The Ministry of Culture is set to complete the 3D digitalisation of ten national museums by the end of the year. The database will be accessible through one portal. The digitalisation of artefacts will aid in better conservation and enhancement of visitor experience.
The Ministry of Culture has developed a portal called National Digital Repository for national museums for intensive collections. This portal will allow visitors to access the collections irrespective of the geographical location of the museums. The project is funded by the Ministry of Culture and is set to complete its digitalisation by the end of the year. The purpose of the project is to promote the effective utilisation of technology in museum management, enhancing user experience and making collections more accessible, which will benefit students, teachers, researchers as well as museum visitors.
The ten museums participating in the project include the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, the Allahabad Museum, Prayagraj, the Indian Museum, Kolkata, the Victoria Memorial Hall, the National Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art.
Use of JATAN
The digitisation process includes 3D scanning; the objects and landscapes are analysed and scanned to obtain three-dimensional data about their shape and appearance. The data gathered from the scans is then used to create digital 3D reconstructions of the artefacts. These models can be used to develop multimedia displays, augmented and virtual reality applications, and facilitate 3D printing.
3D digitisation is done with the help of the JATAN virtual museum builder programme, which was conceptualised and developed by Human Centres Design and Computing Group, Centre for Development of Smart Computing, Pune.
JATAN is designed as a digital collection management system for Indian museums. Its advanced features include image cropping, watermarking, unique numbering and digital object management with multimedia representations. It can also develop virtual exhibitions and make them accessible to the public via websites, mobile phones, and touchscreen displays at the museums.