Taking Action to Digitize Anew : The case of the SÖFUK art database and the implications of obsolescence in the public sector

Sammanfattning: The thesis sets out to examine a digitization project of an obsolete art database that was issued by the Finnish joint municipal authority Finlands Svenska Förbund för Utbildning och Kultur (SÖFUK) and KulturÖsterbotten through questions on obsolescence, the reasoning behind using an obsolete database for so long, elements that characterize digitization work in municipal settings and the challenges such a project brings forth. The SÖFUK art database functions as a case study that is being examined through action research supported by previous research on obsolescence and the different approaches to digitization within the humanities; mass, critical, and slow digitization. The goal of the digitization project is to transfer the data from the old MS Access 97 art database to the modern solution Katalogen, and to take new photographs of the artworks because of their unfavourable quality. The goal is hence to digitize the art database anew. The steps taken to digitize the art database are described throughout the digitization process. With the help of a constructed analytical tool supported by previous research on obsolescence, the old art database is analyzed and discussed to answer the question on which types of obsolescence that could be found regarding the database. The thesis is also supported by previous research on the digitization approaches mass, critical and slow digitization, with slow digitization being the favoured approach for the nature of this digitization project. The results show that various findings of obsolescence could be noted in the old art database. Elements of digitization in municipalities can be linked to communication, time management and cooperation. The challenges vary from light being reflected in plexiglass while photographing to difficulties localizing artworks in the municipalities. Why the obsolete art database was used for so long by SÖFUK and KulturÖsterbotten was that an external resource was needed to do the tedious work of localizing the artworks and travel to the fourteen municipalities to photograph each artwork.