scanathon

S1C3A1N1A1T1H4O1N1

noun

An event at which people digitize a large amount of archival material.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

nounscanathon (plural scanathons)

plural scanathons

  1. An event at which people digitize a large amount of archival material.

    A Scanathon is an event the purpose of which is to preserve family photos by scanning them.

    2017, “The Scanathon connection”, in The Forest Park Review
    2 more examples

    The purpose of the scanathon was to test new archival tools for ‘digitisation on demand’ developed as part of the READ project (Recognition and Enrichment of Archival Documents), funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

    2018, Eirini Goudarouli, “Testing new ‘digitisation on demand’ tools”, in The National Archives, archived from the original on 18 May 2022

    Recently, 56a have attempted to address this through “scanathon” events to digitize and preserve the collection online, as well as building relationships with more formal institutions such as the MayDay Rooms, who describe themselves as an “active repository, resource and safe haven for social movements, experimental and marginal cultures and their histories.”

    2020, Samuel Burgum, “This City Is An Archive: Squatting History and Urban Authority”, in Journal of Urban History, page 7

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

scanathon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scanathon

MLA

“scanathon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scanathon. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scanathon,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scanathon.

Source: scanathon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.