, historical and natural diversity of the island can be displayed to viewers. The expansion of the digital archives will also provide the people of Taiwan with better materials for research, and also create opportunities of innovation in the field of digital learning and digital production. The expansion, development and integration of the digital archives will also permit Taiwan to play a leading role in cultural developments of greater China, and assure the continued use of traditional Chinese characters in an age of globalization.

Goals

This project is one of the eight main projects of the “Taiwan e-learning and Digital Archives Program.” The main goal of this project is to establish and display various digital contents related to the culture, society and natural environment of Taiwan. We hope that the precious digital materials produced by these numerous projects can serve as a basis for cooperation with the main projects to enhance the value of these digital products for use in education, academic research, and business. Furthermore, we hope that these digital products will help promote international exchange. Our main task is to facilitate participation in digital archival work, increase the number of participants, and provide channels for those wishing to participate in digital archival work. Our goal is also to promote quality standards for digitization, facilitate the exchange of experiences in digitization, and lower the costs of creating digital archival content. We also facilitate cooperation between the digital projects of various institutions to enhance the value of these digital archives. Under the goal of “digitizing the diversity of Taiwan” we have fervently collected digital contents created by public and private organizations and the digital archives Open Request for Proposals Project. The digital contents include materials from the natural environment, archaeology, languages, geography, ethnic culture, history, economy, arts and aesthetics, folk culture, daily life, and the democratic development of Taiwan. We have established a work-flow process and digitization techniques for each type of digital content. By upholding international standards in digital archival work and attending to specific local needs, we hope that these digital archives will serve as a model for establishing digital content both in Taiwan and abroad. By systematically integrating Taiwan’s domestic digital resources, we hope to surpass the traditional boundaries between the fields of nature, humanities, culture, and technology. We hope to provide each field of knowledge with digital archival materials which can be downloaded free of charge for non-commercial purposes. This will enhance user’s understanding of Taiwan’s culture, history, and biodiversity. Such an approach to digital archives will also enhance international visibility.

Organization and mission

Organization and Mission This project has been divided into division projects and three subsidiary projects according to the tasks to be completed.
The projects are:
1. Taiwan Digital Archives Expansion Division Projects
2. Subsidiary project I: The Establishment and Integration of Digital Contents
3. Subsidiary projectⅡ: Digital Archives Request-for-Proposals Project
4. Subsidiary projectⅢ: Institutional Projects for the Research and Establishment of Digital Collections

Cooperation, Communication, and Service
The development and expansion of the digital archives is a tedious and complex process, whose smooth implementation requires the integration of tasks, communication, and cooperation between various committees and work groups. The main tasks of the project for the expansion of digital archives include: the planning of strategies, tactics, and procedures for the digitization process; assistance in the collaboration between various subsidiary projects and the integration of their tasks and resources.

Main tasks:

1. Convene meetings for the Digital Contents Expansion Committee and the chairs of each of the thematic groups.
2. Plan, manage, and assist the digital work process of each subsidiary project.
3. Facilitate cooperation between the subsidiary projects, each smaller project and inter-departmental meetings.
4. Publish project achievements and hold annual exhibitions.
5. Establish and maintain a platform for internal information management and website planning.
6. Issue the Cyber Island e-paper.
7. Investigate website resources related to digital archival contents.

Our services

1. Providing technical resources and establishing the workflow process for the digital archives.
The Taiwan Digital Archives Expansion Project provides a range of digital documents on various aspects of the digitalization workflow process and related techniques. You can download these materials for free from our websites.
2. Holding workshops for the dissemination of knowledge on the digital archive workflow process.
We will hold workshops on an irregular basis in order to transmit knowledge on various aspects of the workflow process for establishing digital archival content. We will invite those staff with first-hand experience in the establishment of digital archival content to share their precious experiences and advice on digitization. We welcome your participation.
3. Inquiry for information and resources on the digital archive program.
If you have any questions concerning the digitization workflow process and the development of digital archival contents, please do not hesitate to contact us. The Taiwan Digital Archive Expansion Work Team will do its best to answer your questions.

Contact Us

Address: R403, Museum of Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
130, Sec. 2, Academia Rd., Nangang District, Taipei City 115, Taiwan
http://content.teldap.tw
E-MAIL:content@gate.sinica.edu.tw
TEL:886-2-27829555ext.288
FAX:886-2-27868834