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Environmental Sustainability in Digital Preservation of Cultural Heritage; Advancing a sufficiency approach for Cultural Heritage Organisations. A case study of the Finnish Heritage Agency

Paschalidou, Evangelia LU (2021) In IIIEE Master Thesis IMEM01 20211
The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
Abstract
Starting from the human and societal need to safeguard cultural heritage (CH) in order to
connect to past generations’ knowledge and human experience, digital preservation (DP) is a
common practice undertaken by cultural heritage organisations (CHOs). DP is heavily relying
on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) as the fundamental enabling
equipment. However, ICT is coming with its own considerable environmental impacts, that are
only expected to multiple due to the ongoing digital transformation in general, and of the CH
sector in particular, that has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The debate on the
environmental sustainability of ICT suggests that short-term technological fixes through
efficiency... (More)
Starting from the human and societal need to safeguard cultural heritage (CH) in order to
connect to past generations’ knowledge and human experience, digital preservation (DP) is a
common practice undertaken by cultural heritage organisations (CHOs). DP is heavily relying
on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) as the fundamental enabling
equipment. However, ICT is coming with its own considerable environmental impacts, that are
only expected to multiple due to the ongoing digital transformation in general, and of the CH
sector in particular, that has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The debate on the
environmental sustainability of ICT suggests that short-term technological fixes through
efficiency are not enough. Therefore, a sufficiency approach needs also to be taken by the
CHOs, that will extend beyond the equipment, to the DP process as well. This thesis, by taking
an exploratory case study of the Finnish Heritage Agency (FHA) –and specifically their Archives
and Information Services (AIS) department– delves into the current practice of the CHO and
how a sufficiency approach in DP can be advanced for the FHA by the surrounding network
of actors and initiatives. A sufficiency framework for DP of CH was developed, based on a
literature review on sufficiency and on the Pendergrass et al. (2019) framework for
environmentally sustainable DP. This was further used to analyse the data from 20 interviews
in total, with FHA practitioners and actors from their surrounding Finnish network. The
analysis of the case study shows that first, a common understanding of a sufficiency approach
needs to be disseminated among the network. Moreover, that a qualitative function is needed
for sufficiency in the DP of CH with consideration of the ICT use environmental impacts. For
this, the rich interconnections and inclusive organisational structures of the network’s actors
were found to potentially allow for a broader public participation in order the ‘enoughness’ of
quality to be incorporated. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Paschalidou, Evangelia LU
supervisor
organization
course
IMEM01 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
publication/series
IIIEE Master Thesis
report number
2021.06
ISSN
1401-9191
language
English
id
9062811
date added to LUP
2021-08-23 13:59:33
date last changed
2021-08-23 13:59:33
@misc{9062811,
  abstract     = {{Starting from the human and societal need to safeguard cultural heritage (CH) in order to
connect to past generations’ knowledge and human experience, digital preservation (DP) is a
common practice undertaken by cultural heritage organisations (CHOs). DP is heavily relying
on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) as the fundamental enabling
equipment. However, ICT is coming with its own considerable environmental impacts, that are
only expected to multiple due to the ongoing digital transformation in general, and of the CH
sector in particular, that has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The debate on the
environmental sustainability of ICT suggests that short-term technological fixes through
efficiency are not enough. Therefore, a sufficiency approach needs also to be taken by the
CHOs, that will extend beyond the equipment, to the DP process as well. This thesis, by taking
an exploratory case study of the Finnish Heritage Agency (FHA) –and specifically their Archives
and Information Services (AIS) department– delves into the current practice of the CHO and
how a sufficiency approach in DP can be advanced for the FHA by the surrounding network
of actors and initiatives. A sufficiency framework for DP of CH was developed, based on a
literature review on sufficiency and on the Pendergrass et al. (2019) framework for
environmentally sustainable DP. This was further used to analyse the data from 20 interviews
in total, with FHA practitioners and actors from their surrounding Finnish network. The
analysis of the case study shows that first, a common understanding of a sufficiency approach
needs to be disseminated among the network. Moreover, that a qualitative function is needed
for sufficiency in the DP of CH with consideration of the ICT use environmental impacts. For
this, the rich interconnections and inclusive organisational structures of the network’s actors
were found to potentially allow for a broader public participation in order the ‘enoughness’ of
quality to be incorporated.}},
  author       = {{Paschalidou, Evangelia}},
  issn         = {{1401-9191}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{IIIEE Master Thesis}},
  title        = {{Environmental Sustainability in Digital Preservation of Cultural Heritage; Advancing a sufficiency approach for Cultural Heritage Organisations. A case study of the Finnish Heritage Agency}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}