Technologies lead to adaptability and lifelong engagement with culture throughout the cloud

Abstract

Cultural heritage represents one of the most important drivers for personal development, social cohesion and economic growth in Europe. Although the general population is aware of this fact, cultural heritage is still underexplored and cultural activities are not incorporated into citizens’ lifestyle. Technology offers a potential to increase awareness about cultural offerings and create a public engagement with Culture. The current digital solutions adopted by cultural heritage institutions fail to achieve a lifelong engagement, and thus do not support institutions in increasing the number of visitors and retaining them. This chapter illustrates how cloud-based technologies can be exploited to increase a cultural lifelong engagement. We use the cloud to support technologies that enable adaptive and personalised cultural experiences according to individuals’ interests, co-creation of cultural heritage experiences, and active user contribution to social storytelling. The work presented here is a result of the European co-funded project TAG CLOUD.