The City Government and National Central Library Join Forces to Build a Digital City Museum

For the first time, Taichung City has collaborated with Academia Sinica and the National Central Library to promote digital culture. On the 27th, a cooperation agreement was signed, marking the launch of the “Taiwan Digital Culture Unified Portal” and the “Taichung Learning Digital Archives Database.” These initiatives will integrate Taichung’s historical memories and cultural resources with digital technology to create a digital city museum.

The signing ceremony was attended by Mayor Lin Chia-lung, Vice President of Academia Sinica Huang Chin-hsing, and Director of the National Central Library Liu Chung-cheng. The city government invited Academia Sinica Academician Lee Der-tsai, who has extensive experience in national digital archiving projects, to lead the Cultural Affairs Bureau and the Digital Governance Bureau Preparatory Office in cross-disciplinary collaboration to advance the Taiwan Digital Culture Center project.

Mayor Lin Chia-lung stated that the future physical facility will be located on the lower floors of the Shuins Intelligent Operations Center. He expressed hopes that Taichung, in addition to serving as a model county/city for national digital cultural development, will also generate a magnetic effect, encouraging more people to participate in shaping the vision of Taichung as a city.

Lee Der-tsai, convener of the project, said that this collaboration with Academia Sinica and the National Central Library adopts the standards and formats of “Linked Open Data” to build and integrate digital resources. He hopes that through joint efforts between central and local governments, the achievements of Taiwan’s past digital archiving can be carried forward, allowing the foundation of digital culture to take root in Taichung.

Wang Chih-cheng, Director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, noted that the Taichung Learning Digital Archives Database is a crucial component in developing Taichung Studies. It collects audiovisual and textual materials from the prehistoric period to the municipal city era, covering areas such as art and culture, ethnic groups and religion, ecological environment, and socio-economics. The public can also curate their own exhibitions showcasing Taichung memories.

The exhibition “The Digital Future of Local Cultural Assets,” held from today until the 29th in the atrium on the first floor of Huizhong Building at the Municipal Government Building, displays selected collections from the Taichung Learning Database, including historic sites and historical architecture. Visitors are also invited to participate in interactive games via mobile phones to explore the full breadth of knowledge about cultural assets.