When an item is digitized, there are certain qualities about the item that can and others that cannot be captured through digitization. Digitization is able to capture what an item looks like in a flat two-dimensional way. An individual looking at a digitized item is viewing what is essentially a photograph of that item. Through this image, certain qualities of the item can be determined such as size, color, and texture. However, there are certain limits that can arise from the quality of the digitization. An image that is blurry, dark in certain places, or taken from a certain angle, can make certain qualities hard to determine about an item. Digitization cannot provide an accurate representation of an item in the three-dimensional way that it exists. Through looking at a digitized image of an object, the viewer may not be able to determine what an object looks like on all sides, or what an object sounds or smells like. Therefore, there can be both limits and positive aspects of digitization related to the human senses.
Different types of items can be best captured by different forms of digitization. Items such as photographs, maps, and illustrations, can best be captured by scanning them to create a digital image of the photograph, map, or illustration. This form of digitization works best for photographs, maps, and illustrations because these are two-dimensional objects. Scanning these items, creates a two-dimensional digital image. Since photographs, maps, and illustrations are two-dimensional to begin with, the same qualities can be observed whether viewing the original or the digital copy. Creating a digital image is not an effective form of digitization for all items. Such items include songs and films. Music and films, unlike the previous objects discussed, require more than what is captured by an image. Music and films require the creation of digital audio and video files in order so that the viewer can experience both the sights and sounds of these items. A two-dimensional image is unable to capture all of the qualities of music and films. Again, this emphasizes the point of how human senses relate to digitization, especially aspects of sight and sound.
There are both positives and negatives to working with digitized representations of items. A major advantage of having digitized representations is that they can be made available to a much wider audience. Digitized representations allow an individual to be able to analyze an item without having the physical item in front of them. This can eliminate the constraints of access to items by researchers by allowing multiple individuals access to a particular item at one time. as mentioned by Marlene Manoff in her article “The Materiality of Digital Collections: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives.” However, as Paul Conway describes in this article “Building Meaning in Digitized Photographs,” there are certain considerations that go into the creation of digitized representations that impact both how they can be used and understood by researchers. In producing digitized representations, those creating them have to decide if they want to portray the items in their current condition, or in their original condition. This decision can impact not just how an item appears to the viewer but also how the viewer is meant to understand derive meaning from the item.
