In this dissertation, based on a complex analysis of the archiving of Ukrainian musical folklore in its historical evolution and modern digital forms, the author develops a concept for the Digital Repository of Ukrainian Musical Folklore (DR UMF / ЦР УМФ). This repository is defined as an infrastructural system for long-term preservation, scientific utility, and the public representation of audiovisual folklore collections. The author relies primarily on the collections accumulated within Ukrainian academic institutions, which collectively hold over a hundred thousand unique audio and video recordings of traditional music from across the territory of Ukraine. These and other Ukrainian archives of musical folklore are currently under threat of physical destruction due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, which has been ongoing on Ukrainian territory since 2014. This loss could be prevented by modern technologies for digital duplication of materials (data) and the electronic processing of related information (metadata). Ukrainian archives are partially digitized, but the quality of digitization and the standardization of metadata do not meet the fundamental requirements set for modern data storage systems in a global context. This situation creates significant risks for the functioning of folklore collections and defines the urgency of the research topic.
The author, aware of the extreme difficulty of safeguarding the national musical and cultural heritage and realizing that the practical solution depends primarily on the funding of appropriate measures, concentrates research efforts on developing a concept for data and metadata preservation – the theoretical base for the future DR UMF. Drawing on successful international projects (specifically, the Polish academic archive Etnofon.pl, which contains materials typologically similar to the Ukrainian ones), this research adapts international best practices to the specific needs of the Ukrainian context. The direction of the research is also guided by the new information storage concept, "FAIR use", proposed by an international working group.
Consequently, the Object of the dissertation research is the audiovisual collections of Ukrainian musical folklore. The Subject of the research is the principles and models of archiving, cataloging, and the digital representation of folklore collections.
The Aim of the dissertation is to develop the theoretical concept of the DR UMF based on existing Ukrainian audiovisual collections, applying international digital archiving experience and modern approaches to data description. The repository should function as a system integrating three connected roles:
1. An archival system for the long-term storage of digital audio/video files with data integrity and built-in fault tolerance;
2. A scientific tool for cataloging, searching, and analytical work with the
data corpus;
3. A public platform with multi-level access modes and possibilities for the presentation of materials for various audiences.
The Methodological Basis of the research combines the following approaches and techniques:
• Historical-comparative method: To trace the evolution of archival practices in musical folklore collections in Ukraine and compare Ukrainian and global experiences;
• Source-based method: Working with catalogs, inventory books, manuscript materials, digital databases, audio and video media; interviewing;
• Critical approach: Used to identify important features and significant flaws of existing archiving and cataloging systems;
• System and structural-functional analysis: Modeling the archive as a system of processes: "documentation → description → preservation → access/use";
• Statistical methods: Statistical analysis of collections, defining metadata field structures, identification of structural gaps and "blank spots" in collections.
The Scientific Novelty of the dissertation lies in the fact that, for the first time:
- A description of historical archival practices for audiovisual recordings of musical folklore in Ukraine is provided, relative to the development of sound recording technologies;
- An analysis of contemporary digital collections of Ukrainian musical folklore and web platforms is performed, identifying them as projects belonging to different stages of "digital evolution";
- A project for the national digital repository concept is proposed as an infrastructural framework based on FAIR principles and cross-system interoperability;
- A conceptual model is proposed in which the "recording session" acts as the basic unit of description and accounting – a documentation event that combines the audiovisual signal, following documentation, and contextual data;
- A technological platform for the demonstration-analytical subsystem is proposed, with the capacity for multi-level description and annotation of multimedia.
