Inclusive cultural heritage in Europe: co-designing an accessible user experience for digital architectural conservation

ABSTRACT

The lack of accessibility to the information associated with European built heritage is a significant factor of exclusion that precludes many European citizens from appropriating a shared cultural heritage. Nowadays, three-dimensional scanning, modelling, and rendering technologies provide many highly effective tools to virtually access the available digital heritage of many European buildings in different historical periods through images, videos, texts, libraries, or specific databases of information associated with historical-scientific knowledge. However, several factors, such as the availability of human, economic, and technical resources, the heterogeneity of the standards and the lack of regulations, still hinder the possibility of translating data into usable content for a wider audience and the chances of creating collaboration between professional experts and scholars. Considering that, the paper focuses on defining the User Experience (UX) of INCEPTION’s web platform, a European-funded multidisciplinary research project that has adopted new web technologies to develop open-source three-dimensional models of cultural heritage buildings for digital architectural conservation. The paper evaluates the importance of adopting a User-Centred Design (UCD) approach and involving stakeholders and end-users throughout the design development process, as they actively contributed to fostering more accessibility and inclusiveness for the final INCEPTION’s web configuration.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural heritage
• digital conservation
• accessibility
• human-centred design
• participatory design
• co-design

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contribution statement

The manuscript was conceived by all authors jointly. G.A.G. wrote the entire sections 2, 3, 4, and 6. G.M. wrote the entire section 1. S.I. wrote the entire section 5. All authors reviewed the manuscript jointly.

Notes

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 665220.

Notes on contributors

Gian Andrea Giacobone

Gian Andrea Giacobone is a Ph.D. and product-interaction designer. He works as a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Ferrara. His areas of expertise are Human-Centred Design, Human-Machine Interaction, UX, UI, IoT, and Transportation Design.

Giuseppe Mincolelli

Giuseppe Mincolelli is an architect and designer specialised in HCD and Inclusive Design. He is an Associate Professor of Design at the University of Ferrara, where he is the coordinator of the M.Sc. in Innovation Design. Numerous patents, publications, and awards in Italy and abroad.

Silvia Imbesi

Silvia Imbesi has a degree in Architecture and a degree in Industrial Design. She works in the fields of Human Centred Design and Inclusive Design. Silvia Imbesi works as a freelance designer and as a contract professor and research fellow at the University of Ferrara.