Not only storing the past but also creating the future for heritage
Hiep recounted that when he studied for a master's degree in Cultural Management, one of the biggest difficulties was collecting documents and images about historical relics. "Many relics are difficult to identify because there are no documents. Going down to the commune, the commune asks about the district, going to the district sometimes only goes down to the village and hamlet to find out" - Hiep said - "At that time, I realized that our country has a massive and extremely rich heritage document base, but the data is still scattered in many places, in archives, old books, photos of each family, memories of artisans, knowledge of researchers and even stories of local people. We lack a system to look up with images and complete information.
By 2021, when he had to "stay at home" due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Hiep contacted some friends, determined to build a project with the goal of creating a complete, accurate, and easily accessible Vietnamese heritage data warehouse for the community.
Hiep said that initially the group only focused on relics, but after researching, they found that there are many types of heritage that will fade if not statistically analyzed, digitized and introduced, especially information about artisans in craft villages, festivals......
So we are determined to build an open data system with a verified digital heritage treasure, serving the community freely and sustainably. At the same time, the project connects resources such as gathering artisans, experts, and coordinating with localities to jointly preserve cultural values. The main purpose is to bring Vietnamese heritage closer to the world through digital technology" - Hiep recounted.
So the project "tracuudi.vn" was born with many items such as: "Relics and Scenic Spots", "Festivals", "Craft Villages", "Artisans", "Antiques"... I asked Hiep: "Saving money from your own pocket to build a lookup system, what makes you persistent for so many years?". Hiep said: "Actually, recently, many people have asked me about this project with questions like: "When will there be money?", "What do you get from doing culture and heritage?"... Every time like that, I usually just smile. I do it out of passion. It sounds a bit... foolish, right? But for me, every long enough journey must start from a belief. Must have passion, people will be patient enough to continue when no one understands them. Must have passion, people will be persistent enough to do one thing day after another, even if the results do not come right before their eyes.
Making culture and heritage is very special. It is not like a calculation that can immediately see profits and losses. It is also not a story that can be measured by a few numbers in front of you. In my opinion, there are values that we sow today, and they will sprout very soon. There are things that we share today that may become precious memories of a community tomorrow. There are things that today seem small, but who knows, they may contribute to preserving a part of culture for the future. I still believe that, doing culture first of all means knowing how to give.
Community contribution, community enjoyment
Clearly, gathering and standardizing information about relics, scenic spots, festivals, craft villages, artisans, artifacts, documents, localities..., gradually digitizing and connecting data that is scattered in many places is a task that one person or a group of people cannot do.
Therefore, with tracuudi.vn, we create an open space for everyone to contribute" - Hiep said - "That is calling on the online community to provide documents, images, videos or information about local heritage sites, introduce relics, festivals, craft villages, artisans or cultural features that are not available on the system in documents, images, videos. After receiving information, the management team will coordinate with experts to check and review to ensure the content is accurate, clear source and in accordance with regulations.
The good news is that the project has received very enthusiastic support. To date, the "tracuudi.vn" project has updated information about 19,169 heritages and 3,377 documents. Among them, individuals have contributed more than 2,000 valuable documents about heritage.
Each photo, story, document or suggestion from everyone can contribute to preserving and spreading the precious values of Vietnamese culture. Tracuudi.vn is still on the journey of completion. Each person contributes a little, we will together create a common data warehouse of value for the community" - Hiep said.
With the initial steps, Nguyen Tran The Hiep does not hide his ambition to build a reputable and most complete heritage lookup portal in Vietnam. This will be a reliable reference for education, research and policy planning, thereby expanding to many fields: Heritage tourism, heritage education and creative economy.
Our passion is community contribution - community enjoyment" - Hiep expressed - "The road ahead is still very long. However, with the Government's Decree No. 277/2026/ND-CP regulating digital cultural infrastructure being newly issued, we hope to have more resources to spread Vietnamese cultural values in the digital space, participating in creating the future of the country.
