Cultural heritage and disability: Can ICT be the ‘Missing piece’ to face cultural heritage accessibility problems?

Abstract

Improving the usability conditions for all is one of the basic concepts underlying the enhancement of cultural heritage. Usability must be declined both in terms of physical accessibility and sensory-perceptive of the places of cultural interest, both as accessibility of contents of which they are witnesses. In this field, ICT technology can become very useful especially in terms of communication and thus effective before and during the visiting of a site. ICT technology is analyzed, also by examples, by identifying the limits, mainly due to the fact that in most cases the means are preferred rather than the goal, and the potential that is very promising if the same are designed to support undifferentiated users with the aim of transmitting cultural and not spectacular messages.