Technology affordances, actualisation and adaptation for heritage preservation: A case study of Beijing's Palace Museum

Abstract

Museums are vital cultural and educational institutions that play a key role in heritage preservation. Despite the importance of museums, the interaction between these conventional institutions and advanced technologies remains relatively underexplored in information systems (IS) research. Adopting affordance-actualisation (A–A) theory as the theoretical lens, we conducted an in-depth case study of the Palace Museum in Beijing, China, to investigate its implementation of evolving IS for heritage preservation. We identify three key affordances of these systems and develop a conceptual model illustrating the process of actualising these affordances. Our model extends A–A theory by adding an adaptation phase, wherein the museum responds to the outcomes of the actualisation process by amplifying the achieved outcomes and altering the unintended ones. Additionally, we uncover a hierarchical structure among these affordances, revealing a progressive pattern of actualisation specific to heritage preservation in museums. This research contributes to the literature on A–A theory, heritage preservation in museums, and IS implementation. Furthermore, it provides guidance for practitioners, particularly those in museum contexts, in effectively implementing IS for heritage preservation.