Veri Olarak Kültürel Miras Koleksiyonları

Abstract

The surge in data volume and the evolution of data analysis tools have significantly influenced humanities studies, leading to the emergence of the discipline known as digital humanities. At the core of this discipline lie cultural heritage collections, closely intertwined with cultural memory institutions such as libraries, archives, and museums. In recent times, many of these institutions have endeavored to make their collections accessible for computational analysis, thus supporting research in digital humanities. The process of making collections available in machine-readable and machine-actionable formats, readily downloadable in bulk, is commonly referred to as "collections as data". As far as current knowledge extends, there is no institution in Turkey that has converted its collections into collections as data, thereby making them accessible to researchers. This study endeavors to present a conceptual model tailored for cultural memory institutions in Turkey. The aim is to facilitate the conversion of their collections into collections as data, meeting the needs and expectations of digital humanities researchers while ensuring accessibility. To achieve this, the study sets out to identify the needs and expectations of digital humanities researchers concerning collections as data, alongside assessing the current status of cultural memory institutions and their alignment with researchers’ needs. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with 10 digital humanities researchers from various disciplines and 16 staff members of cultural memory institutions from different genres. The data was analyzed using the content analysis method. The findings reveal that digital humanities researchers encounter challenges such as data formats, resolution issues, and insufficient metadata, underscoring the imperative for access to collections as data. Memory institutions, on the other hand, face hurdles such as copyright concerns, staffing shortages, technical limitations, and a lack of awareness in transitioning their collections into collections as data. The conceptual model developed in this study proposes solutions to these challenges, delineating key aspects necessary for adopting an approach that converts cultural heritage collections into collections as data, thus meeting researchers’ needs. This thesis marks the pioneering effort in developing a conceptual model for cultural heritage collections as data. The model devised herein will aid institutions aspiring to convert cultural heritage collections into collections as data, providing researchers with comprehensive access to these resources.