Digital building heritage

This chapter explores the complexities of working on jointly funded digital cultural heritage projects and the challenges and benefits of partnership collaborations. In the Digital Building Heritage project, researchers at De Montfort University worked with community partners in order to bring history back to life through the use of digital technologies in 3D computer animation, 3D printing, 3D modelling, and mobile geo-location. An evaluation of the researchers' experience of co-production and collaborative working highlights the importance of setting clear, feasible objectives and outcomes according to the resources available, including plans for user testing, maintaining regular communication, consideration of proposed digital product usage, and promotion. The chapter then considers the way in which this type of practice-based research can lead to academic outcomes suitable for audit programmes like the UK's Research Excellence Framework.