Digitization is the process of converting an item or a subject to a digital format. In cultural heritage and preservation endeavors, digitization is a valuable tool.This process can produce images or videos, as well as other mediums, depending on the subject being captured. Unfortunately, the process of digitization is unable to capture any information that would engage one’s olfactory system. Nevertheless, through different mediums, digitization can capture information like weight, size, color, texture, and sound. Photographs are able to capture subjects with fewer dimensions. Digitizing aged photographs is a mode of preserving and restoring pictures that may otherwise be lost to time. Videos are better suited for capturing multi-dimensional subjects. Videos can also allow the researcher to provide further context through audio recording. Interacting with digitized representations requires us to understand how we capture and how we preserve. The process of digitization is a costly endeavor and costly to maintain. When digitizing our subject, we must be mindful of the information we wish to extract. Furthermore, we must remind ourselves of the integrity of the original subject and – if we are manipulating using digital tools – that we maintain it’s integrity.
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