VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages

Abstract

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The proposal presents a critical analysis of the World’s Digital Cultural Heritage, in terms of which conceptual and practical aspects inherent to the digital and Internet nature of e-culture permeate the heritage and are excluded or have no direct chance of being considered for listing by UNESCO. Until now, the digital cultural heritage, which is constantly and rapidly growing, has been associated with tangible or intangible objects or social traditions, or to digitally replicate them. However, the digital nature itself, and in particular the development of the Internet infrastructure and its usability, has made possible artistic and cultural creations, initiatives and projects that exist only in cyberspace and do not necessarily represent one or more communities linked to countries or regions, but are distributed as the network itself is designed and enabled. The article considers Performing Arts Networking, ISEA Archives, MuRe: networking museography Project, among others, as case studies that provide keys to the meaning of digital heritage today from a networking perspective. It also raises the discussion regarding the preservation and architecture of information in this context, appealing to concepts and ideas of Internet pioneers, such as “digital vellum” and “hypertext”, among others. Therefore, not only is contextualisation central to planning laws, but it is also necessary to rethink concepts that allow a step forward in the World’s Digital Cultural Heritage approach to stimulate debate, as well as to express and represent the interconnectedness of cultural citizens in order to promote and safeguard a quality (global and local) e-culture for all.