This study examines the discourse emerging from cultural heritage content shared online during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to understand the different affective and cognitive dynamics that are associated with the online sharing of cultural heritage in difficult times. To do so, we analyzed two Instagram hashtags – #ShareOurHeritage and #ShareCulture – that are promoted by UNESCO on a global scale. We applied a comprehensive quantitative method for qualitative data analysis. This method relied on Latent Dirichlet Allocation for topic modeling to generate automated induction of semantic topics and understand the underlying cognitive and affective dimensions of Instagram posts under each topic. Social values — including safety, inclusion, participation, and resilience — positive emotional language, and diverse cultural expressions were the most shared by the investigated hashtag community during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, results showed that users approach the virtual space as a substitute for the loss of their physical place through terms like home, virtual, online, travel tomorrow, and museums from home. Results are discussed in the context of the global digital divide, the social value of heritage to hashtag communities, and the use of Instagram as a longitudinal record of how cultural heritage values change across time.

本研究考察了 COVID-19 大流行期间在线共享的文化遗产内容中出现的话语。它旨在了解与困难时期在线共享文化遗产相关的不同情感和认知动态。为此，我们分析了联合国教科文组织在全球范围内推广的两个 Instagram 标签——#ShareOurHeritage 和#ShareCulture。我们应用综合定量方法进行定性数据分析。该方法依赖于 Latent Dirichlet Allocation 进行主题建模，以生成语义主题的自动归纳，并了解每个主题下 Instagram 帖子的潜在认知和情感维度。社会价值观——包括安全、包容、参与和韧性——积极的情感语言，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，被调查的标签社区共享最多的是多样化的文化表现形式。此外，结果表明，用户通过诸如家、虚拟、在线、明天旅行和在家参观博物馆等术语来接近虚拟空间，以代替失去他们的物理位置。结果在全球数字鸿沟、遗产对标签社区的社会价值以及使用 Instagram 作为文化遗产价值如何随时间变化的纵向记录的背景下进行讨论。