A Sense of Place: Re-purposing and Impacting Historical Research Evidence through Digital Heritage and Interpretation Practice

Abstract

The dissemination and public engagement outcomes of the latest historical research evidence continue to benefit from tourism destination management and cultural institution intervention measures seeking to utilise digital technologies in reaching new audiences and enhancing the visitor experience through the deployment of high quality, authenticated, cultural heritage interpretative, digital content – accessed both online and on location. Whilst such activities offer new models of increasing public engagement with historical research, arguably they now also provide a new critical currency in the experiential dimension of the global digital economy. It is recognised that cultural heritage is a main contributor to tourism development, and internet tools provide platforms to extend the global reach of such heritage assets and narratives, as well as providing increasingly localised stimuli for in-destination visits to sites of historical interest and the application of digital technology in the presentation of aspects of intangible heritage. This article investigates the digital heritage and interpretation practices undertaken by the University of Wales, Newport’s South Wales Centre for Historical and Interdisciplinary Research. It shares the experiences of authoring content and designing pervasive and immersive digital deployments of authenticated cultural assets in response to national cultural institutions and local government ‘sense of place’, destination image and digital identity intervention measures in the region of south east Wales, United Kingdom.