Volume 49, Issue 4

Consensus exists on the importance of heritage for ensuring sustainable futures, due to its impact on political aspects, ethical reflection and local economic development. Nowadays, using technology has become crucial in the construction industry, including heritage conservation. This paper aims to compare a selected sample of digital platforms, gathering data in support of heritage documentation, both for heritage and archeological sites. Despite the huge potential of digital technologies for contributing to heritage conservation, still there is a need for more clarity on what should be used to achieve different goals and what is the best approach under various circumstances. A team of five experts on digital technologies applied to different types of heritage worked collaboratively to gather the case studies in this paper and to analyse them comparatively. Jordan is a Middle East and North Africa country chosen as unit of analysis, because of the huge potential of digital technologies for heritage documentation. The findings from the comparative case review offers a reflection on what should best adopted for achieving different goals. Differences of approaches were revealed between the characteristics of heritage site and those of archaeological sites in Jordan’s conservation history. The findings called for a prioritization of using digital technology in both heritage and archeological sites. The discussion on digital platforms currently available in Jordan allows for highlighting strengths and limitations of different approaches and methodologies, thus drawing lessons for addressing the strategic choice of the most appropriate digital solution under different circumstances and in different contexts.

This descriptive research determined the extent of implementation of the guidelines on digitization of resources in the libraries of HEIs in La Union along selection, technical requirement and implementation, legal aspects, budget, human resource planning, development and maintenance, preservation of digital content and project management; and the strengths and weaknesses on digitization of resources. Data gathered using the validated and pretested questionnaire was treated using percentage, ranking, and weighted mean. A total of 40 library personnel participated in the study. The implementation of the guidelines on digitization of resources in the libraries of HEIs in La Union, Philippines was found to be moderately implemented and is relatively weak. A Digitization Manual Model was formulated to address the identified weaknesses. Through these guidelines and procedures, library personnel will have clear guidelines as to how digitization activities must be done. It will serve as a framework that will provide effective and efficient digitization.

What does a digital Social Network Analysis reveal about online oceanographic communities on Twitter? We examine the structure of a digital community of practice of oceanographers and ocean-related stakeholders on Twitter using a Social Network Analysis (SNA) approach to understand digital aspects of information production and information flow in oceanography, mapping the social ties between members of a community of practice concerned with the study of the oceans. We carried out the SNA using Docteur Tweety TwExList for data collection, and Gephi to visualize scraped data, and found that although the oceanographic community on Twitter is an active vibrant community, fragmentation between sub-communities exist. Further qualitative sampling revealed where these fragmentations occur between individual researchers, institutions, funding bodies, government agencies, and news outlets as a result of practice, time zones, and geography. The findings also revealed which groups are utilizing Twitter consistently, and which accounts have the potential to connect isolated groups. We recommend that if training were available to assist ocean scientists in understanding the affordances of Twitter, it would be possible to utilise it for better collaboration, community integration, and more effective public outreach.