Tuesday 9 April 2013

CREATIVE HERITAGE: INVOLVING TEENS IN THEIR COMMUNITIES THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Interview with Carme Prats i Joaniquet, manager of the CreativeCH showcase in Terrassa, Catalonia In a nutshell, what is the concept of your showcase? Our showcase aims to bring cultural heritage closer to the young generation. ICT solutions allow us to talk about heritage with a cross-cutting approach and to integrate contributions of museum and site visitors to the project. In this context, mNACTEC is developing a self-guided walking tour mobile app that focuses on touring the city’s major sites... and some hidden gems! We have already launched El Fotocroma del mNACTEC, a chroma-key installation that mixes images of museum visitors into scenes of Terrassa industrial heritage. An iPad kiosk is available for the visitors to select the desired scenario (from historical photos to outstanding museum pieces), take photos, and download and share the results with friends on social networks. What are special or innovative features of your showcase? Using ICT to recognize and value our industrial heritage in an engaging way. Because we believe it’s essential to engage our target (young people) in the conceptualization and implementation of the showcase. To develop, use and test the methodology for this is an important part of the project. How do you involve local organisations, students or other participants? It is our priority to involve them actively. Young people play a central role in the showcase, as they are not only our audience but are strongly involved in the project: proposing concepts and content, testing results... Therefore we work together with Torre del Palau High School, recognised for their best practices in the field of enhancing learning through ICT. And they are in Terrassa! We are now looking for a way to reach young people outside the classroom, for example, through a contest or other attractive activities. We expect to have some results by May. Regarding public administration, we have support at different levels: locally, mNACTEC is working with Terrassa City Council, specifically the Environmental Area and Tourism Area; at the regional level we collaborate with the Department of Education. And, of course, we don’t forget our museum visitors! We encourage them to be active, for example, by giving feedback when taking photos at the chroma-key installation. What are your experiences and lessons learned as yet? We made an interesting discovery: nowadays, it is a must to work towards the complementarity between virtual and presential elements. For example, with this showcase, we are suggesting a cross-sectional view, a new perspective to all museum exhibits, through visits “à la carte” with iPads, treasure hunting with smartphones and QR codes... Moreover, there must be a connection between the “inside” and the “outside”, this is, between the museum exhibits and Terrassa. How will you know that the showcase has been successful? Well, our chroma-key is already quite an event! Last Sunday, entrance to mNACTEC was free and visitors had the opportunity to “play” with this new installation. On Monday morning we checked the server where the photos are stored and... wow! We were amazed by the creative photos the visitors took. Why is it a success? Because it’s innovative, playful and fun! In general, I think the showcase will attract a specific segment of our museum and site visitors, the young and ICT-savvy generation. On the other hand, the showcase is an innovative element but it is not isolated: we create synergies, for example, with the Fira Modernista, a very popular local event. And one last thing: In the showcase process feedback is fundamental. We take evaluation very seriously, not only at the end, but during the whole process. FOLLOW THIS LINK TO READ THE INTERVIEW WWW.CREATIVE-HERITAGE.EU

11 comments:

Paula Ortega said...

Paula Ortega 4C. This showcase want that the young generation has more social culture, and to do that, this project use the technology to make it more fun. It uses thinks like Ipad's or a chroma key, and do things like a treasure hunting with smartphones and QR codes. I think that's a good idea for young people, to learn new things and become more interested in the things of the city and the history of it.

Unknown said...

Noelia Cuadrado 4tC: This showcase want that the new generations and the young of today are attracted by the culture. This project uses the technology so that more interesting and fun. I think that all these things for enhancing the culture of the young are real good projects and make people take more interest in the culture of their country.

Bernat Martínez said...

Bernat Martínez 4C. This is where you want to young people today, they use more technologies for their studies and improve their grades, so mNACTEC to created a site where young people can have fun with technology and also have culture. And that's just what I want this project. In my opinion the majority of institutes should use ICT to help students have fun and learn. It is a very good way, because I love technology and I use it a lot to learn, I think the technology will be essential here a few years to learn.

Unknown said...

Pol Galea 4tC:
The entry talks about a joint project with the Institute and others, in which the young want to promote and get involved visit the monuments of the city of Terrassa, and contributing to the museum and visit with students. For those visiting the museum, it has installed, Chrome, visit more enjoyable and offers a chance to see the heritage through retouched photos.
And getting teenagers interested in their close heritage.

josepartengo said...

Josep López 4tC:
This article tells us is to involve teens in the city from the technology, a great idea. Currently the technology is an important part of a teenager, why not motivate them with this? We use our phones, tablets, computers ... to learn more about our city in a fun way. For this reason, the museum has built a Chroma and QR codes around the museum.
I think it's a great idea that could be interesting.

Eva Anglada Soriano said...

This showcase wants to bring the culture closer to the young generation. An iPad kiosk is available for help that the visitors, to take photos, and download and share the results with friends on social networks. I think that this is amazing and awesome! Is a great honor that our institute is within this project. It want that we will use ICT to recognize and value our industrial heritage. It is great that visitors can make creative pictures thanks to this innovation.

Unknown said...

Jordi Orihuela:
The objective of the showcase is to get teenagers involved in the cultural heritage of our city. And which is the best way to bring it? Using technology. For this reason, the mNACTEC is using different technologies, like a chroma-key or a treasure hunting using QR codes, to attract young people. I think that's a very interesting way to try to solve the problem, and it's even better considering that the school is involved in the project.

laura said...


To get closer to the teenegers of schools and introduce the new showcase and the creative heritage. Is good that the young people involve with the new technology.
The new aplication of self guided walking tour, is a new good app to do something different in the new community.
The fotocroma is a new idea to do different photos with the new ITC, and is good to showcase the different idea to do free photos and upload in the social networks.

Indiscreta said...

Queralt Sala 4tB: Nowadays, the young generation are boring to go to showcase and to be listen for an hour a person talking. This project is thinked to attract young people using the news tecnologies like ipads, smartphones with QR codes and interactives activities to do this more fun. Besides the museum has a Photocroma that the visitors use a lot. I think that it's an innovation to have in mind for futur projects.

Indiscreta said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
A. said...

Alba Cuadrado 4B:
This showcase is an excellent idea because when the teenagers use the technology they are motivated more. Another good idea is the Fotocroma because with this,the people can take fun photos to amuse itself. And finally, I think that this showcase is amazing and it will be very popular.