Heritage Experience Research Articles

Heritage hotel experiences in Nizwa, Oman

AbstractOman is a developing tourism destination providing a range of cultural heritage experiences. The Omani Government has focused on preservation of tangible heritage such as forts, souqs and archaeology sites, where there is a separation between heritage experiences and resident's everyday life. Recently, small entrepreneurs in Nizwa, Oman have begun to reuse traditional houses as heritage accommodation and thus embedding the tourist in the social fabric. This research examines the development of these private sector heritage hotels and their implications for the development of tourism in Nizwa. Data were collected through face‐to‐face interviews with government, entrepreneurs, tourists, and residents. This study contextualises the practices framework of Richards (2018), illustrating the mutually dependent and evolving interrelationships between meanings, resources and competences in a developing destination. The reuse of heritage hotels as a way to provide tourists with intangible cultural heritage and contemporary life experiences has changed the meanings of these resources from valueless to valuable. This supports the further development of intangible cultural heritage tourism experiences, but implies stakeholders need new competencies in experience design and destination management. The study indicates that cultural practices are dynamic and that various stakeholder groups (government, residents, businesses, and tourists) may have different meanings and competences. Further research is required to determine if these dynamic relationships form patterns across destinations.

Introduction

The articles in the present volume are the result of two workshops held at the Norwegian Institute in Rome that are both robustly disciplinary, but simultaneously raise issues beyond the disciplinary bounds of art history (into philosophy, history of ideas and history) and archaeology (into criminology, heritage studies and contemporary sociology and politics). The first was organised by DniR-researcher Mattia Biffis in October 2019, The Art of Truth: Providing Evidence in Early Modern Bologna. The second section is based on a digital workshop organised by DniR-researcher Samuel Hardy in collaboration with the Heritage Experience Initiative project at the University of Oslo in October 2020, Handling of Cultural Goods and Financing of Political Violence. On cover:ANNIBALE CARRACCI (BOLOGNA 1560 - ROME 1609), An Allegory of Truth and Time c. 1584-1585. Oil on canvas | 130,0 x 169,6 cm. (support, canvas/panel/str external) | RCIN 404770Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021.

Quality Requirements for Implementing Augmented Reality in Heritage Spaces: Teachers’ Perspective

As a consequence of the scarcity of studies of augmented reality (AR) in Spain, this study developed a questionnaire to evaluate teachers’ perceptions on the use of AR for heritage teaching (n = 347 teachers: n = 131 in-service/n = 216 in-training). The objectives were to: (1) identify teachers’ existing knowledge about AR; (2) evaluate educational strategies teachers value most in AR apps for teaching; (3) evaluate necessary AR functions; (4) determine desired technical and functional characteristics; and (5) compare any significant differences between the two groups. The results provide a contribution to the increasing implementation of AR apps in heritage education, which promotes the understanding, enjoyment, experience and knowledge of heritage. Heritage education is increasingly present in Spanish classrooms due to awareness of the country’s rich heritage, and AR is a good tool for understanding and linking society with its heritage. From the results, it is clear that, despite their desire for implementation, there is a lack of teacher training in applying AR; both subsamples pointed out the importance of humanising the explanations in AR apps with experts or actors who mediate heritage and value the ease of use of these apps, multifunctionality, low battery consumption, and use in the background. Significant differences suggest potentially greater educational commitment among active teachers who seek deep and meaningful learning, above the superficiality and enjoyment reported by teachers in training and, on the contrary, the value placed on technical and visual aspects, related to the high use of mobile devices.

Improving Children's Cultural Heritage Experience Using Game-based Learning at a Living Museum

This empirical study was conducted to design, develop, and evaluate children's experiences with a game-based mobile guide (GBMG) application at Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV). The Interaction Design lifecycle model was used for the systematic development of the GBMG application. A total of 45 children took part in this study who were divided into two groups: a paper-based pamphlet and GBMG application group. The Museum Experience Scale were used to evaluate the overall experience with the GBMG application in this study. Results showed that the children in the mobile-based groups have a higher mean for the four dimensions of MES, although the difference is only significant for the emotional connection dimension. This study shows that the game-based mobile guide application did not significantly improve children's museum experience at SCV except for their emotional connection. Additional findings from the Heuristic Evaluation with six Human-Computer Interaction experts offered a deeper understanding of why the GBMG did not improve the children's visitor experience at SCV. The outcome of this study contributes to the research field of game-based mobile applications to enhance children's experiences at living museums with several issues raised for further research.

Chain of Reflective Experiences: How Tourists Give Meaning to Intangible Cultural Heritage Experiences

Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is a tourist offer that is embedded within the people of a destination and their lifestyles. Given this nature of ICH, this paper aims to explore how tourists give meaning to ICH experiences especially in the absence of formal sources of information. It employs a qualitative phenomenological stance with a sample of 21 European tourists. The Appropriation Theory was used for theoretical support. Findings indicate that recollections and reflections of past travel experiences contribute to the interpretation of ICH experiences. Specifically, such recollections and reflections create a sense of familiarity with new ICH experiences allowing tourists to connect with them more, resulting in subjective meaning assignment which may or may not be the meaning envisioned by destination marketers and the host community. This study also initiates a discussion on ‘chain of reflective experiences’, through which further exploration of the effects of past travel experiences on new experiences are encouraged.

Key antecedents of brand equity in heritage brand extensions: The moderating role of tourist heritage experience

This study examines how the degree of fit between the brand extension and the parent brand, in the case of heritage sites, affects the extension's brand equity-formation, considering the mediating role of brand attitude and brand credibility and the moderating role of the tourist's level of experience of the parent heritage brand. An experimental design is applied, in which two different levels of fit between the parent heritage brand and the brand extension are controlled between subjects. Suggestions are provided for effective ways of enhancing heritage brand equity and therefore contributing to destination promotion and competitiveness.

Smart Heritage: Defining the Discourse

The academic literature contains an increasing quantity of references to Smart Heritage. These references are at the intersection of the smart city and heritage disciplines and primarily within informative, interpretative, and governance applications. The literature indicates the future expansion of the Smart Heritage discourse into additional applications as researchers apply smart technology to more complex cultural environments. The Smart Heritage discourse signals an advancement in the literature beyond Digital Heritage and Virtual Heritage discourses as Smart Heritage pivots on the active curatorship of heritage experiences by automated and autonomous technologies, rather than technology as a passive digital tool for human-curated experiences. The article comprehensively reviews the emergent Smart Heritage discourse for the first time in the academic literature, and then offers a contemporary definition that considers the literature to date. The review and definition draw on literature across the contributing disciplines to understand the discourse’s development and current state. The article finds that Smart Heritage is an independent discourse that intertwines the autonomous and automatic capabilities and innovation of smart technologies with the contextual and subjective interpretation of the past. Smart Heritage is likely the future vanguard for research between the technology and heritage disciplines.

‘We and our stories’: constructing food experiences in a UNESCO gastronomy city

The experiential elements of food tourism can be transformed into meaningful experiences of local food heritage and identity in the context of a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. From a local stakeholder perspective, six key drivers at three phases of the food experience are identified, and each driver involves several local elements that are coordinated and staged in various modes to create and develop four sequential food experiences. The pre-travel stage should focus on enhancing potential tourist’s awareness of the UNESCO designation. The on-site food experience is found to be twofold: exposure to the local food environment and the actual tasting experience in situ. The food experience is claimed to continue beyond the post-travel stage where one’s memory is triggered by stimuli and reflection. These create the ultimate local food experience for tourists, but it is the unique local identity that is critical from the local stakeholder perspective. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2021.1943701 .

Understanding the heritage experience: a content analysis of online reviews of World Heritage Sites in Istanbul

ABSTRACT This study explores dimensions of heritage tourism experiences utilizing the user-generated content (UGC) on a travel sharing website and offers insight for understanding the factors that can affect the heritage tourists’ evaluation of travel experiences at a destination. For this purpose, a content analysis of 5212 heritage experience reviews posted for heritage sites on a UGC travel website, TripAdvisor, is conducted. An analysis of reviews revealed 59 items forming six dimensions that include authenticity, the importance of guides, cultural values, sense of heritage, local hospitality and awe. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed as well as limitations. Suggestions for further research are provided.

Virtual Community Heritage – An Immersive Approach to Community Heritage


 Our relationship with cultural heritage has been transformed by digital technologies. Opportunities have emerged to preserve and access cultural heritage material while engaging an audience at both regional and global level. Accessibility of technology has enabled audiences to participate in digital heritage curation process. Participatory practices and co-production methodologies have created new relationships between museums and communities, as they are engaged to become active participants in the co-design and co-creation of heritage material. Audiences are more interested in experiences vs services nowadays and museums and heritage organisations have potential to entertain while providing engaging experiences beyond their physical walls. Mixed reality is an emerging method of engagement that has allowed enhanced interaction beyond traditional 3D visualisation models into fully immersive worlds. There is potential to transport audiences to past worlds that enhance their experience and understanding of cultural heritage.

Tourism and heritage in Antarctica: exploring cultural, natural and subliminal experiences

ABSTRACT The guidelines on heritage management adopted by the 2018 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting provide the most recent iteration for an Antarctic tourism sector which had, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, been projected to increase further with various risks and potential impacts requiring careful management. In this paper the role of cultural heritage for tourism prior to the COVID-19 pandemic is examined through three empirical perspectives. First, how the Antarctic cultural heritage is represented through the designation of Historic Sites and Monuments and Site Guidelines for Visitors; then how this is presented through tourism operators’ websites; and, finally, how it is experienced by visitors as narrated in open-source social media information. Each dataset suggests that, while cultural heritage is an important component of an increasingly commodified tourist offering, it is only part of an assemblage of elements which combine to create a subliminal and largely intangible Antarctic experience. In particular, a polarization of the heritage experience between cultural and natural does not appear productive. The paper proposes a more nuanced understanding of heritage tourism in Antarctica which accommodates the notion of a hybrid experience that integrates cultural heritage, the history and stories this heritage represents, and the natural environmental setting.

Directions of theoretical and research changes in Polish early school pedagogy - from mono to polydiscoursiveness

The article presents the specificity of early school pedagogy as one of the sub-fields of pedagogy with its decades-long heritage experience. Particular attention was given to the major directions of changes in the perception of a child as the empirical subject and a childhood being constructed in the educational institution, in the meaning of school. The most important problem areas of early school pedagogy were characterized, including those referring to reconstruction of early education culture, contemporary discourses of child/pupil education and preparation of early school teachers for working professional life, both in traditional and alternative models of education. Significant theoretical and empirical trends in study of children and early school teachers (1-3 class of primary school) were determined, supported by the illustration of the list of selected monographs published from 2000-2020. The article highlights, the multiplicity of discourses and diversity of approaches to child education typical for contemporary early school pedagogy, which is considered to be the positive indicator of development in the discussed sub-field.

Heritage Sites and Video Games: Questions of Authenticity and Immersion

Can video games afford authentic heritage experiences, comparable to physical visits to a heritage site? How is authenticity of historical settings related to the player’s immersion? This article explores these questions by looking at the notions of experience and authenticity in tourism/heritage studies and the experience economy and mapping them onto the layers of game immersion. As both video games and site visitation are user-centred designed experiences, they share most of their experiential dimensions: five strategic experiential modules (SEMs) (sense, feel, think, act and relate). Linked through the SEMs, five forms of heritage authenticity reveal close correspondence with five (out of six) dimensions of game immersion/involvement. Therefore, player’s perception of heritage authenticity in historical settings seems to be intertwined with immersion/incorporation. The dual framework of authenticity/immersion presented here allows for detailed analysis of both, the central example being Assassin’s Creed Unity with its famous representation of the Notre-Dame cathedral.

Values-Led Design Cards: Building Ethically Engaged Archaeology and Heritage Experiences

The agenda for an engaged and impactful archaeology has been set out emphatically in a variety of recent reports, positioning archaeology and heritage as important sources of public value and social benefit. While many ascribe to these aims, how to put them into practice in concrete terms remains a real challenge. Tools, methods and methodologies developed for the wider research community as it engages with the “impact agenda” at large have been adapted and applied in archaeological and heritage practice with variable success. In this paper, we discuss the creation of a values-led, card-based design toolkit and the considerations involved in customising it for use by archaeology and heritage sector practitioners. We evaluate reflexive feedback from participants in a toolkit testing workshop, together with our own reflections on the workshop experience. Building on these, we assess the potential and limitations of the toolkit and its underpinning values-led design theory to generate critically engaged archaeological and heritage experiences.

The values and value of community heritage: visitor evaluation of do-it-yourself museums and archives of popular music in Europe, Australasia and the United States of America

ABSTRACT Do-it-yourself (DIY) and community-based efforts to preserve popular music heritage often take place in tangible sites open to the public. These places contrast with authorised sites of heritage in their form, but not their function, and are often judged equally by visitors in terms of cultural value. This article analyses Tripadvisor user reviews of 11 DIY institutions of popular music heritage to highlight the tension between the production of cultural value by such places and the expectations of visitors. As unintentional sites of tourism, DIY institutions of popular music heritage find themselves caught between providing access to unique collections and experiences prized by niche audiences, and producing an entertainment value attainable only through the higher level budgets and skill sets found in authorised heritage institutions. This article contributes to an understanding of how the producers and consumers of DIY institutions understand value, while focusing on the neglected experience of end-users in the broader space of heritage engagement. In doing so, it draws attention to the co-creation of heritage experiences in online and physical spaces.

Affect and performance in ancestral tourism: stories of everyday life, personal heritage, and the family

ABSTRACT Heritage tourism scholars have used notions of performativity and affect to study the ways tourists actively construct and assign meaning to their experience of heritage. However, these concepts remain under-explored in the context of personal heritage tourism. Personal heritage tourism reflects an interest to experience a heritage of personal affective relevance, acknowledging that perceptions of heritage are fluid and subjective. I contribute insight into the conceptualization of personal heritage tourism by exploring the performances and affective entanglements that make genealogy meaningful in the present during travels to an ancestral homeland. Through a qualitative study of Swedish-American ancestral tourists, I propose that processes of meaning making in ancestral tourism include enacting the family, partaking in everyday life, and connecting with mundane physical elements of the past. These performances unfold at sites historical and current in the ancestral homeland. Personal heritage tourism thus finds meaning though affective entanglements with the past, but also through social interactions and mundane activities based in a familiar present. These affective entanglements occur at different locations, not all directly connected to the personal past.

Towards a comprehensive understanding of football stadium tourism

ABSTRACT Whereas stadium tourism is a growing area within sports tourism, football stadium tourism remains underexplored. Existing research largely focuses on match-day or heritage experiences, drawing on single case studies, with no current study comprehensively exploring the multiplicity of touristic experiences across a sizeable range of stadia. We address this neglect through an extensive investigation of football stadia as tourism destinations, using a novel methodology, latent Dirichlet allocation, to examine 28,298 TripAdvisor reviews of the 44 football stadia in the English Premier League and Championship (2019–2020 season), accompanied by a thematic analysis of reviews. This approach enables an investigation of multiple touristic experiences across many diverse sites. The study confirms previous findings about how stadia function as experiential sites of pilgrimage and heritage. However, two new dimensions of this visitor experience are revealed that demonstrate how stadia function as restaurants and possess prosaic and functional attributes that are significant dimensions of visitor experience.

Nostalgic feelings: motivation, positive and negative emotions, and authenticity at heritage sites

ABSTRACT This study examines psychological factors that can trigger nostalgia from the heritage tourism experience. We treat nostalgia as an emotion rather than a push travel motive and argue that nostalgic feelings can be predicted by visitors’ (domestic and international) motivation, positive and negative emotions, and perceived authenticity of the heritage experience. We develop and test five hypotheses among 500 visitors to Su Nuraxi, the most visited UNESCO world heritage site in Sardinia, Italy. The findings show that statistically no significant difference exists between domestic and international visitors on their felt nostalgia. Nostalgic feelings are higher when the site is part of the visitor’s own heritage and is world famous, suggesting a positive relationship between visitation motives and nostalgia. Nostalgia can be triggered by both positive (astonishment and gratitude) and negative emotions (guilt and disappointment) felt at the site and has, therefore, a bittersweetness to its affective signature. More importantly, perceived authenticity is not a strong predictor of nostalgia. Implications for heritage site management and marketing are offered.

Scientific and practical experience of architectural heritage restoring in the focus of the Ukrainian researchers

Monograph review: Construction and Restoration of Orthodox Churches: monograph / under the general editorship of V. Lykhohrai. Kharkiv: Rarities of Ukraine, 2019. 204 p. The modern restoration process of ancient sacred buildings requires thorough research aimed at analysing the architectural and structural solutions of Orthodox temples and their connection with the canonical requirements of the Church, identifying historical methods of construction and creating characteristics for the specifics of repair and restoration work. One of such demanded scientific works was recently published. This is a monograph “Construction and restoration of Orthodox Churches”, authored by Kharkiv researchers Dmytro Honcharenko, Serhii Yevel, Oleksandr Kharchenko and Pavlo Chechelnytskyi, as well as Viktoriia Lykhohrai, who also was responsible for the general editing of the publication.

How can augmented reality improve the user experience of digital products and engagement with cultural heritage outside the museum space?

The purpose of this study is to understand how augmented reality is improving the user experience of cultural heritage and museums by making it more engaging and allowing the user to better remember the information relayed. Specifically, this study aims to better understand the use of augmented reality, and how institutions are making use of it by interviewing people involved in two apps that operate outside the museum space. This study can conclude that augmented reality has improved the information delivered and some aspects of the user experience. However, it is difficult to argue that augmented reality is completely improving the user experience of cultural heritage and museums.