Digital cultural heritage as a resource for social development
Project Participants from ERM: Pille Runnel (Research Director), Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt (Senior Researcher / Professor of Media and Communication at Malmö University), Agnes Aljas (Research Secretary), Mahendra Mahey (Junior Researcher)Project Partners: Kai Pata (Professor of Adult Education and Non-Formal Learning at Tallinn University), Oleksandr Cherednychenko (Doctoral Student at Tallinn University)
A significant part of Estonian museum collections is digitally available to Estonian people. It is an invaluable social resource with great potential to contribute to sustainable development. The rapid social, economic and technological development leads to polarization and a sense of discontinuity, but heritage can help people cope with change. Museums help to cope with transition when their resources find application in society. Therefore, the project focuses on the application of digital cultural heritage.
The UNESCO and FARO conventions prioritize people-centered heritage management and equitable access to heritage, highlighting that the value of heritage can be measured by the benefits it brings to people. However, in heritage-managing organizations, preservation is often the main focus. Digitization is seen as a crucial tool to bridge the dilemma between preservation and utilization, but the focus tends to be on creating digital archives rather than on how different societal groups can leverage digital heritage for social progress.
Reinterpreting cultural heritage requires consideration from social, digital, and green transition perspectives. One priority in research is to analyze practical applications related to heritage and to investigate attitudes, knowledge, and expectations associated with heritage. At the same time, it is recognized that research needs a more complex, innovative approach that intertwines various fields of study.
We see the creative and experimental use of digital cultural heritage as an area where Estonia can identify significant resources for development. Focusing on digital cultural heritage helps us understand how heritage can benefit people whose lives and work are distant from urban centers, where museum collections are physically inaccessible. For museums, digital cultural heritage is an essential resource that should be used far more extensively in data-driven decision-making, co-creation initiatives, citizen science, and the broader education sector.
The goal of the project is to develop methods of co-creation for understanding digital cultural heritage, using it in various fields and transferring knowledge related to heritage. The output of the project is at least three experimental applications of digital heritage created collaboratively and a methodological toolbox for empowering digital co-creation.
Project website: https://digitalheritage.ee/en
Events
14–16.08.2024: Seminars and Workshops on the Creative Use of Digital Heritage