THE DEVELOPMENT OF GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNING DIGITAL MEDIA TO ENGAGE VISITORS WITH NON-VISIBLE OUTDOOR HERITAGE

This PhD investigates the role of digital media in optimising visitor engagement with non-visible outdoor heritage. Motivated by concerns that digital media products developed for the heritage sector might not be reaching their potential to enrich the visit experience and concerned about a lack of clarity as to what constitutes visitor engagement; this thesis proposes guidance for the production of interpretive digital media and a framework for visitor engagement. Cultural heritage sites featured in this study are characteristically outdoor locations; frequently non-stewarded with very little tangible evidence of the historical or cultural relevance of the site. The unique potential of digital media products to address the specific challenges of engaging visitors with invisible heritage in these locations is discussed within this thesis. The practice of interpreting heritage is investigated to identify the processes, stages, experiences and behavioural states associated with a high level of engagement. Visitor engagement is defined in this study as being a transformational experience in which the visitor’s emotional and/or cognitive relationship with the heritage is altered. This is achieved when the visitor sufficiently experiences appropriate states of engagement across all stages of the visitor engagement framework. This study proposes guidance to advise and support heritage professionals and their associated designers in the design, development and implementation of interpretive digital media products. Within this guide sits the engagement framework which proposes a framework for engagement, defining the stages (process) and the states (experiences and behaviours) of visitor engagement with cultural heritage. In using this resource the cultural heritage practitioner can be confident of their capacity to run and deliver interpretive digital media projects regardless of their expertise in design or technology. This thesis proposes that well designed interpretive digital media can optimise the engagement of visitors in ways which cannot be achieved by any other single method of interpretation. This PhD contributes a design guide and an engagement framework to the existing field of knowledge regarding interpretive digital design.