CULTURAL HERITAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PRACTICES: EXPERIENCE OF UKRAINE AND THE BALTIC STATES
Authors: Gorbul Taras , Rusakov Serhii 
Published: December 2022

The purpose of the article is to analyze digitization as a global trend of the early 21st century and to develop a cultural model for studying the scope of application of digital transformation practices as a new way to preserve and promote cultural heritage based on the experience of the Baltic States and Ukraine. The study of the impact of digital transformation practices in the field of cultural heritage in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine has demonstrated the need to deepen ties between these countries by establishing a cultural dialogue, exchanging information and experience on the use of technological innovations in the field of cultural heritage, as well as increasing the value and content of joint cultural projects. Methodology. The theoretical basis and methodology of the study is the historical and cultural method, which contributed to the study of the historical dynamics of digitization; typological and comparative methods – for the study and analysis of cultural heritage objects as phenomena and artifacts. A special role is played by the cultural method, which is meaning-forming through the study of interdependent cultural processes – representation, identity, etc. Results. The authors, involving the professional community, which emphasizes the problem of the lack of a general electronic register of cultural heritage sites in Ukraine, as well as the lack of a strategy for digitizing such sites, draw attention to the fact that the situation began to change rapidly in 2022. It has been proved that the experience of Estonia (museum information system MuIS, five-year action plan for the digitization of cultural heritage for 2018-2023), Latvia (project "Digitization of cultural heritage content"), Lithuania (creation of the Council for the Digitization of Lithuanian Cultural Heritage, virtual electronic information system of cultural heritage VEPIS, museum information system LIMIS) will contribute to the strengthening of technological and cultural innovations in the field of protection and promotion of cultural heritage of Ukraine. Digitization is a task that requires significant financial and intellectual investments, but the authors prove that this direction can become a source of income for creative industries (economic value) and a resource for creating new meanings (symbolic value). Practical implications. The analyzed experience of the Baltic countries will be a valuable source of information for intensifying digital transformation in Ukraine. Deepening Ukraine's cultural ties with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in order to exchange experience in the field of cultural heritage is of practical importance, as a number of implemented Baltic projects will help Ukrainian specialists to increase the efficiency of using modern technological tools in the field of culture. The article pays attention to European and Ukrainian public and private cultural projects and initiatives that are being implemented to digitize the preservation and promotion of historical and cultural heritage. Value/originality. It is advisable to study the prospects of cultural heritage tokenization and NFT as a tool for preserving, supporting and promoting cultural heritage.