The dilemmas of digitization. Thinking about the past, planning the future: how to digitize the humanities?

About

A key element in the new research world has been the digitization of library holdings, archives, research material, making it possible to access, search, and structure research material online. However, while digitization has become commonplace, and the research community enjoys its many benefits, there remains work to be done to ensure that it is done efficiently, in an internationally coordinated way. This is how it must benefit scholarship and scholars.

This conference gathering international experts on digitization plans to assess the achievements of the last 30 years, to examine successes and failures. The first day will address the main aspects of the digital libraries and research infrastructures for the humanities. The second day will be devoted to an analysis of a number of specific case studies. Contrasting successful, and less successful, attempts at digitization and digital scholarship will provide fruitful ground for future plans.

The last session should be devoted to the conditions of access of the digitized material. Such essential issues as the question of copyright, of funding of digitization projects, as well as national and transnational cooperation and harmonization should be addressed in this session.

Further information

Abstracts, biographies and agenda are available on the Conference Website.

This conference is held in collaboration with the Maison Francaise d’Oxford.