Cultural heritage (CH) is a cornerstone of Europe’s identity, cohesion and collective memory. Yet, the digitisation of CH has historically marginalised minority communities, whose values and practices have often been excluded or misrepresented in institutional CH processes. While digitisation promises increased access and preservation, it also risks perpetuating historical inequalities when conducted without inclusive frameworks, ethical oversight, and community engagement. The lack of standardised methodologies addressing cultural sensitivity, legal rights, and participatory governance remains a critical gap in the European CH landscape. The DIGICHer addresses this challenge by rethinking how CH digitisation can be conducted in ways that foster equity, inclusion, and sustainability, particularly for minority and underrepresented communities.
It does so by integrating legal, socio-economic, technical, and ethical insights into a co-designed community-validated framework for CH digitisation. The project brings together researchers, CH institutions, minority representatives, and policymakers to collaboratively design new tools and recommendations that recognise community agency, respect cultural diversity, and build long-term resilience in digital CH practices. Through design thinking, participatory research, and data science, DIGICHer is developing methodologies and decision-support tools that will enable CH institutions and policymakers to make informed and inclusive decisions. The project works with Sámi, Ladin, and Jewish communities (alongside its broader European scope) to ensure cultural specificity while maintaining scalability and policy relevance. The expected impact is a transformation of how Europe governs the digitisation of CH to be technologically advanced and socially just, representative, and future-ready.
The project is interdisciplinary, integrating social sciences and humanities (SSH) throughout.
