One Museum, Multiple Doors—Design for Experience of Living Cultural Heritage for Different Stakeholders

Abstract

We define cultural heritage, drawing on UNESCO, as tangible and intangible artifacts (e.g., tools, dresses, symbols, languages, decorations, buildings, stories, songs, rituals, etc.) that are developed in a culture. Based on teaching academic courses on design for cultural heritage and on work we did in relation to various collections of cultural heritage, we developed a taxonomy that distinguishes different types of stakeholders for cultural heritage collections. Different stakeholders vary in their needs and in the intended or expected experiences. For a culture to survive generations of participants, individual cultural heritage artifacts need to be maintained as well as be available for examination and (responsible) use. We propose that for being understood by new generations, the documentation for each artifact should include: (a) a description of the current state as well as of its original state; (b) an account of the original context of its creation and of its creator(s) in the context, a history of use, maintenance, changes, evolving role in the culture; and (c) a diary of use and maintenance by the current (temporal) owner(s). Cultural heritage artifacts often move into departments of public museums that should cope with a growing variety of intentions and needs between culture scholars, amateur culture participants and the general public. However, presentation of cultural heritage museum exhibit that provides optimal information for a scholar may be boring for the general public. Solutions are discussed in terms of museum business models, ICT support, and logistics, and involvement of cultural heritage related communities.