This edited book brings together best examples and practices of digital and interactive approaches and platforms from a number of projects based in European countries to foster social inclusion and participation in heritage and culture. It engages with ongoing debates on the role of culture and heritage in contemporary society relating to inclusion and exclusion, openness, access, and bottom-up participation. The contributions address key themes such as the engagement of marginalised communities, the opening of debates and new interpretations around socially and historically contested heritages, and the way in which digital technologies may foster more inclusive cultural heritage practices. They will also showcase examples of work that can inspire reflection, further research, and also practice for readers such as practice-focused researchers in both HCI and design. Indeed, as well as consolidating the achievements of researchers, the contributions also represent concrete approaches to digital heritage innovation for social inclusion purposes. The book’s primary audience is academics, researchers, and students in the fields of cultural heritage, digital heritage, human-computer interaction, digital humanities, and digital media, as well as practitioners in the cultural sector.

Advanced Research and Design Tools for Architectural Heritage: Unforeseen Paths rethinks how to analyse, preserve, and adapt Architectural Heritage and its surroundings along unforeseen paths using a broad spectrum of advanced research and design tools. By delving into conceptual foundations and recent applications, it transcends disciplinary boundaries and leverages advanced design tools, such as space syntax, natural language processing, advanced photogrammetry, heritage building information modelling, and virtual reality. This book offers a comprehensive collection of collaborative research studies by a team of scholars with diverse perspectives and digital expertise from long-term projects. Encompassing case studies and recent academic experiences, the volume explores notable heritage sites in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Readers are afforded a nuanced understanding of integrated tools through a forward-looking approach. By addressing critical heritage challenges, the book contributes to reshaping architecture discourse and practice. The chapters explore the integration of advanced methodologies to address emerging societal concerns, making the book a valuable resource for architecture, archaeology, urban planning, catering to professors, trainers, and students. Additionally, its relevance extends to practitioners interested in cultural studies, urban policies, and data science, including archivists, representatives from public governmental authorities, and policy stakeholders.

Changing Heritage presents the most comprehensive analysis of heritage issues available today. Critically analysing the complexity of the current and forthcoming issues faced by heritage, it presents insightful directions for the future. Drawing on the author’s many years of experience working in senior positions at UNESCO, the book presents discussions of heritage sites all around the world. Today, our cultural and natural legacies face significant threats due to social and economic developments, political pressures, and unresolved historical issues. This book delves into these threats from two distinct perspectives: internal tensions and external pressures. The internal tensions include the disregard for human rights and gender equality; the increasing exploitation of heritage for political purposes; the development of post-colonial perspectives; and the necessity to reassess the established notion of "universal value." External pressures stem from global processes, unsustainable tourism, political conflicts, ethnic clashes, and religious strife that are causing destruction in numerous parts of the world. Examining the dynamics between heritage and these internal tensions and external pressures, Bandarin offers insights into the challenges faced and emphasises the imperative role of civil society in safeguarding the value of heritage for present and future generations. Changing Heritage explores a wide range of issues surrounding the crisis in heritage management on an international level. It will be essential reading for heritage scholars, students, and professionals

Cultural heritage is no longer seen solely as a safeguarding effort or an educational outlet but also as a form of civic and cultural representation and engagement that can contribute to social cohesion. The EU-funded collaborative project "CultureLabs" (https://culture-labs.eu/) investigates and proposes the use of novel methodologies and digital tools for facilitating the access to Cultural Heritage through tailor-made novel experiences, creative reuse, enrichment and co-creation. As part of CultureLabs, a one-day symposium was held in February 2021 to discuss how digital ecosystems shape the dynamics between institutions (including museums and academic institutions) and communities, leading to new models of collaboration and interaction around heritage and culture. The event featured a keynote talk by Dr Jenny Kidd of Cardiff University, exploring museums, social media, and participation during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. After an open submission process, we also selected 12 short presentations from academics, researchers, and practitioners exploring how digital technologies can support institutions to be come more connected and open to different communities, and consider the challenges and opportunities brought forward by digital interactions in different settings.

Transmedia Narratives for Cultural Heritage focuses on theoretical approaches to the analysis and creative practice of developing non-fiction digital transmedia narratives in the rapidly growing cultural heritage sector. This book applies a media-focused transdisciplinary approach to understand the conventions of emerging digital narrative genres. Considering digital media’s impact on narrative creation and reception, the approach, namely remixed transmedia, can aid practitioners in creating strategic non-fiction narratives for cultural heritage. These creations also need to be evaluated and a digital-media focused ‘ludonarrative toolkit’ allows for the critical analysis of the composition and public participation in interactive digital narratives. This toolkit is applied and exemplified in genres including virtual museums, serious games, and interactive documentaries. The book also includes a seven-phase theoretical framework that can assist future creators (and project managers) of non-fiction transmedia ‘mothership’ narratives; and a methodology (based on ‘big data analysis’) for how to invent new cultural heritage narratives through bottom-up remixing that allows for public inclusion. Two transnational case studies on the 11 UNESCO World Heritage Australian Convict Sites and the Irish National Famine Way demonstrate the seven-phase framework’s applicability. As many scholars across disciplines are increasingly creating digital narratives on historical topics for public consumption in various forms, the theoretical foundations and practical project management framework will be useful for scholars and project teams in the domains of transmedia studies, interactive narratives, cultural heritage, media studies, comparative literature, and journalism.

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Art - Computer Art / Graphics / Art in Media, grade: 8, Maastricht University, language: English, abstract: The new opportunities humanity gets while society develops and technology grows are seemingly non-terminating. Obviously, many people like to benefit from the arising advantages and the positive side-effects. The World Wide Web is one of these technologies, that on the one hand remarkably facilitate our life and on the other hand lead to a more complex and intertwined system and to changes that can not be reversed. In times of rapid growing technological progress civilization struggles with the issue of striking new paths to the future while at the same time fostering the own cultural heritage. For some people arts and culture are necessary, because they belong to their roots and are signs of their history, but opinions and notions about that theme vary widely. Still there are hotly debated problems relating to cultural policy – Heilbrun & Gray (2011) argue that arts and culture are caught in a materialistic world (p. 3) which is the reason why they always have to deal with a mighty term called ‘money’. But when thinking about culture and heritage, it is not just about keeping the past in mind and preserving ancient monuments. It is also about actively promoting the arts and culture, that currently come into existence. Technologies arise and so do arts. How to cope now with balancing between past and future, heritage and progress, art and high-tech? Bringing something forward means spending time on it, participating in it and therefore reinforcing it. A modern world needs people who get involved and that is why participation may be one of the pivotal things needed for generating a successful future. By taking a look at the current situation, I want to examine the special relationship between the use of the internet and participation in arts and culture. What do we understand by thinking of the term ‘cultural participation’ and for which reasons is it so important to participate? Which tool does the internet provide to influence and increase cultural participation and which examples can be made for that? After a general overview, the demand position will be adapted on the concrete example of the Netherlands. The results may create the basis for developing future scenarios and investigating questions like whether the web's popularity is able to create more popularity for cultural participation or if just the internet's degree of esteem will grow further without any impacts on culture.