Digital Storytelling and Cultural Heritage for Social Inclusion: MEMories and Experiences for Inclusive Digital Storytelling

Abstract

Funded by the Horizon2020 EU programme, MEMEX – ‘MEMories and Experiences for inclusive digital storytelling’ is a 3-year project (2019-2022) that promotes social cohesion through the use of digital tools, with the aim of providing inclusive access to tangible and intangible cultural heritage (CH) and of facilitating encounters and interactions between communities at risk of social exclusion. Through an Augmented Reality App for smartphones, participants will create, visualise and share their geolocalised digital stories, in which personal memories and experiences intertwine with the heritage that surrounds them. These tools provide languages and spaces to collectively generate and make visible creative, inclusive and plural narratives, emphasizing the active role of the participants in re-interpreting existing cultural heritage. MEMEX’s actions target migrant women in Barcelona; citizens of the 19th district of Paris; and first, second and third-generation Portuguese migrants in Lisbon. Through a social impact evaluation study, the project provides the opportunity to critically assess the pilot projects from a social, cultural and technological perspective, reflecting on the role these digital tools can play in making visible socially excluded realities and expanding access to culture and the arts, especially now, in a pandemic context where social, cultural and institutional fragilities have intensified. The study employs a qualitative approach, and is set up around four dimensions (cultural, social, spatial and emotional), which will be assessed through three instruments: interviews, observation of the storytelling workshops, and analysis of the participants’ stories.

Presenters

Pascuala Migone
Research and Project Development, ECCOM - Idee per la Cultura, Roma, Italy

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life

KEYWORDS

DIGITAL, STORYTELLING, HERITAGE, CO-CREATION, INCLUSION

Digital Media

Downloads

MEMEX project - Migone (pptx)

Arts_in_Society_Da_Milano_-_Migone.pptx