Abstract:

In the last few years, information and multimedia technologies have developed to an extent that allows new ways of storing, preserving, displaying and dissemination of information related to cultural and historical heritage. This paper presents part of the activities and results on research project Models of Socialization of Cultural Heritage in a ‘Smart City’ DN05/3, 14.12.2016, supported by the National Science Fund at the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science. The need for developing such a project has been defined by the fact that in our country cultural heritage has been raised to a high priority level in important strategic documents even though there is a lack of a conceptual model at a national level on integrating scientific, educational and cultural policies and the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the field of cultural heritage. We think that creating such a model will be very useful for the process of heritage socialization. So far, the greater part of the scientific research in this field have mostly been oriented towards technological issues of cultural heritage digitalization and yet there is not enough interdisciplinary research related to new models of cultural heritage socialization.

The working hypothesis is based on the opportunities offered by the “Smart City” for the development of virtual reality as a modern approach that can be included in education in the field of cultural heritage and heritage socialization. Within the current paper two aspects have been emphasized: the integration of information technologies in education in the sphere of cultural heritage and the digital presentation of museum displays. Descriptive qualitative method was employed in this study. The data were obtained through direct observations of museum institutions in Bulgaria in terms of the degree of online access to museum expositions, the degree of digitization of museum collections and the degree of digital representation of museum expositions. Some of the basic problems of museums in Bulgaria have been systematized. We have also used combined methods of analysis and synthesis. Survey results have been reported on good practices in creating interactivity in modern museum displays. The innovative product – a system of hologram virtual reality (HVR) has been presented. This product is now used in the teaching process of students in the field of cultural heritage and the real application of ICT.

The achieved results have been applied in the process of learning in BA programs of the specialty Information Collections of Cultural and Historical Heritage. Results are used to improve the quality of education in the field of cultural heritage, to promote the exchange of scientific and practical experience among university tutors, museum specialists and experts. It is expected that the results find application in the programs for informing and training for raising the capacity of local communities in the sphere of cultural tourism.

Keywords:

Cultural Heritage, Information Technologies, Education, Museum expositions, Examples of Good Practice.