There are countless physical sites spread across Europe that are of significant cultural importance. These sites range from natural formations and prehistoric megalithic monuments to archaeological sites and more recent structures and monuments. These are seen not only as enduring symbols of human culture, but also reflect the rich creative diversity of European civilization. Many of these tangible cultural heritage sites have often acted as centres of spiritual, religious, social, political, cultural, and artistic activities. In some cases, for several millennia, they have been enriching human lives and creating a sense of community and belonging for people, especially at times of turbulence and difficulty. They have also been sources of human inspiration and creativity, and the bedrock of countless epic narratives, poems, dramas, and other jewels of intangible cultural importance. As such, these tangible and intangible elements of cultural heritage anchor and link us to our common past. Equally, they give meaning to our collective present, and have the potential to transform our shared future. While the physical preservation of such tangible cultural heritage sites has long been considered as an important part of preserving our past history, much less attention has been given to safeguarding, protecting, and utilising their associated intangible cultural dimensions for shaping our future.
INT-ACT focuses on intangible cultural heritage in the form of different practices and aspects of culture. These cultural elements shape our understanding of ourselves, our sense of belonging, and our relationships to each other and to tangible cultural sites. Specifically, INT-ACT is identifying the Emotional, Experiential and Environmental (3E) dimensions contained within intangible cultural heritage. INT-ACT is utilising immersive eXtended Reality (XR) environments to present these 3E dimensions in the context of their associated tangible cultural heritage sites.
By doing so, INT-ACT aims to identify methods of using intangible cultural heritage for bridging the past, present and future. It also aims to provide novel approaches to transforming society and addressing societal challenges facing humanity at these times of epochal changes. Challenges addressed by INT-ACT are those related to cultural tourism, ageing societies, disappearing communities, and immigration and multiculturalism.
The aims of INT-ACT are to 1) develop effective methods for extracting, structuring, and presenting the 3E dimensions as formalised knowledge, 2) develop transdisciplinary methods of inquiry for capturing, compiling, and preserving the 3E dimensions contained in human narratives, 3) propose and test interaction techniques, narrative methods and audio-visual media choices for immersive XR environments that present the 3E dimensions of intangible cultural heritage in the context of their associated tangible cultural heritage sites, and 4) provide solutions that address societal challenges by utilising these immersive XR environments.
INT-ACT considers the timeless value of tangible cultural heritage sites as the basis for stability, while at the same time focusing on the changing nature of the intangible cultural heritage associated with such sites. Therefore, INT-ACT is providing the necessary design framework, methods, and knowhow for developing tools to preserve and foster the evolution of intangible cultural heritage using immersive XR environments. Furthermore, since the inclusion of communities of local citizens is recognised as a key factor in researching intangible cultural heritage, INT-ACT is fostering the engagement of local inhabitants. Citizens and other stakeholders are involved in project tasks and innovative methods of dissemination. This collaboration develops methods and processes for effective sharing of learnings and outcomes with the public at large, benefiting the local communities whose living cultural heritage is the immediate focal point of the project.
