Why innovate in safeguarding heritage?
Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is fragile. It depends on people practicing it, and when communities shrink or young people migrate, traditions can disappear silently. Safeguarding, therefore, needs new methods: not just archives and lists, but also technological tools and participatory mapping that connect heritage to today’s society.
Innovation does not replace tradition – it supports it. By combining digital methods, community participation, and creative outputs, we can give new visibility and value to living heritage.
Technology and the idea of the “Digital Twin”
One major innovation is the concept of the Digital Twin – a detailed digital reproduction of a craft, performance, or ritual.
- Example: the Yangxin Cloth Paste technique in China was recorded step by step, so future generations can learn the process digitally. (Read the article: Li, M., Xu, S., Tang, J. et al. (2024) Design and research of digital twin platform for handicraft intangible cultural heritage -Yangxin Cloth Paste. Herit Sci 12, 43 (2024).
- Example: dances can be captured with motion sensors, preserving every gesture for analysis and teaching.
Technology such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) can recreate lost contexts, while digital games and apps bring traditions into everyday learning for young audiences.
One example is the HEAT-XR project, in which Transilvania University of Brașov is involved, exploring the use of Extended Reality (XR) technologies to support the documentation, preservation, and communication of cultural heritage.
💡 But remember: a digital copy cannot fully capture the spirit of live performance. The challenge is to use technology as a support, not a substitute.
Mapping heritage: the CarPaTO project
A powerful example of innovation in safeguarding is the CarPaTO project, carried out between 2018–2019 in the Land of Făgăraș (Țara Făgărașului), Romania.
The goal: to identify, document, and promote local ICH while involving the community.
Methods used:
- Fieldwork and interviews with elders, artisans, and performers.
- Building a digital database of traditions.
- Organizing participatory workshops with residents to map important elements.
Outputs produced:
- A set of cultural routes, linking villages and landscapes to living traditions.
- A public exhibition of crafts, objects, and knowledge.
- A cookbook, collecting recipes and culinary heritage.
- A cellphilm – a short, participatory film created with community members using simple technology, to tell their own stories.
The project shows how mapping can go beyond documentation to create usable tools for tourism, education, and identity.
Why mapping matters
Mapping ICH:
- Raises community awareness of local traditions.
- Strengthens identity by linking people to place.
- Creates opportunities for education and sustainable tourism.
- Makes traditions visible in creative and accessible ways.
In this sense, CarPaTO demonstrates that safeguarding is not about freezing practices in the past, but about activating them for the present and future.
Exercises and applications
Exercises and applications (INTHRACE Pedagogical Model — Component 05 Sustainable Practices, Component 06 Technology & Innovation)
- Exercise 1 — Heritage mapping chart (Component 05): Choose one tradition from your community and fill in a chart: name of the element; who practises it; context (everyday, ritual, festival); mode of transmission; importance for identity.
- Exercise 2 — “At-risk ICH” rescue plan (Component 05): From the INTHRACE Application Example for Chapter 3: identify one ICH element in your region that is at risk because of poor classification (e.g. a hybrid practice that doesn’t fit any single UNESCO domain and therefore receives no protection). Investigate how this oversimplification contributes to its loss. Draft a one-page rescue plan: actors involved, immediate actions, medium-term safeguarding, classification framework to be used (Fredheim & Khalaf’s three-layer model recommended).
- Exercise 3 — Multi-domain Digital Twin for a disappearing weaving tradition (Component 05 + 06): Taken directly from the INTHRACE Application Example for Chapter 3: design a multi-domain Digital Twin for one specific disappearing weaving tradition in your region (or for Romanian wall-carpet weaving, already on UNESCO’s list). Specify what you record (visual, audio, textual, gestural), how the recording captures multiple ICH domains at once (craftsmanship + oral transmission + knowledge of materials), who owns the data, and how the community is involved at each step. Pair this with the Li et al. (2024) Yangxin Cloth Paste model discussed in the lesson.
- Exercise 4 — Cellphilm idea (Component 06): Design a short (2–3 minute) video project that documents a local tradition. Decide: who will appear in the film? What story will you tell? How will the community be involved? Inspired directly by the CarPaTO cellphilm methodology.
- Exercise 5 — Cultural route design (Component 05): Imagine a small route with 3–4 stops in your region, connecting traditions, landscapes and crafts. Explain how the route would tell a story about local identity. Reference: the CarPaTO route methodology.
- Exercise 6 — Generative-AI classification challenge (Component 06): Taken directly from the INTHRACE Application Example for Chapter 3: use a freely available generative-AI tool to classify three intangible heritage elements from your region. Compare the AI’s classification with UNESCO’s five domains. Where does the AI agree? Where does it diverge? What does this tell us about Fan et al. (2023)’s multimodal-attention approach to ICH classification?
- Exercise 7 — Multi-tagging digital exhibit (Component 06): From the INTHRACE Application Example: prototype a small digital exhibit (one slide, one webpage, or one social-media post) for one ICH element that allows multi-tagging — i.e. the same element is tagged with several UNESCO domains and several Fredheim & Khalaf values. Discuss: would users actually look for an element under all those tags?
Reflection questions
- How can technology enhance safeguarding without replacing living practice?
- Does digitalization make traditions more accessible, or more vulnerable to being seen as “entertainment”?
- How does mapping heritage change the way communities perceive themselves?
- Which of the CarPaTO outputs (database, cookbook, routes, exhibition, cellphilm) do you find most effective, and why?