Worship & sightseeing: building a partnership approach to a ministry of welcome

This paper explores diverse opportunities for partnerships between the sacred and secular at religious sites. It identifies ways in which tourism suppliers can work collaboratively with sacred sites to enable sites to meet the demands of contemporary secular and sacred stakeholders. In the review of contemporary literature we consider supply and demand issues, site management, key components of partnership, ecumenical co-creation resources, cost-benefit and marketing needs. The paper is predicated on the provision of information and interpretation services for guidance, and development of all of these services. Methodologically, a participant observation approach was employed to confirm that tourism fits the strategic intent of religious leaders. We consider that partnership at a national, diocesan and parish level is an important part in effective tourism development. Elements of community involvement; capacity building and in-community development through engaging stakeholders are discussed. The balance achieved between stakeholders is important, and in our context the balance between local government and the tourism industry, and between active partners and the passive policy community, reflects the aims of the sacred and the private sector key partners, and the wider social capacity building aspects of community development agendas and government

Museum Experience Design: A Modern Storytelling Methodology

In this paper we propose a new direction for design, in the context of the theme “Next Digital Technologies in Arts and Culture”, by employing modern methods based on Interaction Design, Interactive Storytelling and Artificial Intelligence. Focusing on Cultural Heritage, we propose a new paradigm for Museum Experience Design, facilitating on the one hand traditional visual and multimedia communication and, on the other, a new type of interaction with artefacts, in the form of a Storytelling Experience. Museums are increasingly being transformed into hybrid spaces, where virtual (digital) information coexists with tangible artefacts. In this context, “Next Digital Technologies” play a new role, providing methods to increase cultural accessibility and enhance experience. Not only is the goal to convey stories hidden inside artefacts, as well as items or objects connected to them, but it is also to pave the way for the creation of new ones through an interactive museum experience that continues after the museum visit ends. Social sharing, in particular, can greatly increase the value of dissemination

From Personalization to Adaptivity: Creating Immersive Visits through Interactive Digital Storytelling at the Acropolis Museum

Storytelling has recently become a popular way to guide museum visitors, replacing traditional exhibit-centric descriptions by story-centric cohesive narrations with references to the exhibits and multimedia content. This work presents the fundamental elements of the CHESS project approach, the goal of which is to provide adaptive, personalized, interactive storytelling for museum visits. We shortly present the CHESS project and its background, we detail the proposed storytelling and user models, we describe the provided functionality and we outline the main tools and mechanisms employed. Finally, we present the preliminary results of a recent evaluation study that are informing several directions for future work

Marketing a memory of the world: Magna Carta and the experiential servicescape

Purpose The aim of this paper is to analyse visitor perceptions of the Lincoln Magna Carta exhibition in the context of an experiential servicescape perspective. Design/methodology/approach Data comes from a questionnaire carried out with visitors to the Magna Carta exhibition in Lincoln Castle, UK. The approach was framed by the student as producer perspective, that is about re-engineering the relationship between academics and undergraduate students. Findings Three main problems exist in terms of the servicescape. These are guidance signage, the small, dark inauspicious surroundings of the exhibition itself and the level of visitor interactivity present. Research limitations/implications This is only a small scale project of one Magna Carta exhibition. Research with more visitors would help to further validate the findings and conclusions of this paper and also assist in other representations of the document in other sites. Practical implications Suggestions are made for improvement to a number of experiential servicescape elements. These improved representations also need to be planned for adequately in the new staging of the document, when Lincoln Castle receives planned additional funds from the Heritage Lottery. Social implications This paper draws our attention to the fact that The Magna Carta is a shared part of a global cultural identity, where the marketing of the document represents a great privilege. Originality/value The experiential servicescape framework is used in an original way to critique aspects of the current exhibition and to propose new ideas for representing the Magna Carta. This paper is based on original data that makes a novel contribution to the debate regarding research and learning in higher education

Towards reviving post-Olympic Athens as a cultural destination

This paper examines the effects of global change on the status and qualities of the Greek national capital, Athens, focusing on how they affect the development of cultural tourism in the city. Although Athens constituted one of the most significant destinations for Greek tourism in the past, in recent years it started to weaken. Athens is characterised by a series of problems, among them are the degradation of its environment and quality of life and traffic congestion. However, in terms of tourism development, the Olympic Games helped in re-imaging the city and upgrading its infrastructure. This study based on semi-structured interviews with top officials reveals how global change has affected Athens’ socio-cultural/economic status, identity and image. Despite the tourism policy/planning responses to global changes, Athens’ tourism continues to decline leaving unexplored potential such as its rich cultural heritage, new multicultural identity and the New Acropolis Museum. The paper suggests that cultural elements of capital cities must be multidimensional including a variety of attractions and amenities. The use of cultural heritage assets needs to be in line with global developments in order for cities to effectively leverage heritage for cultural tourism

Integrating Western and non-Western cultural expressions to further cultural and creative tourism: a case study

The term cultural industries was coined more than half a century ago, but at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the broader concept of creative industries, covering a wide range of cultural, design and digital activity, captured the imagination of public policymakers at national and city levels. Paralleling these developments has been the recognition of the phenomenon of cultural tourism and, more recently, the emergence of the idea of creative tourism, that is, tourism programmes designed to engage tourists actively in cultural activity. This paper presents a case study of a creative tourism event which took place in 2012 in the City of Manchester in the UK. The festival, which celebrated West African culture, utilised existing cultural institutions of the city and drew on the talents of local and visiting members of West African community to engage not only tourists but also indigenous and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) residents of Manchester in a variety of cultural activities. It thus used the focus of creative tourism to seek to foster community and cultural development as well as tourism

Action Research : the first steps to start up a pilot experiment in heritage education

Peer-reviewedLes relacions entre els museus i les escoles canvien amb l'ús d'internet. Volem analitzar com aquestes noves relacions tenen lloc a una escala nacional. És important analitzar aquestes noves relacions possibles, que són producte de canvis socials i tecnològics, ja que permeten noves interaccions i participació, al mateix temps que demanen canvis en les formes d'organització, la gestió de recursos web i els models d'ensenyament i aprenentatge. Concretament, les xarxes d'aprenentatge poden establir una nova forma de relació entre els museus i les escoles, i els recursos educatius en línia amb contingut sobre patrimoni cultural poden oferir oportunitats d'aprenentatge i recursos de coneixement més enllà dels límits de l'ensenyament formal. Tanmateix, calen projectes experimentals per a efectuar proves i veure com aquests tipus de pràctiques d'ensenyament i aprenentatge funcionaran en un context social i cultural concret. Així, doncs, la recerca activa pot contribuir al desenvolupament d'una experiència d'aprenentatge, basat en la reflexió i l'acció. L'objectiu d'aquesta experimentació és obtenir un model de treball i millors pràctiques per a aprendre i ensenyar en xarxes d'aprenentatge formades per gestors, professors i estudiants de patrimoni en què els membres produeixin i utilitzin recursos educatius en línia amb contingut de patrimoni cultural. Els resultats d'aquest projecte empíric seran comprovats amb resultats de la primera part metodològica de la tesi doctoral per a obtenir un model que es pugui exportar a altres contextos.Las relaciones entre los museos y las escuelas cambian con el uso de internet. Queremos analizar cómo estas nuevas relaciones tienen lugar a una escala nacional. Es importante analizar estas posibles nuevas relaciones, que son producto de cambios sociales y tecnológicos, ya que permiten nuevas interacciones y participación, a la vez que requieren cambios en las formas de organización, la gestión de recursos web y los modelos de enseñanza y aprendizaje. Concretamente, las redes de aprendizaje pueden establecer una nueva forma de relación entre los museos y las escuelas, y los recursos educativos en línea con contenido de patrimonio cultural pueden ofrecer oportunidades de aprendizaje y recursos de conocimiento más allá de los límites de la enseñanza formal. No obstante, existe una necesidad de proyectos experimentales para realizar pruebas para ver cómo estos tipos de prácticas de enseñanza y aprendizaje funcionarán en un contexto social y cultural concreto. Así pues, la investigación-acción puede contribuir al desarrollo de una experiencia de aprendizaje, basado en la reflexión y las acciones. El objetivo de esta experimentación es obtener un modelo de trabajo y mejores prácticas para el aprendizaje y la enseñanza en redes de aprendizaje formadas por gestores, profesores y estudiantes del patrimonio en las que los miembros produzcan y utilicen recursos en línea con contenido de patrimonio cultural. Los resultados de este proyecto de investigación empírico serán comparados con los resultados de la primera parte metodológica de la tesis doctoral para obtener un modelo que pueda ser exportado a otros contextos.The relationships between museums and schools are changing through the use of internet. We want to analyse how these new relationships occur at a national level. It is important to analyse these possible new relationships, which are the product of social and technological changes. They allow for new interactions and participation whilst requiring changes in the forms of organisation, web resource management, and teaching and learning models. Specifically, learning networks can establish a new form of relationship between museums and schools and educational online resources with cultural heritage content can offer learning opportunities and knowledge resources beyond the boundaries of formal education. However, there is a need for experimental projects to test the evidence and to see how these kinds of teaching and learning practices will work within a concrete social and cultural context. Thus, Action Research can contribute to the development of a learning experience, based on reflection and actions. The aim of this experimentation is to obtain a working model and best practices for learning and teaching in learning networks shaped by heritage managers, teachers and students where the members produce and use educational online resources with cultural heritage content. The results of this empirical research project will be compared with results from the first methodological part of the PhD thesis to obtain a model that can be exported to other contexts

Personalization in cultural heritage: the road travelled and the one ahead

Over the last 20 years, cultural heritage has been a favored domain for personalization research. For years, researchers have experimented with the cutting edge technology of the day; now, with the convergence of internet and wireless technology, and the increasing adoption of the Web as a platform for the publication of information, the visitor is able to exploit cultural heritage material before, during and after the visit, having different goals and requirements in each phase. However, cultural heritage sites have a huge amount of information to present, which must be filtered and personalized in order to enable the individual user to easily access it. Personalization of cultural heritage information requires a system that is able to model the user (e.g., interest, knowledge and other personal characteristics), as well as contextual aspects, select the most appropriate content, and deliver it in the most suitable way. It should be noted that achieving this result is extremely challenging in the case of first-time users, such as tourists who visit a cultural heritage site for the first time (and maybe the only time in their life). In addition, as tourism is a social activity, adapting to the individual is not enough because groups and communities have to be modeled and supported as well, taking into account their mutual interests, previous mutual experience, and requirements. How to model and represent the user(s) and the context of the visit and how to reason with regard to the information that is available are the challenges faced by researchers in personalization of cultural heritage. Notwithstanding the effort invested so far, a definite solution is far from being reached, mainly because new technology and new aspects of personalization are constantly being introduced. This article surveys the research in this area. Starting from the earlier systems, which presented cultural heritage information in kiosks, it summarizes the evolution of personalization techniques in museum web sites, virtual collections and mobile guides, until recent extension of cultural heritage toward the semantic and social web. The paper concludes with current challenges and points out areas where future research is needed

Recreation, tourism and nature in a changing world : proceedings of the fifth international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas : Wageningen, the Netherlands, May 30-June 3, 2010

Proceedings of the fifth international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas : Wageningen, the Netherlands, May 30-June 3, 201