Dr Asangba Tzudir
The context of orality and written in Naga Society is at a threshold where oral raconteurs are fast disappearing within the efforts to preserve literature in written. Since the arrival of Christian religion and education, orality or oral ‘literature’ was translated into written format and literary work then took the form of print. The Challenge now is to preserve the printed matters in digitized format.
The challenge includes not only collecting the published books but also unpublished manuscripts. Before these resources are lost, it needs to be preserved. Students and research scholars working on areas related to Nagas have a hard time getting books and materials since most of the earlier printed works are either out of stock or print. Publishers in Nagaland may try to republish those books to bring back to public domain for greater readership especially among the younger generation.
Furthermore, first publications need to be digitized and archived. Easier said than done, the challenge begins from doing the tedious work of scanning in the process of digitization, which is one of the most important techniques used in archives to protect unique archival material. In the long run, it is not just about protecting the materials but digitization ensures usage of the material by more users, the access of which is easier as well as cheaper.
Towards preserving and maximizing values of history and literature in digitized format, it is also about preserving the rights of Nagas, more so Naga History, culture and identity, giving us a framework of evolution over the years since the consciousness of lived historical beginnings. It is high time for Nagaland to have a proper digital/online library without having to simply depend on digitized/archival sources maintained by outsiders which are often not easy to access by those in need.
While even the first step of resource collection and scanning is taxing, it does not end there. ‘Digitizing’ should be understood not just as the act of scanning an analog document into digital form, but as a series of activities that result in a digital copy being made available to end users via the Internet or other means for a sustained length of time making digitization more useful and purposeful.
(Dr. Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial to The Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
