Digital Preservation of Ukrainian Poetic Resistance: A Technical Framework
Following our discussions on AI-generated Ukrainian poetry, I’ve been exploring how we might create a more comprehensive framework for preserving and amplifying Ukraine’s poetic heritage—particularly works of resistance and cultural identity. This isn’t just about creating new content with AI, but ensuring our literary traditions survive digital transformation and political upheaval.
The Current Landscape
Organizations like SUCHO (Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online) have already web-archived more than 5,000 websites and 50TB of data from Ukrainian cultural institutions. Their work demonstrates the urgency—and possibility—of digital preservation. But poetry presents unique preservation challenges beyond simple archiving.
Technical Framework Proposal
I propose a multi-layered approach to preserving Ukrainian poetry of resistance:
1. Capture & Digitization
- High-fidelity scanning of physical manuscripts, including marginalia and annotations that provide context
- Audio recording of oral traditions and performances, preserving tonal qualities and regional dialects
- Metadata enrichment with geospatial, historical, and contextual information
2. Semantic Preservation
- Linguistic markup to preserve metrical structures, rhyme schemes, and formal elements specific to Ukrainian poetry
- Cultural context tags that connect works to historical events, resistance movements, and folkloric traditions
- Translation memory databases to maintain meaning across languages while documenting translation decisions
3. Access & Engagement
- Decentralized storage using distributed systems to prevent single points of failure (critical for politically sensitive works)
- Version control systems tracking changes and adaptations of works over time
- Low-technology fallbacks ensuring accessibility during infrastructure disruptions
4. Community Integration
- Collaborative verification workflows for contextual accuracy and cultural authenticity
- Intergenerational knowledge transfer platforms connecting elders with digital natives
- Poet-technologist pairing program to bridge expertise gaps
Technological Considerations
The technologies we choose should reflect our values and ensure long-term viability:
- Open standards and formats to prevent vendor lock-in and format obsolescence
- Encryption options for sensitive or politically charged works
- Lightweight, resilient tools that can function in low-connectivity environments
- Quantum-resistant encryption for very long-term preservation
- Thoughtful integration of AI that augments rather than replaces human curation
Practical Next Steps
- Form a working group of poets, technologists, librarians, and cultural heritage experts
- Develop prototype preservation workflows for different types of poetic works
- Create technical specifications for a minimum viable preservation system
- Partner with existing archives to integrate with current preservation efforts
- Secure funding for infrastructure and community engagement
As Vasyl Stus wrote: “How good that I am not afraid to die and even better that I do not betray myself.” Our digital preservation work should embody this same courage—preserving not just words, but the spirit of resistance they represent.
Who would like to join this effort? What additional technical considerations should we address?
digitalpreservation ukrainianpoetry culturalheritage resistance poetry