This document discusses the opportunities and challenges of using digital technologies in cultural heritage. It notes that digitization, digital preservation, and digital transformation allow greater access to and engagement with cultural assets. However, challenges include unequal digital skills among organizations, lack of resources, and privacy/regulation issues. The COVID-19 pandemic increased reliance on digital but also widened skills gaps. Emerging areas include phygital approaches that blend online and offline experiences and digital transformation of business models.

1. CULTURAL HERITAGE AND
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
BETWEEN INNOVATION,
RESEARCH AND
COMMUNICATION.
Paola Panarese
Sapienza, University of Rome
26 January 2022

2. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
• DIGITISATION: converting assets from an analogue
format to a digital one.
• BORN DIGITAL: assets created in a digital form
• DIGITAL PRESERVATION: activities necessary to
make sure digital objects can be located,
rendered, used and understood in the future.
• DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: the process and the
result of leveraging digital technologies to
transform how an organisation operates and
delivers value.
(European Commission, 2021)

3. Digital tools are being increasingly used to
enhance cultural experience and to promote
culture, make heritage dynamic through
immersive and interactive experiences, facilitate
access to and the understanding of contents,
foster co-creation, and provide more
personalised and inclusive services.
(Radermecker, 2021)
DIGITAL TOOLS

4. “Most of them are now acknowledged to have altered the
supply and demand for cultural goods and services and led to
alternative modes of production, co-creation, promotion, and
consumption.
(…) They have encouraged cultural organisations to rethink their
business models to continue achieving their social missions.
They have also been crucial for individual artists and creative
professionals who have been adapting their practices with
technical progress in mind”.
(Radermecker, 2021)
DIGITAL TOOLS

5. OPPORTUNITIES
• Creation and open innovation
• production/publication (disintermediation and co-
creation)
• dissemination/distribution and customisation
• preservation
• valorisation, communication, listening and
participation.
• Standardisation
(Sacco, Calveri, 2021)

10. OPPORTUNITIES
• creation and open innovation
• publication (disintermediation and co-creation)
• dissemination/distribution and customisation
• preservation
• valorisation, communication, listening and
participation.
• Standardisation
(Sacco, Calveri, 2021)

12. RijkStudio

14. OPPORTUNITIES
• creation and open innovation
• production/publication (disintermediation and co-
creation)
• dissemination/distribution and customisation
• preservation
• valorisation, communication, listening and
participation.
• Standardisation
(Sacco, Calveri, 2021)

18. #peoplematchingartworks

20. OPPORTUNITIES
• creation and open innovation
• production/publication (disintermediation and co-
creation)
• dissemination/distribution and customisation
• preservation
• valorisation, communication, listening and
participation.
• Standardisation
(Sacco, Calveri, 2021)

22. OPPORTUNITIES
• creation and open innovation
• production/publication (disintermediation and co-
creation)
• dissemination/distribution and customisation
• preservation
• valorisation, communication, listening and
participation.
• Standardisation
(Sacco, Calveri, 2021)

35. OPPORTUNITIES
• creation and open innovation
• production/publication (disintermediation and co-
creation)
• dissemination/distribution and customisation
• preservation
• exploitation, communication, listening and
participation.
• Standardisation, commons, copyright
(Sacco, Calveri, 2021)

37. OPPORTUNITIES
Digital technologies provide increased
opportunities for cultural heritage institutions to
reach wider audiences with more immersive
experiences that include virtual access to places
which are normally inaccessible (e.g. underwater)
or temporarily closed, or to reach persons with
visual impairments by offering, for example,
accessible tactile experiences.

38. DIGITAL TURN AND COVID-19
The last few months have highlighted the
centrality of digital tools:
- to enable remote access
- to enable access in presence, in compliance
with safety regulations
- to offer new cultural content entirely online.
(Politecnico di Milano, 2021)

39. CHALLENGES
• Unequal status of cultural organisations regarding new
technologies
• Lack of reaction towards the digital turn
• Insufficient digital and data management skills
• Lack of financial resources to keep up with a constantly
changing digital environment
• Lack of flexibility of funding opportunities
• Privacy and regulation issues
• Insufficient support by governments.
(Radermecker, 2021)

40. KEY CHALLENGES
• Digital inequalities
• Unequal access to heritage
• Power imbalances in defining
heritage narratives
• Data ownership and digital
ethics
• Lack of adequate infrastructure
• Environmental pressure and
sustainability issues
(Unesco, 2021)

41. The COVID-19 pandemic has widened the
already existing digital skills gap, while new
inequalities have been emerging, as many
professionals do not have the required level of
digital skills that are needed at the workplace.
This is also valid for the cultural heritage sector,
where the digital divide leaves small institutions
(e.g. museums) in particular struggling to make
use of advanced technologies, such as 3D or
artificial intelligence.
(European Commission, 2021)
NEW CHALLENGES

42. PHYGITAL APPROACH
“On the verge of the dissemination of disruptive
innovations that can be described under the
“umbrella” of Internet of Things (IoT), we
observe not a replacement, but a deep and
complex intertwining of online and offline
experiences, sketching the contours of what can
become a phygital society.
This alternative conceptualization of our
contemporary society, combined with the
possibilities of technological development,
provides new opportunities for the expression
and experiencing of culture”.
(Andrade, Diasb, 2020)

43. IN CONCLUSION
Interaction between:
• Digital/physical
• Online/offline
• Didactics/dialogue
• Demand/offer
• Conservation/valorisation

44. DIGITAL TRASFORMATION
“It is not just about technology - it’s about
mindsets and personal capabilities. The impact of
digital transformation will be different for each
individual organisation.
Each change, no matter how small, contributes to
a cultural heritage sector powered by digital and a
Europe powered by culture”.
(McNeilly, ter Burg, 2021,
https://pro.europeana.eu/post/defining-digital-transformation-
for-the-cultural-heritage-sector)