Digitisation is the process of converting analogue sources such as text documents, photos, sound and video recordings into a digital file. In this context, digitisation doesn’t replace physical documents, but rather serves to make the content available and to conserve it.
The quality and format of digital files are determined by the nature of their use. For example, there are no high requirements for projection or internet use. The advantage to digitisation is that you can immediately deliver files in high quality and the right file format. This also makes them suitable for archiving and publication purposes.
Digitisation doesn’t just include converting text, image, audio and video, but also includes editing and description at various levels. This is essential for the reliable retrieval of files and making them findable in a digital environment such as a digital database. A step-by-step plan for a digitisation project has been developed by TRACKS and can be found here.