When digitization was in its infancy in the 1980s, AS had the vision to begin digitization of its impressive historical and cultural collections. After twenty-years of work, with assistance from tax-payers, we have digitized most of the collections of AS. Library, archive, herbarium or museum visits are becoming a thing of the past. Now, from a personal computer, a person can see all the collections of each AS institute. Each artifact is shown in its original form, and in vivid detail. There are also functions that allow users to 'handle' some artifacts in a virtual context.

But, the most exciting function is this: by just typing in certain keywords into the search system, users can get a rough idea of the distribution status of the AS digital archive resource. Further, users can even connect to the respective websites of the digitized sub-projects at AS institutes, where images of artifacts are provided in outstanding clarity with detailed descriptions of each. We truly hope this digital archive resource network will bring about a revolutionary change in the provision and accessibility of knowledge and research data in Taiwan and abroad. Before now, people did not have the ability or opportunity to access digitized artifacts or data in this way. But thanks to the technologies that change with each passing day, we can now engage directly with available knowledge simply with the click of a mouse button. We hope the people who use the resource network can enjoy the rich digital resources available, and, at the same time, can use their creativity to best use this treasure-box of cultural insight.

While we wait in anticipation for the academy, culture and education industries, and the general public to learn how to use the digital archive resource, we know that there are still many improvements to make. Therefore, we have designed a feedback mechanism on the resource network. We greatly appreciate any feedback from you. This will help us to provide better service to those who use the resource network.