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Enhancing accessibility in cultural heritage environments: considerations for social computing

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Abstract

Current technological advancements offer many ways of enhancing disabled peoples’ access to cultural heritage environments. A new generation of social computing technologies and systems is changing the way in which we access cultural heritage, facilitating the inclusion of socially isolated groups of people. Under this perspective, this paper aims to explore the potential impact of social computing systems to enhance peoples’ access to cultural heritage, particularly focusing on deaf and disabled users. By reviewing the current literature on social computing and cultural heritage, the paper first summarizes the related applications and appropriate key technologies; second, it provides examples of innovative approaches to the enhancement of user engagement and interaction through social computing. Moreover, the paper highlights arising issues of privacy, as well as ethical considerations, and presents design principles for ensuring privacy. The study concludes by discussing challenges for inclusive social computing applications in the context of cultural heritage and pointing out areas where future research is needed.

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Notes

  1. https://www.metmuseum.org/.

  2. https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en.

  3. http://cyark.org/about/openheritage.

  4. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/justice-and-fundamental-rights/data-protection/2018-reform-eu-data-protection-rules_en.

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Acknowledgements

Part of the work in the context of this paper has been the result of PhD student exchanges between CUT and FORTH-ICS, funded in the context of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme through NOTRE project (H2020-TWINN-2015, Grant Agreement Number: 692058).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cyprus Interaction Lab, Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), 31 Le Corpusier Street, 3075, Limassol, Cyprus

    Panagiotis Kosmas, Vaso Constantinou, Maria Christofi & Panayiotis Zaphiris

  2. Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), N. Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, 700 13, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    George Galanakis, Giannis Drossis, Iosif Klironomos, Margherita Antona & Constantine Stephanidis

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece

    Constantine Stephanidis

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  1. Panagiotis Kosmas
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Kosmas, P., Galanakis, G., Constantinou, V. et al. Enhancing accessibility in cultural heritage environments: considerations for social computing. Univ Access Inf Soc 19, 471–482 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-019-00651-4

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