Digital History for the Present: Recording the Vanishing and the Overlooked

This study proposes a new direction for digital history, shifting from traditional digitization of historical sources toward becoming a historical practice for the present and future. To this end, this study suggests two key tasks: first, redefining and systematically preserving ‘the vanishing’ and ‘the overlooked’ as future historical sources (as demonstrated through cultural space archiving using digital twin technology and the preservation of digital ephemera such as children’s records); second, transforming readers from passive consumers to active producers of historical sources through social reading and life-logging. The study verifies these methodologies through actual cases including the Hakjeon digital twin project and digital archiving of travel experiences. Digital history in the AI era must evolve into an ‘archaeology of the everyday’ that captures present reality through field research and systematic data collection. This will expand the scope of historical research, democratize historical record-keeping and interpretation, and build richer historical materials for future generations through the creative convergence of digital technology and traditional field research.