Exploring collaborative digital heritage communities: A quantitative assessment of Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy

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Pubblicato

2023-12-18

Fascicolo

Sezione

The Role of Cultural Heritage in the Green and Digital Transition

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/3197

Autori

  • Enrico Bertacchini Università degli Studi di Torino http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4832-5798
  • Iolanda Pensa Department for Environment Constructions and Design, Institute of Design, SUPSI University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland

Abstract

The debate on the digital transition of cultural heritage has often focused on the opportunities and challenges faced by cultural institutions, but in recent years a growing attention has been devoted to understanding the role of grassroots and collaborative initiatives in contributing to this process. In this article, we study the Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) contest in Italy, one of the largest and most widespread collaborative projects to document cultural heritage through open access tools. Using quantitative and qualitative evidence collected from ten editions of the initiative, the paper investigates the contribution of collaborative digital communities in the production and sharing of knowledge about cultural heritage on the Internet. In particular, our findings point out to systematic differences in the rate of documenting monuments across regions and types of municipalities, as well as peculiar patterns of the WLM community in the contribution and re-use of images in Wikimedia projects. The analysis adds insights into the opportunities and challenges that collaborative projects through open access and re-use of digital content can offer for the enhancement of cultural heritage.

 

Il dibattito sulla transizione digitale del patrimonio culturale si è spesso concentrato sulle opportunità e le sfide affrontate dalle istituzioni culturali, ma recentemente una sempre maggiore attenzione è stata dedicata alla comprensione del ruolo delle iniziative di base e collaborative nel contribuire a questo processo. Il presente contributo studia l’esperienza italiana di Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), uno dei più ampi e diffusi progetti collaborativi per documentare il patrimonio culturale attraverso strumenti open access. Utilizzando dati quantitativi e qualitativi raccolti in dieci edizioni del concorso, l’articolo esplora il contributo delle comunità digitali collaborative nella produzione e condivisione di conoscenza sul patrimonio culturale su Internet. In particolare, i nostri risultati evidenziano differenze sistematiche nel tasso di documentazione dei monumenti tra le regioni e i tipi di comuni, così come modelli peculiari della comunità WLM nel contributo e nel riutilizzo delle immagini nei progetti Wikimedia. L’analisi contribuisce al dibattito sulle opportunità e le sfide che le iniziative collaborative attraverso l’accesso aperto e il riutilizzo dei contenuti digitali possono offrire per la valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale.

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Come citare

Bertacchini, E., & Pensa, I. (2023). Exploring collaborative digital heritage communities: A quantitative assessment of Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy. Il Capitale Culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, (28), 129–150. https://doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/3197