3. Digitization of the Transylvanian-Saxon cultural heritage
With regard to the future acquisition,
preservation and further development of the Transylvanian-Saxon
cultural heritage, the most comprehensive digitization of the
cultural heritage is by far the most extensive challenge. This requires
both a comprehensive digital cataloging of all cultural artefacts
and a digital publication of all written documents
that is as public as possible. In this regard, the digitization of all 95,000
bibliographic units of the Transylvanian Library would be necessary. Once
published, it will be indexed by search engines and large linguistic models,
making it available to everyone worldwide. Only in this way can the cultural
heritage of the Transylvanian Saxons remain present and accessible to everyone
in the future.
The aquisition, preservation and development of
a community and its identity is
primarily through the engagement with its own cultural heritage. The
vitality and sustainability of cultural heritage is ensured through
engagement with and development of this heritage. The institutions and
organisations involved in heritage management are also crucial.
Cultural heritage manifests itself in
two forms: tangible and intangible.
The material heritage includes physical objects such as artefacts in
museums and buildings. Intangible heritage, also known as "intellectual
heritage", is first manifested in the people themselves. It is passed on
in particular through oral traditions and written records.
The first written
records were made in analogue form. Papyrus,
parchment, and paper (from the 12th
century) were the main materials used, with stone, wood, ivory, and wax also
being used. Since the Gutenberg Revolution in the 15th
century, written records have primarily been transmitted on paper
in books, magazines and newspapers.
In the 20th
century, digital media were added. Digitization began with the
creation of the first knowledge databases in the 1950s and has
experienced an exponential increase with the Internet (WWW) since the 1990s.
GENAI will further exponentialize this development. GENAI is a
qualitative innovation compared to the storage media discussed so far.
While the previous storage media only allow passive storage of
content, GENAI can also change content independently.
The further development of
cultural heritage has so far only been carried out by humans. With GENAI,
it is now possible for large language models to make machine changes on
their own with the help of algorithms. It is therefore necessary for
everyone who has an interest in safeguarding and further developing cultural
heritage to prepare for this development and to take the necessary steps.
The amount of digital
information has developed into a flood of information
far more than that of analogue publications. Digital communication and digital
publications have therefore become just as important as personal communication
and analogue publications. Cultural debates are therefore increasingly being
conducted via digital media. The digital visibility of cultural heritage
is therefore of crucial importance.
For the Transylvanian Saxons, there is another starting point or special
feature: Since the end of the 20th
century, the Transylvanian-Saxon cultural heritage has been
almost the only remaining loose bond of sympathy that holds the
Transylvanian-Saxon community together worldwide and shapes the
Transylvanian-Saxon identity.
|
