Wertheimer, AndrewAsato, Noriko2020-04-292020-04-292016-12-07Andrew Wertheimer, Noriko Asato, “The Rise and Fall of the Wonder Okinawa Digital Archive: Comparing Japanese and American Conceptualizations of Digital Archives.” Digital Libraries: Knowledge, Information, and Data in an Open Access Society, 18th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2016, Tsukuba, Japan, December 7-9, 2016: 63-76.http://hdl.handle.net/10125/67783This paper examines the development of what once was Japan’s largest local digital archive, Wonder Okinawa, created in 2003. It collected a diverse view of Okinawa’s cultural properties as a treasure house for future generations. It was created under the banner of establishing an Okinawan “brand” to promote tourism and to nurture human resources, so that Okinawa could foster a hub of IT industries. In the early 2000s, the national government envisioned digital archives as part of its scheme to become a highly networked society, as the means to address social problems, such as the low birthrate, graying population, and shrinking workforce. The digital archive project spearheaded the government’s effort. However, the $13.5 millon project was dismantled less than a decade after its spectacular debut. The paper analyzes the causes of the failure and explores some key differences between the conceptual model of digital archives in Japan and North America.11 pagesen-USAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 InternationalAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United Statesdigital archivescultural preservationfunding digital archivesregional digital archivesdigital archivescultural preservationConference Paper