Comments on: Digitization and Repatriation http://www.dancohen.org/2007/12/14/digitization-and-repatriation/ Covering the intersection of digital technology and research, teaching, and learning in the humanities, including search, data mining, website development and design, and programming. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:07:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Alexis Turner: Scratchpad » Which is better - to think about food, or to eat food? http://www.dancohen.org/2007/12/14/digitization-and-repatriation/#comment-1744 Alexis Turner: Scratchpad » Which is better - to think about food, or to eat food? Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:24:39 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/2007/12/14/digitization-and-repatriation/#comment-1744 [...] any rate, the post in question is on digitization and repatriation. Specifically, he asks if digital objects, photos, etc. are so finely detailed that they convey as [...] [...] any rate, the post in question is on digitization and repatriation. Specifically, he asks if digital objects, photos, etc. are so finely detailed that they convey as [...]

]]> By: Bryan Alexander http://www.dancohen.org/2007/12/14/digitization-and-repatriation/#comment-1348 Bryan Alexander Sun, 16 Dec 2007 02:16:39 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/2007/12/14/digitization-and-repatriation/#comment-1348 Good catch, Dan. I wonder how this connects with Roger Schonfeld's presentation, which notes that overseas academics cited digital scholarly publications more frequently than did Amerians. PS: blogged most of CNI at the NITLE blog. More sessions coming. Good catch, Dan. I wonder how this connects with Roger Schonfeld’s presentation, which notes that overseas academics cited digital scholarly publications more frequently than did Amerians.

PS: blogged most of CNI at the NITLE blog. More sessions coming.

]]> By: Eric Johnson http://www.dancohen.org/2007/12/14/digitization-and-repatriation/#comment-1339 Eric Johnson Sat, 15 Dec 2007 03:45:50 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/2007/12/14/digitization-and-repatriation/#comment-1339 This reminds me of a question posed in my Museum Informatics class at FSU by professorStu Paul Marty (originally posed by Diane M. Zorich): "Which is more important--the object, or the information ABOUT the object? What if you could *only* have one or the other--which would you choose?" My head says that without information about an object--without knowledge of its context--an object is nearly meaningless. But my heart says there's something magical about original objects. But if I HAD to choose, I'd go with the information. Lynch's point is a great one--digital surrogates can be so well made now that an object's physical information is no longer restricted to the physical object itself. Scholars can now almost have their cake and eat it, too, which is tremendously beneficial. I do wonder, though, if there would ever be objection on the part of the original institution/nation/source of objects to that sort of detailed digital surrogate--would they claim even that information? This reminds me of a question posed in my Museum Informatics class at FSU by professorStu Paul Marty (originally posed by Diane M. Zorich): “Which is more important–the object, or the information ABOUT the object? What if you could *only* have one or the other–which would you choose?”

My head says that without information about an object–without knowledge of its context–an object is nearly meaningless. But my heart says there’s something magical about original objects. But if I HAD to choose, I’d go with the information.

Lynch’s point is a great one–digital surrogates can be so well made now that an object’s physical information is no longer restricted to the physical object itself. Scholars can now almost have their cake and eat it, too, which is tremendously beneficial. I do wonder, though, if there would ever be objection on the part of the original institution/nation/source of objects to that sort of detailed digital surrogate–would they claim even that information?

]]>