Digital storytelling and audience engagement in cultural heritage management: A collaborative model based on the Digital City of Thessaloniki

Abstract Cities are complex, networked and continuously changing social ecosystems, shaped and transformed through the interaction of different interests and ambitions. They are linked to places, where various aspects of past events are projected and expressed by means of personal memories and narrations (urban memory), representing a promise for future: a vision of freedom, creativity, opportunity and prosperity. At the same time, technology is currently promoting unprecedented changes in urban areas, which are often marked as smart city developments. This paper studies the history of cultural and creative industries, bringing forward the dedicated digital storytelling strategies that promote active audience engagement in urban cultural heritage. A collaborative model is proposed and analyzed (in multiple perspectives), aiming at providing an integrated manner for heritage documentation, management and dissemination. The development deals with the Digital City of Thessaloniki, Greece, a big city, not a boundless one, rich in culture, but with rather poor heritage management mechanisms. The research focuses on theoretical and practical aspects for the citizens’ collection and interpretation of “digital heritage” documents (artifacts, places, etc.), resulting in a model that fuels audience engagement and collaboration of cultural organizations. Model-design is validated through state-of-the-art review and formative evaluation processes (both qualitative and quantitative), with an associated SWOT analysis that points out strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Although the proposed methodology has been adapted to the needs of a particular (digital) city, the current paper goes beyond a case study, as it brings forward novel technological and methodological guidelines, which could be successfully deployed in districts with similar cultural, geographical, and technical features.