Research on the Digital Transformation of Publishing Archives Management in the Era of Intelligent Media

Publicity Department, Shandong Aviation Institute, Binzhou, Shandong 256600, China

Abstract

[Purpose] In the era of intelligent media, the digital transformation of publishing archives management is not only an inevitable choice to align with technological development trends, but also a critical pathway to enhance industry competitiveness and promote cultural inheritance and innovation. Proposing an effective digital transformation strategy can improve the efficiency, security, and intelligence level of publishing archives management.

[Method] This paper explores the traditional dilemmas affecting publishing archives management by thoroughly analyzing the background, significance, current status, and challenges of digital transformation in the era of intelligent media, revealing key obstacles and coping strategies during the transformation process.

[Results] Through in-depth analysis of the impact of the intelligent media era on publishing archives management, the necessity and urgency of digital transformation have been clarified, and it is determined that future publishing archives management will develop toward greater digitization, networking, and intelligence.

[Conclusion] The digital transformation of publishing archives management in the intelligent media era represents the inevitable path toward industry modernization. Therefore, constructing a multi-dimensional, systematic framework for publishing archives digital transformation that includes clear strategy, appropriate technology selection, strengthened management, talent cultivation, and regulatory compliance holds significant practical and theoretical importance for promoting the intelligent and efficient development of archives management.

Keywords: intelligent media era; publishing archives management; digital transformation; artificial intelligence; technology

Classification Code: G231

Document Code: A

DOI: 10.19483/j.cnki.11-4653/n.2025.03.027

Citation Format: Yan Qianqian. Research on the Digital Transformation of Publishing Archives Management in the Era of Intelligent Media [J]. China Media Technology, 2025, 32(3): 124-127.

The era of intelligent media, characterized by the deep integration and pervasive penetration of information and media technologies, has not only reshaped the landscape of information dissemination but also brought profound transformations to numerous fields including the publishing industry. Against this backdrop, the rapid advancement and widespread application of cutting-edge technologies such as information technology, big data analytics, cloud computing services, and artificial intelligence have opened up new possibilities for publishing archives management while simultaneously posing severe challenges to its traditional models. As a crucial component of the publishing industry, the digital transformation of archives management has become an inevitable trend for sectoral development, holding significant importance for improving archives management efficiency, optimizing resource allocation, and promoting cultural inheritance.

1. Background and Significance of Digital Transformation of Publishing Archives Management in the Era of Intelligent Media

The era of intelligent media is a product of highly developed information technology that has transformed how people acquire, process, and disseminate information. As important cultural resources, publishing archives and their management have been profoundly influenced by this era. Constrained by multiple factors including physical space limitations, inefficiency of manual operations, inconvenience of information retrieval, and resource isolation, traditional management struggles to meet modern society's demands for rapid knowledge circulation and efficient utilization.[1] Therefore, in the intelligent media era, the digital transformation of publishing archives management represents a strategic initiative to align with technological trends, address industry transformation challenges, enhance management efficiency, and promote content innovation. It not only optimizes internal management processes and improves the comprehensive competitiveness of publishing enterprises but also injects new vitality into the sustainable development of the entire publishing industry.

1.1 Transformation Background: The Need for Technological and Industrial Development

The digital transformation of publishing archives is an inevitable trend driven by both technological iteration and changes in the internal and external industry environment. It represents not only the product of technological innovation but also the intrinsic need for the industry to adapt to market changes, enhance competitiveness, and achieve sustainable development.

1.1.1 The Need for Rapid Information Technology Development

In recent years, the rapid advancement of emerging information technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Cloud Computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT) has provided unprecedented powerful tools for information storage, processing, and dissemination. Cloud computing technology offers flexible and scalable storage solutions for massive data, big data analytics enables deep information mining and value extraction, while the application of artificial intelligence technology has realized intelligent and automated archives management.[2] The widespread application of these technologies provides a solid technical foundation for the digital transformation of publishing archives. Meanwhile, in today's era of information explosion, data has become a new production factor. Massive amounts of publishing content, user behavior data, and market feedback all require more efficient and intelligent management approaches that traditional paper-based archives management can no longer satisfy.

1.1.2 The Need for Media Convergence Development

With the popularization of Internet and mobile communication technologies, traditional and new media are accelerating their convergence, leading to increasingly diversified channels and forms of information dissemination and fundamental changes in content consumption habits. This convergence trend requires the publishing industry to not only produce high-quality content but also build an efficient and flexible information management system to meet readers' needs for accessing information anytime and anywhere.[3] The digital transformation of publishing archives management represents a positive response to this trend, seamlessly connecting with new media platforms and smart device ecosystems to enable archives to transcend temporal and spatial limitations for rapid and convenient access and utilization. Simultaneously, through this transformation, archival content can break through the boundaries of single media, achieving flexible distribution and deep interaction across diverse channels that precisely align with contemporary readers' preferences for personalized and instant interactive reading experiences. This initiative not only broadens the breadth and depth of information reach but also promotes unbounded knowledge flow and enriches cultural experiences, creating a new paradigm for content dissemination and audience engagement in the intelligent media environment.

1.1.3 The Need for Strategic Transformation of the Publishing Industry

Driven by the global digital wave, new participants such as online content platforms, independent authors, and self-publishing services continue to emerge, compelling traditional publishing industries to face intensified competition and rising cost pressures. To maintain competitiveness, digital transformation has become an inevitable trend for industry development, aiming to enhance content production efficiency, enrich content formats, broaden distribution channels, and strengthen reader interaction through technological innovation, while simultaneously reducing costs associated with physical storage and transportation, accelerating content production and distribution speeds, and actively building more flexible and efficient industrial chains.[4] As a fundamental link in the publishing workflow, the digital transformation of archives management constitutes a crucial component of the publishing industry's overall strategic upgrade and is essential for enhancing the core competitiveness of publishing enterprises.

1.2 Transformation Significance: Profound Changes in Management Concepts and Models

The digital transformation of publishing archives represents not merely a technological upgrade but a fundamental reshaping of management concepts and models within the publishing industry. Essentially, it constitutes a profound transformation from core to surface, from local to global, whose impact reaches every corner of the industry's management philosophy, business processes, market strategy, and even cultural inheritance, laying a solid foundation and opening infinite possibilities for the sustainable development of publishing.

1.2.1 Significantly Improving Archives Management Efficiency

Traditional paper-based archives management and retrieval are often time-consuming and labor-intensive. After digital transformation, archives information is stored electronically and can be rapidly located through keyword searches, intelligent classification, and other technologies[5], dramatically improving work efficiency. For instance, natural language processing and machine learning algorithms can automatically identify document content, extract key information, and even analyze correlations between archives, providing researchers with deeper data insights and opportunities for knowledge discovery. Meanwhile, electronic archives facilitate remote access, promote cross-departmental and cross-regional collaborative work, and accelerate information flow.

1.2.2 Effectively Ensuring Archives Information Security

In digital environments, encryption technologies, access rights management, and data backup and recovery mechanisms can more effectively prevent archives information loss, tampering, and unauthorized access. Compared with paper archives, digital archives offer greater advantages in both physical security and information security protection[6]. This concerns not only the security of the archives themselves but also represents a key measure for protecting intellectual property rights, safeguarding corporate interests, and maintaining social trust. For example, digital watermarking technology can embed hidden information without significantly affecting normal file usage, enabling the tracking of illegal copying and distribution activities. Blockchain, with its decentralized and immutable characteristics, provides powerful proof of archives authenticity, as any modifications to archives are recorded, ensuring transparency and traceability of historical records.

1.2.3 Promoting Deep Development and Utilization of Archives Resources

Digital archives are easily integrated, analyzed, and reused, providing a rich repository of materials for publishing content innovation. Through data mining and content analysis of historical archives, publishers can discover new market trends, audience preferences, and even inspire new creative ideas, promoting content diversification and personalization. Furthermore, digital archives provide valuable resources for academic research and cultural dissemination[7], driving cultural inheritance and knowledge innovation. For example, publishers can integrate diverse archival resources including historical documents, artistic works, and social survey data to innovate publishing formats such as interactive e-books, multimedia databases, and virtual reality experience projects. These new publishing products not only enrich user experiences but also broaden the boundaries of knowledge dissemination.

2. Current Status and Challenges of Digital Transformation of Publishing Archives Management in the Era of Intelligent Media

With the rapid advancement of information technology, numerous publishing institutions have taken solid steps toward digital transformation, establishing specialized digital archives management systems that have realized the conversion from paper to electronic archives, significantly reducing physical storage burdens and improving archives accessibility and lifespan. These systems typically integrate functions such as document scanning, information entry, retrieval, and version control, providing convenience for archives preservation, utilization, and research. The core technologies of the intelligent media era, including cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence, are gradually being applied more deeply in publishing archives management. Cloud computing offers unlimited possibilities for remote archives storage and access while reducing local server maintenance costs. Big data analytics helps managers mine valuable information from massive archives for trend prediction and decision support. The introduction of artificial intelligence, particularly machine learning and natural language processing technologies, has made automatic classification, abstract generation, and intelligent retrieval a reality, substantially improving archives management efficiency and intelligence levels. Meanwhile, an increasing number of publishing archives are being opened to the public through open platforms or API interfaces, promoting academic research, cultural inheritance, and knowledge innovation while enhancing public understanding of and participation in publishing history. However, during the digital transformation process, various problems and challenges persist, including technical difficulties, security risks, and legal compliance issues.

2.1 Increased Difficulty in Technology Implementation and Integration

Different technology solutions vary in cost, applicability, and compatibility. How to select the most suitable technological path for one's own needs and ensure smooth transition between old and new systems is a complex issue that every publishing institution must address. Problems such as data loss and format incompatibility during data migration also occur from time to time, increasing implementation difficulty.

2.2 Increased Difficulty in Data Security and Privacy Protection

With the explosive growth of data volume, data security and privacy protection have become unavoidable issues. Publishing archives often contain sensitive information such as author copyrights and readers' personal data. How to ensure such information is not illegally accessed or leaked during the digital transformation process[8] represents a major challenge. Additionally, close attention must be paid to international and regional data protection regulations to ensure compliant operations.

2.3 Severe Shortage of Funding and Talent

Digital transformation is a long-term and capital-intensive undertaking. Beyond the high initial investments in software and hardware, subsequent maintenance, upgrades, and personnel training also require continuous funding. For small and medium-sized publishing institutions with limited resources, funding shortages may become a major obstacle to transformation. Meanwhile, the lack of interdisciplinary talent who understand both publishing operations and digital technologies also constrains the depth and speed of transformation.

2.4 Difficulty in Defining Legal and Ethical Boundaries

In digital environments, promoting open knowledge sharing while protecting creators' legitimate rights and interests and balancing public interests with private rights has become a dual challenge in both legal and ethical domains. Furthermore, significant differences exist in laws and regulations regarding archives management and data protection across different countries and regions. Publishing institutions must balance compliance considerations during digital transformation to ensure information authenticity throughout the archives digitization process and prevent tampering and forgery, which undoubtedly increases operational complexity.

3. Implementation Strategies for Digital Transformation of Publishing Archives Management in the Era of Intelligent Media

Against the backdrop of the intelligent media era, the digital transformation of publishing archives management represents a key initiative for driving industry innovation and enhancing information asset value. Therefore, facing the challenges of the intelligent media era, comprehensive digital transformation strategies for publishing archives management should span multiple dimensions including technological innovation, refined management, talent cultivation, and policy guidance to collaboratively construct an all-encompassing implementation blueprint. This ensures that while maintaining information security as the cornerstone, the potential value of archival materials is fully activated, empowering the publishing industry to ascend to deeper levels of digitization and intelligence.

3.1 Clarifying Transformation Objectives and Strategic Planning

In the intelligent media era, the digital transformation of publishing archives management must first and foremost establish clear and forward-looking objectives along with comprehensive strategic planning. This process begins with in-depth analysis of current archives management conditions to identify pain points and bottlenecks such as inconvenient retrieval, storage space constraints, and resource isolation, as well as new opportunities brought by intelligent media technologies like AI-assisted archiving and big data-driven content analysis. Based on this analysis, transformation objectives can be established, including improving archives access efficiency, ensuring information security, promoting cross-regional resource sharing, protecting valuable historical materials, enhancing knowledge innovation, and achieving long-term preservation.

For instance, the short term could focus on infrastructure construction and basic digital conversion to achieve efficient scanning, storage, and preliminary classification of archives while enhancing information retrieval and data analysis capabilities. The long term should concentrate on technology integration and service innovation, forming an open and shared archives resource ecosystem through continuous technological iteration and service innovation to drive the intelligent transformation of the publishing industry. Most importantly, the transformation strategy must be closely integrated with the overall development objectives of publishing institutions, ensuring that the digitalization process not only optimizes archives management itself but also promotes coordinated development across content production, copyright management, market expansion, and other dimensions.[9] Simultaneously, strategic planning should maintain flexibility, reserving adjustment space to adapt to technological iteration and market changes, ensuring a stable and sustainable transformation path.

3.2 Strengthening Technology Research, Development, and Application

Strengthening technology research, development, and application serves as the core driving force for promoting the digital transformation of publishing archives management in the intelligent media era. Actively exploring the integration and innovation of cutting-edge technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence to construct high-performance, high-security digital platforms enables functions including intelligent archives classification, automatic tagging, content review, precise retrieval, and remote access. This enhances the automation and intelligence level of archives management while improving the accuracy and efficiency of archives processing. For example, adopting advanced cloud computing platforms enables elastic storage and efficient processing of archives data; employing big data analytics technology mines the deep value of archives to support decision-making and content innovation; integrating artificial intelligence, such as optimizing classification and intelligent retrieval through machine learning, improves user experience; and utilizing digital watermarking and blockchain technology strengthens copyright protection to ensure archives information security and traceability.

Technology research and development must focus on data standardization, system compatibility, user interface friendliness, and the enhancement of intelligent services. Therefore, cross-disciplinary collaboration is needed to introduce external professional technical forces, continuously track technological frontiers, accelerate technology transformation and application implementation, ensure technological iteration keeps pace with industry development trends, and build a solid technical support system that provides inexhaustible momentum for the modernization transformation of the publishing industry.

3.3 Optimizing Archives Management Processes

Against the backdrop of the intelligent media era, the digital transformation of publishing archives management represents not only technological innovation but also a reshaping of management concepts and processes. Optimizing archives management processes requires establishing a management system adapted to digital environments from the perspective of the entire lifecycle management workflow, including archives collection, processing, storage, retrieval, utilization, and security protection[10], ensuring standardization, normalization, and efficiency of processes.

First, conduct process reengineering by transforming traditional linear workflows into data-centric network management models, leveraging digital tools to automate repetitive and error-prone tasks such as automatic archiving, metadata extraction, and annotation, thereby streamlining processes, reducing manual intervention, and improving work efficiency. Second, establish a standardization and normalization system by creating unified data formats and metadata standards, archives resource catalogs, and metadata databases to promote information resource integration and open sharing, break down information silos, and lay a solid foundation for cross-platform data sharing and deep utilization. Third, introduce workflow management systems to strengthen data security and privacy protection by deploying encryption technologies, access control mechanisms, and data backup and recovery strategies, ensuring automated task scheduling and progress tracking during archives information storage, transmission, and usage, and guaranteeing seamless connection among all archives processing links. Finally, emphasize user interaction design by constructing intuitive and user-friendly digital platform interfaces that provide personalized retrieval, visual analysis, and other functions to enhance the convenience of archives utilization and user experience.

3.4 Strengthening Talent Cultivation and Recruitment

Strengthening talent cultivation and recruitment strategies constitutes an indispensable source of momentum for driving the digital transformation of publishing archives management. Focusing on skill upgrading of internal talent, recruitment of external talent, and cross-disciplinary collaborative cultivation to build a diversified, multi-level talent team provides solid human resources support for digital transformation and effectively underpins industry transformation and upgrading.

First, emphasize the cultivation and transformation of internal talent by enhancing existing employees' skills in cloud computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence applications, information security, and digital copyright management through various forms such as workshops, online courses, and practical projects; cultivate cross-disciplinary collaboration capabilities to improve the innovation and practicality of archives management. Second, establish a long-term talent recruitment mechanism by building partnerships with higher education institutions and research organizations to directionally cultivate or recruit professionals with backgrounds in digital publishing, information management, computer science, and other relevant fields, injecting fresh blood into the organization. Finally, establish a talent incentive and evaluation system to stimulate employees' enthusiasm and creativity for participating in digital transformation through performance assessments, promotion opportunities, knowledge-sharing rewards, and other means.

3.5 Strengthening Legal and Regulatory Framework Development

Strengthening legal and regulatory framework development constitutes an indispensable component of publishing archives management digital transformation, concerning not only the standardization of technology application but also core issues including archives information security, copyright protection, data privacy, resource open sharing, and personal privacy rights maintenance[11].

Improving the copyright legal framework involves clarifying copyright ownership, usage permissions, and revenue distribution principles for digital publications. Establishing efficient dispute resolution mechanisms for copyright conflicts that may arise during digital conversion processes is essential to both protect original authors' intellectual property rights and promote the legal circulation and utilization of content. Strengthening monitoring and punishment of copyright infringement in network environments and employing emerging technologies such as blockchain to enhance transparency and credibility in copyright management is crucial. Data privacy protection must be reinforced by establishing and improving standardized processes for personal data collection, processing, storage, and cross-border transmission in accordance with relevant domestic and international laws and regulations, such as the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China and the EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), ensuring effective protection of sensitive data including personal information and trade secrets involved in the archives digitalization process. The construction of an information security legal system is equally important, requiring the formulation of strict digital archives security management regulations covering data encryption, access control, disaster recovery, and other aspects, along with regular security audits and risk assessments to ensure archives information systems can withstand both internal and external threats.

The digital transformation of publishing archives management in the intelligent media era represents an inevitable trend that aligns with the information technology revolution and enhances the value and utilization rate of archives resources. Through effective digital transformation strategies, not only can the efficiency and convenience of archives management be substantially improved, but knowledge can also be widely disseminated and deeply utilized through means such as data analysis and knowledge graph construction, providing archives resources for academic research, cultural inheritance, and public education. Meanwhile, as deep learning capabilities of artificial intelligence, copyright protection applications of blockchain, more mature cloud computing services, and metaverse technologies such as VR/AR continue to evolve, the digital transformation of publishing archives will advance toward higher levels of intelligence and security, with greater emphasis on user experience. Through highly personalized services, immersive content interaction, and instant global access, the boundaries of knowledge dissemination will be greatly expanded, promoting cultural diversity and cross-disciplinary innovation.

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Author Bio: Yan Qianqian (1986—), female, from Binzhou, Shandong, holds a master's degree and works as an editor. Her research focuses on new media communication, publishing editing, and archives management. (Responsible Editor: Li Yansong)