‘Everyday experiences and heritage in south European cities: Digital tools and practices’ regards the organisation of a workshop in the context of the planned activities of our WG. The workshop will enable us to strengthen links with the community (incl. scholars, researchers and local authorities), to collect content to be analysed with the methods developed by the WG members, as well as to test and collect feedback about a new software tool we are developing. The latter is necessary for the development of the digital tool, which will be later on offered to the DARIAH community.


The project is about the organisation of an intensive hands-on workshop for community building through participatory design and co-creation methodologies which will allow the WG to work with local groups and intereated in the topic researchers, and to study, discuss and analyse sites of interest in the city of Palermo (Italy).
Challenged by urbanization, economy, gentrification and migration the experience of historical spaces and buildings is fragmented, thus mirroring the disconnected perception of urban societies. The workshop will study how urban heritage and the abundance of culturally valuable structures and buildings in specific historic cities across Europe which are challenged by current pressing conditions can contribute to reflective processes and the creation of legible, inclusive, accessible and enjoyable cities. Its overarching objective is to:
- Enable cultural bearers & inhabitants to engage with the past and future conditions of common pool resources; and
- Infer meaning and socio-cultural features of space from data.
Data collection will be facilitated with the use of citizen volunteered geolocation software (readily available to the WG by its partners), such as WAY Cyberparks, Ethnoally, and Aperire. In addition to these softwares, a new digital tool supporting co-design of urban spaces (currently under development) will be tested and evaluated by the participants under real-world conditions provided in the workshop. Feedback collected will enable the completion of the tool which will thus be adjusted to the need of scholars and researchers from the humanities. Training material will be generated, documented shared through the DARIAH services.
The workshop will aim to engage:
- Cultural Heritage institutions;
- Scholars and researchers in Digital Humanities;
- City stakeholders;
- Professional associations;
- Urban communities and citizen groups.