Digital storytelling, gamification and the heritage sector: an investigation into current and emerging trends to improve inclusivity in a post-covid-19 landscape
Creators: name: Webster, El
Publisher: name: Loughborough University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 369999
subject: Other creative arts and writing not elsewhere classified

description: The UK Museum sector is facing increased external pressures in the 21st century, including prolonged austerity and increased pressure on resources as well as political instability which have forced a reconsideration of the relationship between 3D Digital Technologies and Heritage. These technologies offer an opportunity to reach a wider and more diverse audience that can ensure the survival and relevance of the site. Applying a multidisciplinary approach, this study addresses how museums in the UK can increase and make better use of public engagement and outreach by utilising digital methods such as 3D Scanning, Immersive Exhibitions, Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality, and Gamification to appeal to a wider audience and offer inclusivity.To ground this work, the early research focused on the ongoing funding restrictions facing museums and their attempts to incorporate technologies into displays based against the value and role of these technologies in reaching larger numbers of visitors. In the interim, this project began to consider the widening impact of offering access and inclusivity to un- or under-represented members of the public. These methodologies required taking the very foundations of implementation of digital technology back to basics and ask questions from the points of view of audience members as well as staff members to explore if a clearer use of digital resources can be done to better address storytelling and audience engagement in the heritage sector. Drawing on both design-driven investigation and more humanities- and social science-based disciplines this research addresses both the audience expectation of a visit with the practicalities to deliver and design such content.Methodologically, this thesis is experimental and seeks to answer the above questions and provide not only a conceptual model of building inclusive digital content but also proof-of-concept assets and demonstrate that these digital engagements can be created in light of the aforementioned funding restrictions and can be built upon technologies and platforms already widely familiar to the public, inclusive of different demographics and accessible to many levels of ability. This is supported by experimental case studies assessing the limitations and capabilities of sandbox video games and the subsequent applications of this in a museum setting. As an output of this research, focus is then given to the development of the above-mentioned conceptual model for building variable inclusive digital content based on the needs and resources of a museum. This contributes to the sector’s ability to efficiently create such content with consideration of limited resources, and address the needs of storytelling for their intended audiences. Finally, an application of this research is created in the form of a digital exhibition based on optimal forms of content catered to the broadest possible audience, inclusive of different demographics and accessible to many levels of ability.This examination is a core investigation of the methodological approach to studying inclusivity, museum engagement and the use of digital technologies in these settings. The thesis thus advocates incorporating more audience-driven emotional data in analysing public participation in heritage and, consequently, in helping to further the development of heritage studies more broadly as a multidisciplinary field. In doing so, this thesis also challenges the definition of a museum in the 21st century, especially post Covid-19 in a digital-native world.