In response to Mandalat

Abstract

What should happen to Hungarian digital cultural heritage? Will a national institution be set up to provide services and guarantee long-term retention, based on a standard approach? Is the creation of the „KÉPMÁS” service a feasible alternative? The Hungarian Parliament established the Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (in Hungarian abbreviated as MaNDA) to digitally archive and provide access to the treasures of Hungarian culture. „It is the main goal of MaNDA … to take stock of the treasures of Hungarian cultural heritage, as regards especially the works of literature, art, music and audiovisual nature; to capture them digitally, to retain them for future generations in this way as well, and to ensure their wide-ranging accessibility.” The study dated 22 November 2011 bearing the title „The survival of national culture in the age of digital technology” sets out the basic concept of MaNDA, and is identified by its authors as Mandalat version 0.9. The article criticises the study placing it into the context of earlier Hungarian efforts for digitisation, and hopes that, as a result of professional discussions, version 1.0 will provide an up-to-date model for archiving and providing the digital cultural heritage in the long term.