Eleventh International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

ARCHES (Accessible Resources for Cultural Heritage EcoSystems) is a Horizon 2020 funded project. ARCHES involves partners in Heritage and Technology across Europe. It will develop online resources, software applications and multisensory technologies to enable access to Cultural Heritage Sites within and beyond the project. The project is working with four research groups consisting of people with differences and difficulties associated with perception, memory, cognition and communication. The four groups are spread throughout Europe. One group is based in London that served as a pilot for the project. This group started in January 2017. The second group is based in Madrid starting in November 2017. The third group will start in Oviedo in January 2018 and the fourth group will start in February 2018 in Vienna. A key factor discussed within literature related to embedding technologies and participatory practices within museums is confusion about the nature of participation. The papers seeks to clarify how participation is experienced across international contexts. This is explored in relation to recruitment, understanding of participatory research and definitions of disability. This paper will share our ways of working with the participants and the impact of working within different cultural environments upon those ways of working. It will consider lessons which might be learned for future international participatory projects.