Enriching User Experience Via User-Centred Design: A More Inclusive Approach to Digital Cultural Heritage

Abstract

The Mission of the ERA (European Research Arya) Chair MNEMOSYNE project is the accomplishment of a three-phase research programme centring on the holistic documentation of the DH lifecycle. The main goal of the project is the definition and creation of end-to-end documentation “pipelines” for monuments and CH objects, aiming at increasing outreach (awareness, participation, and engagement) to specific user communities. The research challenges cover a multitude of DCH facets including those concerning: Data Acquisition (tangible and intangible / storytelling and untold stories), Data Processing (enrichment of metadata, semantics, ontologies), Modelling, Knowledge Management (interpretation), Preservation, and Use and Re-use. In search of new opportunities to interact with the audience (creating shared and cultural values), CAA2021 roundtable discussions resulted in gaining actionable insight into the User Experience (UX) requirements of cultural product design, placing emphasis on the emerging need for a more user-oriented approach. This has shed new light on how the creative industries and immersive technologies (particularly, serious games) can synergistically come into play, provided that interpersonal (dialogic) communication among technical and/or domain experts promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, to a point where collective intelligence is achieved. This paper is one of the results of those roundtable discussions.