Media publishers all over the world are rapidly realising that digital archives carry great value. However initial costs to establish an archive can be quite high due to the process of scanning large amounts of pages. Therefore many historic publications remain unavailable to the public. Still, there are a range of possible ways to raise capital for a digital archive, and a unique opportunity is to reach out and involve the readers.
The Danish engineering journal Ingeniøren is using crowd funding as a means to finance the digitalization of more than 300.000 pages, published from the year 1892 to 2000. The first 100.000 pages are already available publicly and can be found here.
So far the journal has received over 270.000 DKK. from private donors and funds, the most recent being 150.000 DKK. from the Otto Mønsteds Foundation. To initiate the digitalization of the next 100.000 pages, the journal needs to reach 496.200 DKK.
Digitalizing old files and early publications is a unique way to increase the availability of the content. Most newspapers and journals keep an archive, but the files are usually stored away in inaccessible locations. This creates a barrier around the content for the general public that we at Visiolink aim to tear down.
With a digital archive anyone can gain access to historic information, and the possibilities are plentiful. You can use the archive for research purposes, or to fuel your interest in history. Depending on the range of the archive, you can even find content from the day you were born!
To learn more about digital archives, please click here.
