Documenting folklore information: online resources for preserving cultural heritage

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of preserving cultural heritage in the context of globalization, religious oppression, and military conflicts. The authors point to the significant loss of cultural property in Ukraine as a result of the war, including the destruction and damage to 835 cultural heritage sites. The focus is on folklore as a central component of intangible cultural heritage. The article also discusses international efforts to protect oral folklore, including the adoption of relevant laws and conventions.

The authors analyze the problem of access to folklore materials on the Internet and the importance of documenting them. The electronic form of recording folklore, in particular, online resources, opens up wide opportunities for preserving and providing access to Ukrainian folklore heritage. However, a systematic approach to archiving folklore is needed, as many valuable materials are at risk of destruction. The «Electronic Archive of Ukrainian Folklore» can become the basis for such a system, ensuring effective preservation, search and popularization of folklore heritage.

In the article the history of its creation, structure, and search capabilities are studied. According to the idea of developers, it was supposed to become an open cultural and information center with free access to archival documents and the ability to effectively manage large arrays of source information. The article characterizes the online archive of musical folklore «Polyphony», created to record Ukrainian traditional songs of the rural environment, the «Digital Archive of Folklore of Slobozhanshchyna and Poltava Region», which aims to preserve and popularize the best which aims to preserve and popularize the best examples of traditional music: Christmas carols, shchedrivkas, Chumak songs, vesnianky, Cossack songs, and lullabies. It is noted that some folklore materials are scattered across the websites of academic specialized institutions, folklore laboratories of higher education institutions, museums, libraries, etc. and are presented on the YouTube platform.

In general, the article emphasizes the need to preserve and develop cultural diversity for transmission to future generations by creating online resources of folklore information.