Digitizing to preserve urban memories before the risk of fading
In the context of strong digital transformation, the story of preserving cultural heritage in Ho Chi Minh City is no longer just revolving around preserving artifacts or restoring historical works. The question now is how to make tangible and intangible values continue to live in contemporary life, instead of just existing as memories of the past.
According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Hau - General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Historical Science Association - sharing in the seminar "Digitalizing cultural and tourism data of Ho Chi Minh City" recently, the rapid urbanization process has caused many old buildings, traditional markets or typical living spaces to gradually disappear or change function. What is more worrying is that along with those buildings, the urban memory and cultural identity of the city are also at risk of breaking down.
Therefore, digitization is not simply taking photos, filming or uploading data to the internet. It is the process of creating "levels of memory" to fully preserve the historical, cultural, architectural and social life values of each heritage.
Many experts also pointed out that currently many units are still understanding digitization in a very narrow sense. Scanning images, recording videos and then saving them to digital platforms is only the first step, not yet creating a scientific database capable of searching, sharing and long-term exploitation.
Dr. Trinh Dang Khoa - Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture - said that the biggest gap today is the lack of standard data sets and the lack of community participation - the subjects directly creating the heritage.
If data is not standardized, each unit builds it in a different way, then interconnecting, sharing or developing digital cultural products in the future will be very difficult to implement.
the requirement to digitize intangible heritage is increasingly urgent
Art forms such as Cai Luong, Hat Boi, Don ca tai tu or traditional festivals all exist through artisans, performance skills, voice, sound and folk knowledge. As the older generation of artisans gradually leaves the stage, many values are also facing the risk of being lost if not recorded, recorded and digitized in time.
Dr. Ma Thanh Cao - former Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts - emphasized that technology is not intended to replace the original heritage but to help the heritage be preserved for a long time and accessible to more generations.
According to her, classic Cai Luong plays, Hat Boi excerpts or Don ca tai tu art need to be prioritized for digitization right now before time loses its original values.
Transforming data into resources for cultural and tourism development
If preservation is the first goal, then promoting values is the destination of digital transformation in the cultural field.
Experts all agree that data is only truly meaningful when it is exploited to serve research, education, tourism promotion and cultural industry development.
That is also the reason why many opinions suggest that Ho Chi Minh City needs to build a Digital Heritage Bank according to the open resource model, creating a standard data source for creative businesses, researchers, schools and the tourism industry.
Reality in the past time has shown many positive signs. Some classic Cai Luong plays have been restored using artificial intelligence (AI); many groups of young people apply technology to research and restore Vietnamese ancient costumes or develop cultural experience products on digital platforms.
These initiatives show that when data is opened and connected, heritage can completely become the material for new creative products instead of just being stored in storage.
In addition to digitization, Ho Chi Minh City is also continuing to expand the system of protected heritage. Previously, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism included the Art of Lion, Monk, Dragon of the Chinese community in Ho Chi Minh City in the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage. The city also recognized 7 more city-level historical and cultural relics, bringing the total number of relics to 200.
These decisions not only have conservation significance but also create a premise for heritage sites to be digitized synchronously, connected to tourism and educational products in the future.
Experts believe that to do that, Ho Chi Minh City needs to invest simultaneously in digital infrastructure, data standards, copyright mechanisms and human resources that understand both technology and culture. More importantly, the community must become the center of the digitalization process, because people themselves are creative subjects, preserving and transmitting heritage values.
In the context of the city aiming to develop the cultural industry and creative economy, digitization is no longer a technical choice but has become a strategy to protect identity. When data is standardized, connected and effectively exploited, heritage will not only be kept in museums or archives, but can also be present in education, tourism, art and daily life, continuing to tell the story of Ho Chi Minh City to future generations.
