Keywords

1 Introduction

Storytelling, the tool for the promotion of learning since ancient times and nowadays technology-supported, offers a learning in disguise practice, when it achieves to create a transformative experience [1, 2, 3: 2, 4: 86–87]. This experiment follows Dewy’s definition: “experience is the result, the sign, and the reward of that interaction of organism and environment which, when it is carried to the full, is a transformation of interaction into participation and communication” [5: 22]. Consequently, if an experience is not transformative, then is not an experience; this is the leading principle for the design of the experiment in question. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, sites, museums and collections have struggled to promote learning and enjoyment, but not always: while some assets are silent, thus, unable to convey their significance to visitors, some other are mediated to facilitate cognitive and cultural encounters with their audiences [6: 2–3, 7: 2–3, 8: 1]. It is common knowledge there is a rising tendency to increasingly integrate information and access heritage contents by providing various forms of software applications for visitors to use during their visits. However, we argue that (a) many of the applications focus on providing timely information about museum features such as exhibits, demonstrations and services, but not build a ground for a meaningful interaction with the objects, their significance for the audience and their hidden meanings and (b) that the rising tendency to rely on technology to convey cultural information off- and onsite, does not necessarily leads to the acquisition of knowledge and the production of a heritage-driven value chain through shared practices: advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications (apps, platforms) cannot convey meanings, if void of appealing and appropriate content, and content cannot elucidate the audience if it disregards the human cognitive processes. We further argue that c) the belief the production of digital storytelling is affordable and inexpensive as it only needs the acquisition of software and not special technical and artistic skills, that go beyond the capabilities of the average user, is a widespread fallacy. The design of the eBook Birthplace of the Empire follows the argument that the eye is not enough. The idea, writes Kant in the Kritik der reinen Vernunft, is a necessary concept of reason to which no adequate object can be given in the senses [9: 81–96]. Therefore, what we concretely see or perceive does not produce ideas but is embedded in pre-existing ideas that frame it and render meaning.

2 Literature Review

The term digital storytelling was coined by Atchley in the 80 s, who began using multimedia and adapted storytelling techniques through film, video, music, and photography [10: 26]. Since then, literature is following a constantly changing knowledge ecosystem [11,12,13,14,15]. High quality multimedia, designed to support the meanings and values of sites, objects and artworks, e.g., the story and not data, require complex audiovisual technologies,—and consequently related skills—which synthesize different types of digitized objects into meaningful dynamic compositions and integrate the whole into a cultural message. For each intended experience, a database of documents is not only a storage space, but an opportunity to spread knowledge and create culture if it is transformed into a compelling story. While retaining their tangible artifact nature, documents, in graphic design, gain a new life, a new meaning, appear and disappear after a moment. This approach allows for quality results but is directly dependent on the performance of highly skilled professionals operating in the most diverse sectors.

Created in this way, the multimedia-driven story fits its prerogatives in production and distribution objectives containing sustainability carriers to create opportunities for connections with both e-readers and visitors at heritage places. However, despite being extensively utilized it is not structured, neither researched as communication pattern, neither taught in the VET or HED [16: 24–25, 17: 3]. From a technology viewpoint the multimedia supported digital narrative is an indisputable act of progress, however, technological advancements do not ensure the quality of contents, visitor learning and the shared cultural practices. Thus, it is needed to study the iconological potential of cultural significance and repurpose meaning to a new visual and communication paradigm for non-captive audiences.

An improved understanding of heritage is a necessary condition for the sustainability condition, the meaningful engagement of the visitors and the dissemination of heritage values. At the same time while technologies are accessible by the average visitor, there is a dearth in research how the cognitive-emotional experience is generated in the creative industries, how to validate heritage contents and how to design accessible content for non-captive audiences [18, 19]. This paper presents the design of a multimedia eBook as an experimental approach to narrate the UNESCO listed archaeological site of Philippi in Greece, which currently lacks a nodal point for communicating the site values to a multigenerational and multicultural audience.

3 Research Methodology

Under the umbrella of BSB/831/HERiPRENEURSHIP funded by the JOP CBC BS 2014–2020 Program, field research has been conducted in 2021 across 6 UNESCO properties in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Georgia, and Turkey. In Philippi three different questionnaires have collected data on both the demand and the supply side. Regarding the supply side: (1) A questionnaire examining the supply side issues has been designed to collect the views of 30 digital suppliers operating in tourism and the cultural and creative industries through qualitative interviews; (2) 30 stakeholders from the 3 levels of governance and the civil society have been approached through qualitative interviews. Regarding the demand side a questionnaire has been designed for both in situ and dislocated visitors. 60 visitors at the archaeological site have been approached through qualitative research.

4 Application and Discussion

The results have revealed that while stakeholders and heritage authorities follow the trends of transformations and desire digital storytelling to promote the UNESCO properties, they are not knowledgeable of the requirements for the creation of compelling contents and are often impeded to select appropriate experts by the nature of the public procurement procedures, which in principle impose the selection of the lowest offer. These limitations result in the production of low-quality applications, which instead of promoting the sites lead to the direct loss of audiences, especially among the young, and further frustration of stakeholders combined with a dismissive attitude for technology providers. On the other end, technology suppliers focus on the technical aspects and do not allocate efforts on the quality of contents, unwilling to pay a price for research, expertise, and artistic input, arguing that the public procurements in the cultural sector offer only a minimal or no profit at all. It is also necessary, to bridge the gap between individuals with skills in humanities and skills in technology. Further, the field research has shown that there is no common ground as to what “digital storytelling” is: for the technology providers the liability for contents lies with other experts and stakeholders/authorities, while the latter, have little appreciation for “hopping avatars used to historic personalities, a sacrilege!” Also, presentations generated by the supply side in the project area has little affinity to human cognition, and without knowledge of it, the educational effort is futile [20, 21: 17–25, 22, 23: 263–264]. Under this viewpoint, it is not a mystery why Philippi remain silent and without connections for visitors. The visitor survey in Philippi indicated that the common request in all six countries, is to enhance both the onsite and the offsite cultural experience and improve the audience’s creative capabilities and cultural capital. To propose means for a value-driven conceptual framework to communicate with non-captive audiences, three principles are applied: (a) the conditions under which immersive experiences take place in heritage settings from a human cognitive architecture point of view applied to non-captive audiences; (b) the criteria for allowing authenticity come to prominence without alienating the historical sources; (c) the decongestion of the human working memory from extraneous cognitive loads leaving spaces for creativity and interaction. Accordingly, 10 monuments have been selected as per the UNESCO significance criteria [24: 77–95], whose individual values constitute the quintessence of Philippi.

Ten multimedia supported stories, one for each monument, created are seeking to ensure “immersivity” and identification possibilities among the audience [5: 138]. Therefore, as such, they are not presented in a descriptive fashion, but apply CTL principles extensively utilizing universal values to underline monument meanings and inspire visitor interaction via the embedded social media. All stories are linked together in the greater story of Philippi. Onsite navigation is ensured via the Google Map. Designed for mobile devices, the eBook is utilizing a scroll-down functionality, includes sophisticated animations and interactive images, which are intentionally selected to support the sub-sections of each story.

Following the principles of the cognitive load theory, all narratives have been extensively tested against unnecessary cognitive loads using test readers. A matrix has been developed to replace expert jargon, but not at the expense of the germane cognitive load [20: 58–71]. A database of 2.534 documents including audio-visual files created at the archaeological site of Philippi, historical sources and artworks has been created to support the eBook production. 10 Statements of Significance have been authored according to the UNESCO criteria and a pilot project plan presenting opportunities for connections for visitors has been submitted to the stakeholder authority. The title of the e-Book, Birthplace of the Empire, corresponds to significance of the property formulated by ICOMOS [25] and the Nomination File [26], which considers that the battle of Philippi in 42 BC and the foundation of Colonia Iulia Augusta Philippiensis as a mini-Rome, has given birth to the Roman Empire on Greek soil along with the Christianization of Europe happening in Philippi by Apostle Paul for the first time. Distilling the essence from scholarly sources, the stories reflect historical known facts, usually dressed either using fictional characters to narrate or/and engage in dialogues, or historic personage engages in staged narratives monologues, or/and dialogues to deliver the message. In several cases important documents are used without staging, like the Speech of Alexander at Opis by Arian, works of Horace, Cicero, Paul, Marcus Aurelius, Eusebius form Caesarea etc. aiming to link the humanities with the audience in the dress of the digital multimedia. Accordingly, contents have been structured as follows, mixing history with the disbelief of the reality:

  1. 1.

    The Legacy Of King Philipp—The story unfolds the deeds of King Philipp II of Macedon, and the battle of Philippi in 43 BC. narrating the shift from the Republican to the Imperial Rome

  2. 2.

    Worthy Opponents—Calpurnius and Gaius at the height of the Roman colony in Philippi meet at arena of Philippi, and discuss Greek theater, Roman games, and virtues.

  3. 3.

    City of 4 Emperors—Fulvius Augur Pastor proudly presents Colonia Augusta Iulia Phillippensis, the city which flourished under Augustus, Claudius, Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus.

  4. 4.

    Roman Glory—Gnaeus Egnatius presents Via Egnatia, the 680 miles road, which links the west and east of the empire, and would become the artery for the spread of Christianity in Europe.

  5. 5.

    Bribery—Marius Cornelius Grotta narrates the events in the palaestra and at the symposium night, uncovering his sponsor desiring him get a bribe to lose an upcoming fight.

  6. 6.

    Meeting in the Roman Bath—A group of Romans from Philippi ensue in a philosophical discussion, while at the same time, the complex structure of the Greco-Roman bath unfolds in the eyes of the spectators both at architectural and societal level.

  7. 7.

    Conquer by This—Eusebius’ text of Constatine’s famous vision before the battle of the Milvian bridge in 312 AD presents the reasons for the spread of Christianity in the Roman world.

  8. 8.

    Equality—Lydia, the first baptized Christian on European soil, engages in a fictional monologue to present the basic tenets of Christianity. The Apostle Paul, Silas and Luke narrate their visits in Philippi preparing the audience for the turn of the late antiquity to a monotheistic religion.

  9. 9.

    Bishop Porphyrios—Allowing Porphyrios to narrate the Zeitgeist of his times, a “firsthand experience” in the early Christians times is materialized.

  10. 10.

    Birth of Empires—An adapted version of the speech of Alexander at Opis by Arian is used to present the deeds of Alexander and the creation of the Hellenistic world. The merchant Calpurnius Cato and the slave Eusebius living in Christian Philippi count the benefits of the pacified Roman empire in the blessed environment of fourth century AD.

5 Conclusion

Technology alone can convey the acquisition of knowledge and the production of a heritage-driven value chain through shared practices to audiences at places of cultural significance. The experiment presented here intends to model the creation of validated contents for the participatory cultural space according to the human cognition mechanisms. Thus, cognitive loads have been managed in register with the learning targets; only then an appropriate and articulated technology has been selected and applied.

The implication for digital storytelling is that when the conceptual language is substituted by mere moving images, the perception is moving in quick steps towards greater poverty of meaning and deductive possibilities. Those who work with images in the digital domain should have this as a daily ethic, those who work with interactive applications should have the honesty to realize that engaging a user's time does not simply and directly mean providing him with knowledge. This, to be hold true, has brought the insight which this experiment has followed: the integrated approach. From the content point of view, the individual items (facts, objects, digitized items, places, geolocations etc.) have been organized as a unitary structure; from the point of view of form, the integrated structure is communicated as a “narrative” and never as a description. It is telling a story with load-bearing cognitive and emotional elements that they make a case. This narrative form then submits the motivation—namely, the “desire”, the ‘"interest”, the “curiosity”—while the structural integration supports the cognitive factor, enabling the new knowledge, the audience is seeking, to be understood and assimilated. This understanding then in turn strengthens the motivation through the satisfaction that it brings, which in turn strengthens the attentional capacity, thus giving rise to a virtuous circle of support between cognition and motivation, the results of which are easily seen in terms of satisfaction, understanding and, above all, real learning.

This is the starting point of the work and one of the keys that allows new digital formats: to have disparate elements by type, origin, and quality, with a common theme and transform them from discontinuous elements into a set of elements interacting in cohesion, able to inspire the intellect and the imagination of the audience. What transforms the discontinuous elements in a perception of continuity is an extraordinary intrigue of codified rules, insights, and common sense, in which interactivity between work and viewer plays an essential role both as a purely intellectual and fantastic. New rules for understanding contents and anticipating events have been introduced by film and television, which extensively employed, they have allowed spectators to familiarize with and to provide personal guidance to understand the multimedia environment. These rules have become, in the information society, a new competence. Withing this vein we consider digital an environment in which to experience relationships, a way of conceiving and producing a product, and an entity requiring a conceptual structure to favor and privilege the relationships between facts and not the facts themselves. A considerable effort had been made to offer a multicultural and multigenerational audiences without prior knowledge, different types of exciting experiences in the complex archaeological environment of Philippi, still more research is required to consolidate the design modus.