Heritage in a digital world Algorithms, data, and future value generation

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the values of born-digital heritage. It focuses on the impact on museum and heritage practices of digital data as constituting heritage objects. Digital technologies are now deeply entangled with human communication and social relations. If heritage is socially constructed in the interactions between humans and objects and places, how do the algorithms that shape human experiences of it affect the production of heritage values? The characteristics of each online platform, from websites to social networking sites, influence the way heritage is constructed, discussed, and valued in online interactions. This paper will therefore first unpack the construction of heritage knowledge in the digital sphere, by analysing – with the support of posthumanist approaches – the entanglement of human and technological processes that shape the production of contemporary heritage. Secondly, the paper will explore how big data and algorithms challenge boundaries in the heritage field, such as those between representation and simulation. The paper will question the role of these non-human actors in shaping contemporary heritage production and values. Finally, the paper will discuss how born-digital heritage is archived, analysed, preserved, retrieved and represented in digital collecting projects. The paper will argue that these interactions have consequences both on the production of new social values in relation to heritage artefacts and on the construction of new 21st century heritage. By exploring the application of posthumanism to digital heritage, this paper will consider emerging borders within cultural and digital heritage, and how heritage values and practices are affected by these developments.