Digitizing Uzbekistan's Historical and Cultural Heritage: Methodological Transformations in Historical Source Criticism and Digital Research
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The digitization of historical and cultural heritage has significantly transformed the methods through which historians identify, access, authenticate, and interpret historical evidence. In Uzbekistan, the preservation of manuscripts, rare publications, archival documents, and cultural collections presents important opportunities for developing digital historical scholarship. However, the transformation of physical historical materials into digital representations raises methodological questions concerning authenticity, provenance, contextual integrity, metadata reliability, and the epistemological consequences of digital mediation. This article examines the methodological implications of cultural heritage digitization in Uzbekistan through an interdisciplinary framework combining historical source criticism, digital hermeneutics, archival studies, and digital humanities. The research employs qualitative documentary analysis, comparative methodological interpretation, and conceptual modelling, drawing on international scholarship, digital preservation standards, and documented characteristics of Uzbekistan’s manuscript collections. Particular attention is devoted to the documentary heritage of the Al-Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies and the rare books and manuscripts database of the National Library of Uzbekistan. The analysis identifies five interconnected dimensions of digital historical source evaluation: historical authenticity, digital fidelity, metadata reliability, contextual integrity, and interpretative verifiability. Based on these dimensions, the article proposes an integrated framework for critically assessing digitized historical evidence. It argues that digitization should be understood not merely as a technological instrument for heritage preservation but as a process that influences the production, organization, accessibility, and interpretation of historical knowledge. The proposed approach contributes to methodological discussions in digital history and provides a conceptual foundation for evaluating digitized cultural heritage collections in Uzbekistan and comparable historical contexts. Keywords: digital cultural heritage; Uzbekistan; historical source criticism; digital humanities; digital historiography; manuscript collections; digital hermeneutics; historical methodology; archival metadata
Institution: Asia International University
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225460756