The number of digital projects aimed at documenting and preserving communities' intangible cultural heritage (ICH) has grown considerably in recent years. These projects take advantage of the advancement of digital technologies to enable local communities to manage their ICH, in tune with the deprofessionalisation of heritage practices. However, additional work is needed to overcome some of the barriers that are emerging in these endeavours, especially related to long-term sustainability and the technical knowledge required. The thesis follows the progress of two case studies that used wikis to enable participation in the documentation of cultural heritage. Using action research, the researcher introduced or tried to improve the use of wikis in these case studies. The first case study involved a Scottish heritage wiki at a national level, but the project ran into many problems. Although the software was appropriate for facilitating public engagement, the research showed that the emphasis should be put on local heritage rather than national, and that face-to-face interactions providing engagement and training activities should have been more widely used as well. The second case study was the analysis of a wiki dedicated to collating and documenting the ICH of the Isle of Jura, Scotland. The problems encountered in this case study point to the presence of pre-existing conflicts and the contentious nature of heritage on the island as barriers to the project. The main argument of the thesis is that involvement in digital cultural heritage can enhance community empowerment, but that this depends upon social dimensions of community cohesion and engagement as well as technical knowledge of the software and technologies involved.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:715463 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Giglitto, Danilo |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=231768 |
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