Digital Heritage Applications Research Articles

Social Cohesion in Interactive Digital Heritage Experiences

Presently, social cohesion (SC) is a priority at different levels. Cultural heritage is an ideal context to promote SC through interactive digital technologies designed to engage groups of visitors. The purpose of the present study is to identify how to design digital heritage applications for SC and how to measure it. The results are based on the design of a cultural probe kit used to identify the design elements on top of which a collaborative and hybrid prototype, the Brancacci POV, was developed. Here, we analysed the results of this prototype, which included 107 visitors with respective groups of 5 participants and guided by an expert. From this analysis, the possibility of strengthening SC when collaborative tasks are included emerged. Additionally, it appeared to be possible to shorten the distance between citizens and cultural institutions if “mediated dialogue” approaches were adopted and if focus, motivation, trust and “in-group” perception of inclusion emerge when digital heritage experiences were set in intimate and quiet environments.

Smart Access to the Past: Studying Digital Applications for Interaction with Cultural Heritage

The last decades witnessed an amalgamation between cultural heritage practises and digital technology, resulting in a new heritage experience. The presented research addresses the problem of lacking in specific guidelines or frameworks for generating efficient and memorable experiences for heritage sites using digital technologies (like VR and AR). Subsequently, it investigates the preservation of heritage and its impacts on different users. The study answers two main questions: How do new immersive technologies enhance the efficiency and attractiveness of experiencing cultural heritage sites? And how does new technological integration with heritage sites communicate the cultural significance of tangible and intangible heritage? In doing so, the study focuses on theoretical and empirical aspects of users’ engagement in digital heritage applications by investigating the impact of a virtual tour of the cultural heritage site of Abu Simbel Temple in Aswan, Egypt. The results of the literature investigation and the empirical experiment resulted in the development of a conceptual model for generating an interactive digital experience for heritage sites to facilitate the analysis and evaluation of the presented digital projects.

The Ways that Digital Technologies Inform Visitor's Engagement with Cultural Heritage Sites: Informal Learning in the Digital Era

The Ways that Digital Technologies Inform Visitor's Engagement with Cultural Heritage Sites: Informal Learning in the Digital Era

Smart heritage in local government strategic documents

ABSTRACT Local governments are applying smart discourses to resolve challenges in their jurisdictions. Smart discourses like Smart Infrastructure and Smart Mobility result from convergences of smart city discipline and traditional disciplines to deliver novel computer-led decision-making and tailored services. Over the past decade, these smart discourses have become embedded within local government strategic documents through explicit references and operational initiatives. An emerging smart discourse that local governments can adopt is forming between the smart city discipline and the heritage discipline, subsequently producing the Smart Heritage discourse. This article chronicles an investigation into the strategic relationships between the smart city and heritage disciplines within three Australian local governments. In each local government, the researchers analysed strategic smart city and heritage documents to identify shared themes, distilling the data into generalised findings that identify the state of play for Smart Heritage in these organisations. These findings suggest that Smart Heritage is emerging in local government organisations and could soon materialise in their documents alongside established smart discourses. It also signals that the intersection of heritage and technology is advancing into the policy arena, beyond previous Digital Heritage applications. Planners and policy professionals may have to adjust their thinking to accommodate this new discourse.

DIGITAL STORAGE OF CULTURAL HERITAGE DATA: OPENHERITAGE3D EXAMPLE

In the preservation and sustainability of cultural heritage, digital data has an essential role in the architectural conservation process in terms of serving as documents. For all kinds of protection actions to be taken in this process to be reliable, interactive, efficient, and up-to-date, the acquired digital heritage data should be made accessible to everyone. Openheritage3D, a cultural heritage digital data storage and sharing site, which is an organization that emerged for this purpose, was selected as the sample. The digital cultural heritage data sets available on this site have been examined and analyzed separately for each parameter using the total population sampling method. With the pieces of information obtained from the data tables, comparative graphs and tables were made both continentally and in which all heritages were analyzed together. In order to test the validity of the relationships between these parameters acquired during the evaluation process, cross tables were created and passed through the Pearson Chi-Square test processes. As a result of the statistical evaluations, it was revealed whether the associations of the parameters on Openheritage3D are meaningful or not. Thus, the conditions of carrying the parameters that should be in a sample open access digital heritage application were evaluated. In the architectural conservation aspect, suggestions regarding the digital heritage production process have been expressed. As a result of the analysis and evaluations, the status and potentials of open access applications were conveyed, and the issue of digitization of heritage data, and sustainability of cultural heritage were emphasized. Also, by testing the suitability of the databases and digital documentation parameters of the open heritage examined, it contributed to the decision-making mechanism for a possible open cultural heritage application or platform to be designed on a national and international scale.

Digital Heritage Applications and its Impact on Cultural Tourism

Cultural Heritage is inherently unlimited by time, geography, culture or format. It is culture specific, but potentially accessible to every person in the world. The Constitution of UNESCO provides that the Organization will maintain, increase and diffuse knowledge, by assuring the conservation and protection of the world’s inheritance of books, works of art and monuments of history and science, that its “Information for All” Program provides a platform for discussions and action on information policies and the safeguarding of recorded knowledge, and that its “Memory of the World” Program aims to ensure the preservation and universal accessibility of the world’s documentary heritage. Digitalization contributes to the conservation and preservation of heritage and scientific resources; it can be used to encourage tourism, and it provides ways of improving access by citizen to their patrimony. Intangible tourism services cannot be physically displayed or inspected at the point of sale before purchasing, and so tourism product is dependent upon information in printed and audio-visual form. The unique tourism product will depend on extensive and targeted marketing, leading to the growth of new distribution channels, such as using ‘virtual reality’ technology. By World Tourist Organization one of the most important niche market is the market of cultural heritage tourism. Research Importance: Digitization contributes to the conservation of heritage; it can be used to encourage tourism. Intangible tourism services cannot be physically displayed at the point of sales before purchasing, so the tourism product is dependent upon information in printed and audio-visual form Research Objectives: 1 . Presenting different definitions for digital heritage preservation. 2. Providing information regarding the relationship between sustainability and heritage preservation. 3. Reviewing some of the information & communication Technology (ICT) applications and its role in developing digital heritage conservation

Cultural Heritage ‘In-The-Wild’

As digital cultural heritage applications begin to be deployed outwith ‘traditional’ heritage sites (such as museums, open-air museums or galleries), there is an increased need to consider their use amongst individuals who are open to learning about the heritage of a site, but where that is a clearly secondary purpose of their visit. Parks, recreational areas and the everyday built environment represent places that although often rich in heritage, are often not visited primarily to access that heritage. We present the results of a study of a mobile application, called Explore, that supports accessing heritage on a Finnish recreational island. Evaluation with 45 participants, who were not visiting primarily to access the heritage, provided insight into how digital heritage applications can be developed for this user group. Our results showed how low immersion and lightweight interaction support individuals to integrate cultural heritage around their primary visit purpose. Although participants were willing to include heritage as part of their visit, they were not willing to be directed by Explore. Our work outlines future directions that should be considered when expanding the reach of heritage access beyond ‘traditional’ sites.

Online Virtual Learning Environments

This article is an overview of online virtual learning environments for discovery learning. The paper defines Virtual Learning Environments and discusses literature findings on the benefits of using web-based VEs for self-directed learning. It gives an overview of the latest technologies/platforms used to develop online VEs, discusses development and delivery challenges posed by complex, information-rich web-based 3D environments, and describes possible solutions that can be adopted to overcome current limitations. The paper also presents and discusses two 3D web-deliverable virtual learning environments that were recently developed by the authors: the “Virtual Tour of the Muscatatuck State Hospital Historic District (MSHHD)” and the “VELS: Virtual Environment for Learning Surveying”. The “Interactive 3D Tour of MSHHD” is a web-based digital heritage application that uses Virtual Reality as a tool to document and preserve historic sites and educate the public about them; the “VELS” is an online virtual learning environment whose objective is to help undergraduate students learn surveying concepts and practices.