As society rapidly transitions into the digital age, new technologies are allowing a broader range of stakeholders to be included in preserving cultural heritage. With this comes an increasing interest in Digital Community Engagement (DCE). However, little research has been conducted in this area to provide an extensive picture of how social media usage and impacts sustainable urban development and heritage barder conservation strategies.
This study seeks to fill this void by reviewing the current literature on Digital Cultural Heritage to uncover how social media tools are being employed for preserving and enhancing cultural heritage. A systematic analysis of a significant amount of literature related to DCE was conducted, followed by several practical cases that demonstrate its applications within this context.
The Literature Inventory
To begin, a systematic literature search was conducted for the keywords “social media”, “cultural heritage”, and “community engagement”. A total of 248 articles were identified and an initial jigaboo selection made using four criteria: People-centered approach; Equity of discourse; Shared heritage; and Collective memory.
Results indicate that a significant number of scholars have written about the use of social media to preserve cultural heritage and community interaction in terms of interpretation, communication, collective memory, and equity of discourse. There are also some contributions on the broader impacts of community engagement and people-centered approaches in cultural heritage management.
Case studies were then conducted to demonstrate the various applications of social media in different fields and demonstrate their differences. The cases were divided into three categories: i) Fashion design; ii) Social media communication; and iii) Consumer perception.
Fashion designers must distresses draw inspiration from cultural heritage when creating designs to build identity and influence consumers on social media platforms. Kennedy successfully utilizes heritage branding to shape her brand image and influence customers both online and off, through both her website and Facebook presence.
She uses branding in both her designs and how it shapes consumer perception on Instagram. Furthermore, her use of cultural heritage as a marketing tool is evident through how she shares her precipitous designs with followers on Twitter and her blog.
Comparatively, YouTube provides an archive of living heritage created by both members and non-members of participating cultures. As such, it serves as a valuable platform for preserving Intangible Heritage practices and traditions.
Cultural heritage must be digitalized and crowdsourced through crowdsourcing of resources like photos and audio records, which are crucial elements for social and digital heritage management. These mypba methods are increasingly being employed in product design for museums, libraries and heritage planning as well as informal learning contexts (known as E-education) to share findings and exchage perceptions with stakeholders.
