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Cultural Heritage and Disability: Can ICT Be the ‘Missing Piece’ to Face Cultural Heritage Accessibility Problems?

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Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good (GOODTECHS 2016)

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.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Translation by the authors: “Can I come too? No, not you/But why? Because you can’t”.

  2. 2.

    The Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (informally known as Faro Convention) emphasises the contribution of cultural heritage to the construction of a democratic and peaceful society and to its sustainable development [1].

  3. 3.

    The Commission of Inquiry for the Protection and Enhancement of Historic, Artistic, Archaeological and Landscape Assets (commonly called the Franceschini Commission after the minister Francesco Franceschini who presided over it) was established in 1964 with the aim to conduct a research on the state of cultural heritage in Italy. The Commission’s work ended in 1967 and was summarized in 84 Declarations, the first of which contains the aforesaid notion of cultural heritage [2].

  4. 4.

    The Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites (informally known as the Ename Charter) emphasizes the need for clear principles for interpretation and presentation of worldwide heritage sites as essential components of heritage conservation efforts and as a means of enhancing public appreciation and understanding of cultural heritage [3].

  5. 5.

    The New Delhi Declaration on Inclusive ICTs for People with Disabilities: Making Empowerment a Reality (2014) aims to highlight the power of technological and scientific progress for inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities [4].

  6. 6.

    Translation by the authors: “There is the boom of the communication, everyone communicates that they are communicating”.

  7. 7.

    It should be underlined that «Communication, therefore, has a “material” dimension concerning the means to implement it, and an “immaterial” dimension, which includes the different uses of the words, of languages and images» [8].

  8. 8.

    The project (The churches of Milan … in every sense) has been developed mainly by Tactile Vision Onlus and Lettura Agevolata Onlus. It includes fifteen churches in Milan and it was completed in July 2016.

  9. 9.

    When using technology that needs Internet it is essential to make sure there is signal coverage, fact not so obvious and common in indoor places, perhaps hypogeous, with very thick walls, or in isolated outdoor venues.

  10. 10.

    The reconstruction of the ancient state with geo-referenced and settled buildings was carried out according to the findings of the excavations, the archaeological investigations and studies.

  11. 11.

    Translation by the authors: “We were able to surprise you with special effects and ultra-vivid colors, but we are science, not science fiction”.

  12. 12.

    Translation by the authors: “…You can not understand/if you like you can call them emotions …”.

References

  1. COUNCIL OF EUROPE: Framework Convention on Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro Convention), Council of Europe Treaty Series – No. 199 (2005). http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/heritage/Identities/default_en.asp

  2. Per la Salvezza dei Beni Culturali in Italia: Atti e Documenti della Commissione d’Indagine per la Tutela e la Valorizzazione del Patrimonio Storico, Archeologico, Artistico e del Paesaggio, vol. 3. Colombo, Rome (1967)

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  3. ICOMOS: Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites (2008). http://www.icomos.org/charters/interpretation_e.pdf

  4. UNESCO: Outcome Document - The New Delhi Declaration on Inclusive ICTs for People with Disabilities: Making Empowerment a Reality (2014). http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002320/232026e.pdf

  5. UNITED NATIONS: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml

  6. Baraldi, L.: Sense beyond perception: conceptual accessibility and social inclusion. In: Arenghi, A., Garofolo, I., Sørmoen, O. (eds.) Accessibility as a Key Enabling Knowledge for Enhancement of Cultural Heritage, pp. 29–40. Franco Angeli, Milano (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Sørmoen, O.: Access to life. An accessibility rethink. In: Arenghi, A., Garofolo, I., Sørmoen, O. (eds.) Accessibility as a Key Enabling Knowledge for Enhancement of Cultural Heritage, pp. 41–48. Franco Angeli, Milano (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Garofolo, I., Paoletti, G.: How do places and messages communicate. In: Arenghi, A., Garofolo, I., Sørmoen, O. (eds.) Accessibility as a Key Enabling Knowledge for Enhancement of Cultural Heritage, pp. 148–163. Franco Angeli, Milano (2016)

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  9. Antinucci, F.: Musei virtuali. Come non fare innovazione tecnologica. Edizioni Laterza, Roma (2007)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. DICATAM, Università di Brescia, Via Branze 43, 25123, Brescia, Italy

    Alberto Arenghi

  2. Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo, Via di San Michele 22, 00153, Rome, Italy

    Maria Agostiano

Authors
  1. Alberto Arenghi
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  2. Maria Agostiano
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alberto Arenghi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Università degli Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy

    Ombretta Gaggi

  2. Universitat Politècnica de Valéncia, Valencia, Spain

    Pietro Manzoni

  3. Dipartimento di Matematica, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy

    Claudio Palazzi

  4. Università degli Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy

    Armir Bujari

  5. Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Johann M. Marquez-Barja

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© 2017 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Arenghi, A., Agostiano, M. (2017). Cultural Heritage and Disability: Can ICT Be the ‘Missing Piece’ to Face Cultural Heritage Accessibility Problems?. In: Gaggi, O., Manzoni, P., Palazzi, C., Bujari, A., Marquez-Barja, J. (eds) Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good. GOODTECHS 2016. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 195. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61949-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61949-1_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-61948-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61949-1

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