3D Digital Heritage

The South African Cabinet approved the new National Policy on the Digitisation of Art, Culture and Heritage on 15 March 2023.

Although digitisation is typically understood to be a process of converting analogue content (including paper records, microfiche, and non-digital tape recordings) into digital content, the policy has now extended this definition to “born-digital“ resources such as information produced digitally, which may never be converted into a physical form.

Our focus at Naledi 3d Factory is to harness the visual power of 3D media, including animation, virtual reality (VR) and 360 virtual tours (collectively known as “XR” or extended reality) to enrich the experience of South and Southern African heritage.

Digital and virtual heritage also encourage new opportunities and an economic revival of the heritage sector through today’s digitization technologies. New work opportunities are being created by the need to create digital content, display new content, and offer direct access to new global markets.

As a key player in the sector, our work responds to and supports the new National Policy and helps bring it to life.

Why do we do this? 

1. We can reach new and global audiences by creating digital representations of local artefacts.
2. As our youth migrate to a digital world, new ways to reach them open up and counter their waning interest in our heritage.
3. Digital preservation and conservation help to preserve our heritage for future generations.
4. Digital preservation and conservation can be seen as those processes to ensure the continuity of digital heritage materials for as long as needed (UNESCO).

Click here to read about Digital heritage in an African context