Die digitalisering van NALN se knipselversameling : Die bemiddeling van 21ste-eeuse navorsing in die Afrikaanse letterkunde

Digitalisering het vele voordele, insluitend die wereldwye beskikbaarstelling van inligting, die aanvulling van 'n museum se bergingsfunksie deur getroue kopiee aan navorsers te verskaf sonder dat die oorspronklike dokumente aan die elemente en slytasie onderwerp word, en tydbesparings vir personeel wat hulle in staat stel om meer aandag aan die versameling, ontsluiting en bewaring van dokumente te bestee. Verder bemiddel digitalisering die gebruik van inligtingstegnologie vir navorsingsdoeleindes, soos reeds in die buiteland onder andere in die leksikografie, linguistiek, historiografie, en heelwat in die letterkunde onderneem is. Sodoende kan die ontleding van datastelle onderneem word wat veel groter is as wat 'n menslike navorser kan hanteer, en in die buiteland het navorsers binne wat as die digitale geesteswetenskappe bekend staan, hulself onlangs begin beywer om inligtingstegnologie beter binne geesteswetenskaplike navorsing te integreer. Ten einde gevorderde sagteware te kan benut om hierdie groot hoeveelhede inligting te hanteer, moet 'n beduidende korpus analoogdokumente egter digitaal beskikbaar wees. Crane, Babeu en Bamman (2007:120) skryf: "We need to increase physical and intellectual access to every type of content and we need methods that are automated and can be applied to large bodies of content." Die Universiteit van die Vrystaat se digitaliseringsprojek by die Nasionale Afrikaanse Letterkundige Museum en Navorsingsentrum (NALN) in Bloemfontein het pas sy voete gevind, maar bo en behalwe die voordele wat dit vir die museum inhou, kan die projek ook daartoe bydra om die Afrikaanse letterkunde stewiger in die globale inligtingsnetwerk te vestig en nuwe moontlikhede vir navorsing binne die Afrikaanse letterkunde skep. Binne die raamwerk van sowel buitelandse digitaliseringsprojekte as die digitale geesteswetenskappe bespreek hierdie artikel die vordering wat binne die eerste jaar gemaak is, die lesse wat geleer is, en die potensiaal wat digitalisering binne die Afrikaanse letterkunde inhou. The digitisation of NALN's collection of newspaper clippings: Enabling 21st-century research in Afrikaans literature The contemporary world is an extremely complex environment due to globalisation and the internet. Within this globalised interdependent framework, researchers, both in an academic context and in nonacademic settings such as business, cannot expect to succeed without incorporating resources that extend the reach of the individual's environment and expedite the processing of information. Not only has the amount of information circling the globe increased rapidly over the past two decades, but museums and libraries have had to downsize their staff, which effectively means that fewer resources are available to handle more information and in addition serve a larger population. If the humanities' basic tasks are "preserving, reconstructing, transmitting, and interpreting the human record" (Frischer 2009:15), technology is the key, enabling research across international borders, distributing data, findings and insights globally, and managing the deluge of information that is characteristic of the 21st-century world. Within this context, digitisation - the process of converting analogue documents to a digital format - occupies a privileged position, enabling the distribution of information globally (and thereby contributing to information overload), as well as safeguarding the preservation of important historical material. Digitisation has become a global trend, and although many South African heritage institutions have been slow to make the transition from analogue to digital - mainly because of budget constraints - museums and archives in South Africa have realised the potential that digitisation holds, and are now digitising their collections.